ADL reports slight increase in antisemitic events in New England last year following surge in 2023
In 2024, a total of 638 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism were reported in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, according to the ADL, up from 628 in 2023. Connecticut has a separate ADL regional office.
'Unfortunately, this feels a little bit like the new normal,' Samantha Joseph, director of the ADL's New England region, said in an interview.
'We're certainly prepared for a period of time where we expect [these incidents] to continue to be high,' she added. 'What I'm hoping for is that we can continue to work with key stakeholders to address the symptoms and take steps for prevention, so that we're not just responding after an incident takes place.'
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Joseph encouraged anyone who has witnessed or experienced an antisemitic incident to report it on the ADL's
The ADL's report noted that of the 638 antisemitic events in New England, 81 had 'an extremist nexus' (down from 115 in 2023 but up from 28 in 2022). Seventy-three of those incidents involved the distribution of white supremacist propaganda, the ADL said.
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The organization also reported a spike in antisemitic attacks on Orthodox Jews in New England with 12 reported cases last year, including 10 in Massachusetts, up from four in 2023.
Most of the incidents reported in New England were in Massachusetts (438), which was fifth nationally behind New York state (1,437), California (1,345), New Jersey (718), and Pennsylvania (465).
The number for Massachusetts remained relatively steady from 2023, when there were 439 reported antisemitic incidents in the state, according to the ADL. The organization said 108 individual cities and towns in the state reported at least one incident during the year, down from 127 in 2023 but still far above the numbers seen prior to Hamas's attack. In 2022, 71 Massachusetts communities reported at least one antisemitic event.
Joseph said the study found that for the first time more than half of the reported incidents nationwide were related in some way to Israel.
'We're very, very careful not to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism,' Joseph said. She said about 5,000 public rallies and demonstrations were reported to the ADL, but the group only included 2,500 of them in the audit 'because they contained explicit antisemitic imagery or language,' Joseph said.
Among the issues reported in Massachusetts, there were 276 reported incidents of harassment (down from 293 in 2023), 157 incidents of vandalism (up from 141 in 2023), and five assaults (down from eight in 2023), according to the ADL.
Antisemitic events were down last year at non-Jewish K-12 schools in Massachusetts with 50 compared to 101 in 2023, according to the report. But the numbers climbed at Massachusetts colleges and universities, with 107 total incidents, the third highest in the nation, according to the report, up from 81 in 2023 and 15 in 2022.
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Across New England, there were 151 antisemitic incidents reported on college campuses last year, up from 81 in 2023 and 15 in 2022, according to the report.
The numbers also climbed or stayed relatively steady in other New England states. The ADL reported 53 antisemitic events in New Hampshire last year, up from 35 in 2023 and 14 in 2022. Maine saw 51 antisemitic incidents in 2024, slightly down from 53 the prior year; Rhode Island had 52 for a second straight year, up from 19 in 2022; and Vermont had 44, slightly up from 43 in 2023 and far above the six reported in 2022.
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