Antisemitism increased worldwide in 2023, particularly after the October 7 attack on Israel, as detailed in a new report.
The new report An increase in antisemitic occurrences in Western nations during 2023, including a substantial rise after the October attack on Israel, was found by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Tel Aviv University in a recent report.
The ADL registered 7,523 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. in 2023, up from 3,697 in 2022, and noted significant increases in large U.S. cities like New York City and Los Angeles.
The report indicated that the New York Police Department documented 325 anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023, compared to 261 in 2022, while the Los Angeles Police Department recorded 165 incidents in 2023 versus 86 in 2022.
Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO and national director, expressed that the attack on Israel led to a significant increase in hate against Jewish communities worldwide.
According to him, this year’s report is extremely worrisome, with unprecedented levels of antisemitism, especially in the U.S., which saw the highest number of antisemitic incidents ever recorded by the ADL in 2023.
There was also a rise in antisemitic incidents in countries like France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. France notably accounted for 1,676 incidents in 2023, a substantial increase from the 436 recorded in 2022, as per the report.
The report also pointed out that most countries with substantial Jewish populations experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents even before the October 7 attack on Israel.
The report stated, “Of particular concern is that in the nine months leading up to October 2023, when no exceptional event occurred, most countries with significant Jewish populations saw an increase in antisemitic incidents compared to the same period in 2022, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico.”
The report added, “This indicates that the conflict in Gaza helped fan the flames of an already escalating situation.”
The number of reports of anti-Muslim incidents in the U.S. also rose in 2023, according to an annual report from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released last month, with 8,061 complaints of anti-Muslim incidents recorded, surpassing the previous high of 6,720 in 2021.
