Anti-Jewish hate crimes hit all-time high, says FBI

Antisemitic hate crimes soared 63% last year, rising to the highest level ever recorded, according to data collected by the FBI.

By World Israel News Staff

Hate crimes targeting Jews soared last year to the highest level ever recorded, according to a report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday.

A total of 11,862 hate crime incidents were reported across the United States in 2023, the FBI said, an all-time high.

Of those, 1,832 were classified as single-bias anti-Jewish hate crimes – that is, incidents in which victims were targeted solely over their Jewishness.

While Jews make up less than 2% of the roughly 340 million people living in the U.S. in 2023, anti-Jewish incidents made up 15.4% of all reported hate crimes last year, marking the largest number of anti-Jewish hate crimes on record since 1991, when the FBI began tracking incidents designated as hate crimes.

The data was collected from 16,009 law enforcement agencies and police departments across the United States, representing 83.5% of agencies and departments enrolled in the national hate crime data collection program.

According to the Anti-Defamation League’s records, a total of 8,873 antisemitic incidents were reported in 2023. Unlike the FBI’s figure, the ADL’s count includes both criminal and non-criminal incidents.

The ADL said in a statement Monday that the number of reported antisemitic incidents across the U.S. surged by 140 percent last year as compared to 2022, and represents the highest number on record since the organization began tracking the number of incidents in 1979.

The group warned that the rise in antisemitic incidents included a 45% rise in physical assaults.

“At a time when the Jewish community is still suffering from the sharp rise in antisemitism following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, the record-high number of anti-Jewish hate crime incidents is unfortunately entirely consistent with the Jewish community’s experience and ADL’s tracking,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “Hate crimes are uniquely harmful, traumatizing both the individual and their community.”

“Although it’s encouraging to see more law enforcement agencies participating in reporting hate crimes data in 2023, we still have a long way to go toward ensuring comprehensive data collection that provides a more accurate picture of the lived experience of targeted communities across the country,” added Greenblatt.

“Data drives policy, and without having a complete understanding of the problem, we cannot effectively address this significant surge in hate violence.”

American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch lamented that the increase in antisemitism across the U.S. “has taken a severe toll on so many American Jews’ way of life.”

“The worst part of this new reality is that young Jews are increasingly on the receiving end of this rise in antisemitic hate.”

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