Latest news with #AmySpitalnick
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
How ‘a man with a blow torch' turned a rally in Colorado into a scene of horror
The first 911 calls reporting the Colorado flamethrower attack were as horrific as they were unbelievable. 'There is a male with a blow torch setting people on fire,' a dispatcher advised the city's police department, passing on the account of an eyewitness. Another official reported: 'Multiple burns, potential terror attack.' What had been a peaceful rally at the Boulder's Pearl Street Mall on Sunday in solidarity with hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza quickly turned into a scene of horror, with medical crews arriving to find victims lying or sitting on the ground with their legs and bodies burned – and police holding a suspect face down with a gun at his back. Members of the public raced from local restaurants with buckets and jugs of water to pour over those who were injured. The attack by a man hurling molotov cocktails and shouting 'Free Palestine' struck at the heart of one of Colorado's largest Jewish communities, just 10 days after two Israeli embassy staffers were shot dead in Washington DC by a man yelling the same statement. It also came weeks after an arson attack on the home of Josh Shapiro, the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania, by a pro-Palestinian activist. 'Make no mistake: if and when Jews are targeted to protest Israel's actions, it should clearly and unequivocally be understood and condemned as antisemitism,' Amy Spitalnick, chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said in a statement. 'These attacks come alongside a broader rise in antisemitism, from hate crimes targeting Jews walking down the street, to efforts to marginalize, isolate, and discriminate against Jews, to antisemitic and white supremacist mass violence targeting synagogues and other spaces.' Boulder county, where Sunday's attack took place, had long been considered a safe, 'dream community' for Jewish families drawn there over the last decade. Numbers have doubled to represent more than 10% of the county's 330,000 population. The eight victims – four men and four women, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, and a mother and daughter – represented a cross-section of a vibrant diaspora in a city with numerous Jewish community centers, schools and businesses. 'What happened here in our local community in Boulder is shameful, and I think people really need to have a sense of accountability,' Fred Greene, rabbi of Boulder's Har HaShem congregation, told CNN on Monday. 'If we want peace, if we want dignity for people, there have to be other ways than this kind of violence.' Another expert, University of Boulder Hillel executive director Elyana Funk, told the network that the assault was especially shocking because it targeted a 'quiet and respectful' assembly of residents who were taking part in a solidarity walk, which has become popular in numerous Jewish communities around the world since the Hamas terror attack on Israel and taking of hostages on 7 October 2023. 'This wasn't a pro-Israel rally or some sort of political statement on the war,' she said. 'These are peaceful people who've been walking for nearly 20 months weekly to bring awareness for the hostages.' The attack came on the same day as the start of Shavuot, a two-day Jewish festival to celebrate the 50th day after the Passover holiday. Several events were postponed or canceled after the attack, but Funk said resilience would shine through. 'The antidote for antisemitism can be Jewish joy, and Jewish community and Jewish connection,' she said. Meanwhile, the Boulder police chief, Stephen Redfearn, recalled the community reaction to the 2021 mass shooting at a supermarket in the city that left 10 people dead. 'Boulder is not immune to tragedy sadly and I know a lot of people are scared right now and questioning how this happened and why,' he said at a press conference on Sunday night. 'Boulder has recovered from acts of violence before and we will again recover. I urge this community to come together. Now is not the time to be divisive.' The attack took place on Pearl Street Mall, a popular pedestrian area of downtown Boulder laced with stores and restaurants, overlooked by the University of Colorado, and a regular venue for the event supporting Run for Their Lives, an organization calling for the immediate release of the Gaza hostages. Eyewitnesses said the suspect, 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, appeared out of nowhere and seemingly singled out individuals taking part in the rally. 'It was easily the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life,' Brian Horowitz, 37, told CNN. The Denver resident said he was in a cafe with his family when he heard screams and raced to confront the suspect, who was shouting profanities at his victims. ''Fuck you Zionists,' Horowitz said the man yelled. ''You're killing my people so I kill you.'' Horowitz added: 'There's someone who is outraged enough to go and attack these elderly people who are doing absolutely nothing to provoke it other than walk in silence and meet in a courtyard peacefully. It's unbelievable.'
