Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, talks about a rise in antisemitic incidents with Dana Bash on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ show. Courtesy of CNN

By Benyamin Cohen October 6, 2024

There have been more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. since Oct 7, the highest number ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League in a one-year period. More than 3,000 of these incidents took place during anti-Israel rallies. The new data from the ADL, released Sunday, represents a 200% increase compared to the same period a year before, which saw 3,325 such incidents.

“These numbers are truly astonishing,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “The ADL has been around for over 110 years, and we’ve never seen data like this before.”

The ADL began seeing an increase in antisemitic incidents shortly after the Oct. 7 attack, and reported that from Oct. 2023 through Dec. 2023, there were 3,000 such incidents, which the group calculated as 360% higher than the same period in 2022. The ADL acknowledged that it significantly broadened its definition of antisemitic incidents following the Hamas attack to include rallies that feature “anti-Zionist chants and slogans.”

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“Overall,” the Forward’s Arno Rosenfeld reported, “a large share of the incidents appear to be expressions of hostility toward Israel, rather than the traditional forms of antisemitism that the organization has focused on in previous years.”

Greenblatt said on Sunday that the Hamas attacks “triggered a tsunami of anti-Jewish hate” in the U.S., including over 8,000 instances of harassment, more than 1,800 instances of vandalism and more than 150 physical attacks targeting Jews.

[Related: ‘Like a bolt of lightning’: Greenblatt recounts how he spent Oct. 7] 

At least 1,200 of those incidents occurred on college campuses, which Greenblatt said is a 500% increase compared to the previous academic year when there were 200 incidents, and not nearly as many, if any, anti-Israel rallies. “In response to this act of terror,” Greenblatt said, “our students are being terrorized.”

Anti-Israel groups are planning a “week of rage” on campuses to coincide with the anniversary “when we are trying to commemorate those we lost in this heinous, unprovoked attack,” Greenblatt said. “I can’t think of anything more grotesque.”

The FBI and other federal agencies have warned of potential threats against Jews on Oct. 7. 

A companion report from the ADL, released on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, found over the past 12 months a “systematic” minimization of Jewish suffering, the targeting of U.S. officials who voice support for Israel, an increase in calls to boycott and divest from Israel, right-wing extremists exploiting anti-Zionist sentiment to promote antisemitism, and a “new wave” of fake photos created by artificial intelligence that promotes antisemitism.

Did Jews cause Hurricane Helene?

Greenblatt tied the data to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, where he has seen “an avalanche of antisemitic conspiracies” directed at the Jewish mayor of Asheville, Esther Manheimer, as well as at other officials, “as if somehow the Mossad is involved in distributing disaster relief,” Greenlatt said. “I think conspiracism is at an all-time high, and antisemitism is raging like we’ve never seen before.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia, posted on social media Saturday that, “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” It was not entirely clear who she was referring to, although she once suggested that a Jewish controlled space laser may be to blame for a California wildfire. On Friday, she claimed that some FEMA officials “hate Christians.”

Monday marks the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 people, the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust. Around 250 people were taken hostage; roughly 100 are still being held captive in Gaza. CNN ended Sunday’s show with Greenblatt by showing photos of four American hostages believed to still be alive.

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