Antisemitic incidents remain elevated in Massachusetts, ADL says
The number of antisemitic incidents reported in Massachusetts was essentially unchanged in 2024, though officials with the Anti-Defamation League said the total is 'part of a troubling long-term trend' of heightened harassment, vandalism and assault.
Massachusetts recorded 438 antisemitic incidents in 2024, one fewer than in 2023, representing the fifth-highest number of incidents of any state in the country, the ADL said Tuesday in its annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. The group said the number of antisemitic incidents here has spiked 188% since 2022.
Across ADL's New England region (which includes Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont), there were 638 antisemitic incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism in 2024. The number of incidents in New England has increased each of the last five years and is up 485% since 2020.
Nationally, the ADL counted 9,354 antisemitic incidents -- the highest number recorded since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents 46 years ago. That's a 5% increase from 2023, a 344% increase over the last five years and a 893% increase over the last 10 years.
'The persistent increase in antisemitic incidents over the past five years is a stark reminder that antisemitism continues to impact our communities,' Samantha Joseph, ADL New England's regional director, said. 'Particularly concerning is the continued proliferation of extremist incidents and the rise of attacks against Orthodox Jews. The alarming manifestations of antisemitism in 2024 instill fear and are reminders that much work remains to be done.'
Of the 438 antisemitic incidents reported in Massachusetts last year, the ADL said 275 or 63% of them were related to Israel or Zionism, 'a trend that reflects the impact of geopolitics on domestic antisemitism.' There were also 132 instances of verbal or written harassment and threats, 157 instances of vandalism, 37 appearances of antisemitic white supremacist propaganda, 87 times in which a swastika was discovered, 17 bomb threats, and five assaults.
A total of 108 Massachusetts cities and towns saw at least one antisemitic incident last year, but the audit identified the state's 'primary hotspots' as Boston (96 incidents), Cambridge (52) and Newton (25).
Last year saw the number of antisemitic incidents on college and university campuses climb more steeply than in any other location, the ADL said, and Massachusetts had the third-most campus incidents of any state with 107 of them.
Examples cited in ADL's audit included the discovery on the Smith College campus in Northampton of an Israeli flag with a swastika spray-painted to replace the Star of David and an incident at Berklee College of Music in Boston in which a student told a Jewish classmate that 'Jews belong in the oven' and that he 'cannot stop following Israel's war against Palestinian children.'
'College campuses have become an epicenter of American antisemitism, as the sites of close to a fifth of all 2024 incidents. Antisemitic incidents on college campuses reached their highest point for the year in the spring of 2024, from mid-April through mid-May, which coincided with activity related to the anti-Israel encampment movement on dozens of campuses nationwide. Incidents at or near encampments often contained antisemitic messages, and participants recited antisemitic slogans,' the ADL said.
The organization said that its audit methodology 'is careful to not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism' and does not count as antisemitic incidents any 'legitimate political protest, support for Palestinian rights or expressions of opposition to Israeli policies.' ADL said its approach to Israel-related expressions 'comports with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.'
As part of a national wave of protests and subsequent student arrests sparked by the Israel-Hamas war, a number of encampments cropped up last year on campuses around Massachusetts, including at Harvard University, UMass Amherst, Northeastern University and Emerson College.
The Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism has taken aim at Harvard as well as Boston generally. Task force representatives were reportedly in Boston earlier this month to meet with city officials as the group investigates four cities -- Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles -- and the 'responses to incidents of antisemitism at schools and on college campuses in their cities over the last two years.'
The DOJ said in March that the task force 'was aware of allegations that the schools in their respective cities may have failed to protect Jewish students from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law.' A city spokesman said in March that Boston 'has one of the most vibrant Jewish communities in America ... and we stand firmly against antisemitism.'
This month, the task force announced it would halt $2.2 billion in multi-year grants headed to Harvard. The task force called the harassment of Jewish students 'intolerable' and declared, 'It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.'
Since the fall, Westfield Sen. John Velis and Concord Rep. Simon Cataldo have been leading the state's new Commission on Combating Antisemitism, which they have said aims to stamp out Massachusetts' recent 'ignominious reputation as a hub of antisemitic activity.'
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