Boston Globe
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Many Jews say Trump is politicizing the fight against antisemitism
Advertisement On the state level, legislators - mostly Republicans - are also pressing ahead with bills that include a much-debated definition of antisemitism, one that critics say chills legitimate criticism of Israel. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The dispute has exacerbated long-running tensions between liberal and conservative Jews, who increasingly diverge in their views of the Israeli government and in some cases Israel itself, as well as which side of the political divide best represents their values and interests. 'Antisemitism is real and it requires robust, constructive solutions,' said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. 'What's happening now, though, is exploiting the Jewish community's legitimate and real concerns about antisemitism to undermine rule of law, due process, educational institutions and our democracy.' Advertisement Morton Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, a conservative group, disagreed, saying Trump is enforcing federal antidiscrimination law as presidents before him should have done. 'We are deeply grateful to President Trump,' Klein said. 'I assure you these groups that oppose Trump here - if those demonstrators were condemning Blacks and calling them horrific names, or calling Muslims or gay people terrible names - those same people would say, ... 'We have to protect'' the lives of targeted minorities and would be supporting Trump's work, he said. The turmoil began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants surged across the Gaza border and killed some 1,200 people, taking an additional 251 hostage. Israel responded with a punishing military offensive that has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and prompted major protests in the United States. Antisemitic acts surged in the U.S. as well, and the White House said Trump is responding appropriately to that. 'If combating antisemitism is controversial to President Trump's critics, their derangement has reached new lows,' said White House spokesman Harrison Fields. 'No leader has been a stronger ally to the Jewish people than President Trump. His administration is fully committed to enforcing law and order, protecting civil rights, and ensuring pro-Hamas radicals face the full weight of the law in our unwavering fight against antisemitism.' The Trump-Harvard dispute has received much of the attention, but the broader battle shows no sign of slowing. The administration has targeted other universities from Princeton to Northwestern the same way, and continues its crackdown on immigrants in suspects of antisemitic statements. - - - Battle in the states While Trump and his adversaries fight it out on the national level, a quieter debate is playing out in a half-dozen conservative states where bills against antisemitism have been offered in recent months. Advertisement This state-level push has been underway for years, but it accelerated after the Oct. 7 attacks and has been turbocharged by Trump's presidency, said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group. In Missouri, Republican state Rep. George Hruza has sponsored a measure requiring public schools and universities to adopt policies against antisemitism. The issue is personal for Hruza, whose mother survived the Holocaust and who had two grandparents killed at Auschwitz. 'When I grew up in Czechoslovakia, my mother suppressed our Jewish heritage. She continued suffering from nightmares of being back in a concentration camp,' Hruza said. Those nightmares stopped when she moved to the U.S. because it had so little antisemitism, he said - and his bill is intended to help keep it that way. The flash point, as so often these days and especially since Oct. 7, is the question of when criticism of Israel becomes antisemitism. Hruza's bill adopts a definition of antisemitism that includes such examples as applying 'double standards' to Israel or calling it racist. Missouri state Rep. Elizabeth Fuchs, a Democrat, said such language risks chilling free speech and punishing legitimate criticism of Israel. 'It changes how college campuses are interpreting speech,' Fuchs said. 'It shifts and changes the definition of antisemitism, conflating the real concerns about antisemitism with conversation about the war and what has been happening in Palestine after the October 7th massacre.' Hruza's bill passed the GOP-dominated Missouri House 108-10; the vote was bipartisan, but most of the opposition came from Democrats. It now moves to the state Senate. Advertisement Hruza said he is a big proponent of free speech and his bill is designed to distinguish between rhetoric unleashed at a rally and assaults aimed at an individual. 'It's when Jewish students get attacked, verbally or physically, because they are Jewish - that is what we are driving at,' he said. 'It's telling a Jewish student, 'You should go back to Poland.'' A defining issue The definition of antisemitism in Hruza's bill, originally crafted in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, is widely used - and increasingly controversial. Israel can be criticized like any other country, it says, but targeting it 'as a Jewish collectivity' is antisemitic. The definition provides examples of language that crosses the line, such as comparing Israel to the Nazis or blaming all Jews for Israel's actions. Those examples are being incorporated into many of the state laws. Kenneth Stern, the lead drafter of the IHRA definition, strongly opposes codifying the examples in this way, saying they were intended only as guidance and that enshrining them in law violates the First Amendment by penalizing opinions on Israel. 'I think it's bad policy, and as a lawyer I think it's unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination,' Stern said. He added, 'I am a Zionist and Israel is important to me, but there are young Jews whose Judaism leads them to a different point of view.' The IHRA definition has many defenders who say it pierces the armor of bigots who have taken to attacking Israel as an acceptable way to go after Jews. 'Criticizing Israel legitimately' is not antisemitism under its definition, ZOA's Klein said. 'But if you start comparing Israel to Nazis and saying they are perpetrating genocide and massacres, then you are crossing the line to antisemitism.' Advertisement Congress has not written the IHRA definition into U.S. law, despite repeated proposals to do so. But Trump signed an executive order in 2019, during his first term, ordering government agencies to consider adopting it. A pastor raises concerns Seven states have recently considered or adopted measures like Missouri's, all of them with conservative and Republican-dominated legislatures, though some have Democratic governors. The dissenters are usually Democrats, but the bills tend to have bipartisan support. A group called the Combat Antisemitism Movement has been encouraging state legislatures to pass antisemitism bills - working with legislators, testifying in the bills' favor, touting them on its website. CAM was founded in 2019 and its advisory board is chaired by Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet refusenik and hard-line Israeli politician. Sacha Roytman, CAM's chief executive, said anti-Jewish acts must be countered at every level of government. 'The threat is real. It is happening. It is happening every day. It is happening in schools and synagogues,' he said. 'Every level of society has its responsibility.' Hruza, the Missouri legislator, said he tweaked his bill's language to stress that it was not aimed at squelching free expression. 'We wanted to make sure it was about behavior and make sure people understood that in no way did we want to interfere with free speech,' Hruza said. Ben-Ami, the J Street president, is concerned about the free-speech ramifications for many of the proposals. 'There is a very troubling pattern of codifying into state and local law - as well as attempts at the federal level - a definition of antisemitism that includes criticism of Israeli government actions and policies that would have the effect not simply of chilling speech, but criminalizing it,' Ben-Ami said. Advertisement The bills' opponents are not solely liberal Democrats. In Oklahoma, Republican state Sen. Dusty Deevers, a Christian pastor, objected that the examples of antisemitism cited in his state's legislation include asserting that the Jews killed Jesus. The Jews of the time did play a role in Jesus' death, Deevers asserted, citing scriptures, and he said pastors should be able to say so. 'While discouraging antisemitism in a worthy cause, the definition would instruct state entities to treat as bigoted the historical facts and biblical teachings surrounding the death of Jesus,' Deevers said in a floor speech. To Fuchs, the Missouri legislator, the state debates are part of the pattern unfolding on the national level - broad or reckless attacks on antisemitism that target legitimate criticism of Israel. 'There is a connection between what is happening at the federal level with Trump's executive orders and what is happening here in Missouri,' Fuchs said. 'If you want to see what is happening in your state, we are going to show you first.' Dinner with Ye Many Jewish groups are struggling to find the right message for the moment. Julie Rayman, managing director of policy and political affairs at the American Jewish Committee, said Trump deserves credit for spotlighting antisemitism. But the AJC also criticized the 'broad, sweeping, and devastating cuts' universities are facing as a result of his actions. Republicans and Democrats, Rayman said, are each quick to see antisemitism in their opponents but slow to see it in their supporters. Ideally, she said, 'the administration can find a way to target not just the left anti-Zionist antisemitism that has become this new dangerous reality, but also recognize the dangers of neo-Nazi fascist antisemitism.' Trump has a Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism. But critics say he has a history of antisemitic comments and associations that cast doubt on the sincerity of his antisemitism campaign. Last September, Trump told a gathering of conservative Jews, 'If I don't win this election, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.' In 2017, he said there were 'very fine people on both sides' of a Virginia rally that included antisemitic chants. In November 2022, Trump had dinner with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has made anti-Jewish remarks, and Nick Fuentes, an antisemite and white nationalist. (Trump later said he did not know Fuentes's background.) Ed Martin, Trump's interim U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, has praised a Nazi sympathizer. 'I take no comfort in their so-called concern about antisemitism,' said Wesleyan University President Michael Roth. 'I find it shocking that so many of my co-religionists are happy to see enemies of Israel punished, even if the ways they're punished are extralegal. For the Trump allies, many of whom are vicious, proud antisemites, this sudden Judeophilia will be short-lived.' Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York) agreed that schools like Columbia University may have seen antisemitism on campus as the Gaza war has unfolded. But he said slashing their research funds makes little sense as a response. 'Let's assume there is antisemitism. How does taking hundreds of millions of dollars from medical research help that?' Nadler said. 'Because there is antisemitism at Columbia, we're going to say more people should die of cancer, more people should get Alzheimer's?' Muslim and Arab leaders, too, say they are deeply concerned about Trump's campaign. Wa'el Alzayat, CEO of Emgage, a group that mobilizes Muslim voters, said the president is falsely equating support for Palestinians with antisemitism. 'It's protected by the First Amendment and it's not antisemitism,' Alzayat said. 'We strongly stand against antisemitism and all forms of hate, but this is not doing the Jewish community any favors. It is misusing a very important fight to achieve other objectives.' Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, added that 'it doesn't take a genius' to see that antisemitism is a real problem, but Trump is using it as a pretext to target Muslims. 'You cannot use bigotry to fight bigotry,' Awad said. 'The tactic of using Islamophobia to fight antisemitism is a nonstarter. Antisemitism and Islamophobia are two faces of the same coin, in my view.' Jews divided The U.S. Jewish community has rarely faced the level of internal turmoil it is now confronting. Even before the Oct. 7 attacks, American Jews were increasingly divided over Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pursued hard-right policies that pitted many Jews' traditional liberalism against their attachment to the world's only Jewish state. That tension escalated after the Hamas attacks and Israel's fierce response, as some younger Jews sided openly with Palestinian activists. Trump's victory added more fuel, as he proclaimed his determination to protect a Jewish community that supported his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, 78 percent to 22 percent. 'It puts Jews in a very difficult position,' said Jeff Sovern, whose father Michael Sovern was Columbia's first Jewish president in the 1980s. 'It's divisive among Jews, and also it makes it somewhat harder to defend action against antisemitism when you are troubled by what is being done to attack antisemitism.' Some liberals, including J Street's Ben-Ami, contend that leading Jewish groups have been too slow to condemn Trump's repressive actions taken in their name. 'There have been a few voices and an occasional murmur, but like too many other segments of our society - like corporate America and media companies or law firms or in some cases university presidents - too many people are bending the knee rather than standing up and fighting back,' Ben-Ami said. On April 1, Washington Post columnist Matt Bai took aim at the Anti-Defamation League, a leading group combating antisemitism, and its leader, Jonathan Greenblatt, for 'remaining silent during the Trump administration's thuggish roundup of pro-Palestinian activists.' Two days later, Greenblatt wrote a piece denouncing the administration's practice, as part of its antisemitism campaign, of targeting foreign nationals without due process. 'It was shocking to see the images of plainclothes officers stealing people off the streets in an act of rendition that seems straight out of a movie,' he wrote. Greenblatt's piece appeared as an opinion column on the eJewishPhilanthropy website, rather than as an official statement of the ADL. Efforts to reach Greenblatt through ADL were unsuccessful. A growing number of Jewish organizations are now publicly opposing Trump's tactics taken in the name of protecting their rights. On Tuesday, a coalition of 10 organizations, representing three of Judaism's four denominations, issued a statement saying that while antisemitism is an urgent problem, 'These actions do not make Jews - or any community - safer. Rather, they only make us less safe.' At the same time, many of the groups say Trump's focus on antisemitism is long overdue. In the Biden administration, second gentleman Doug Emhoff spearheaded a campaign against anti-Jewish discrimination, but Trump has made it a bigger part of his presidency. 'It's fair to say this is a 3,000-year-old problem, and we don't know what the solutions are,' Rayman said. 'It's easy to identify something as not the silver bullet. But until we find whatever the silver bullet is, we have to keep trying.'
Los Angeles Times
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Anti-Defamation League says anger at Israel now the driving force behind antisemitism in U.S.
NEW YORK — The Anti-Defamation League says the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States reached a record high last year and notes that 58% of the 9,354 incidents were related to Israel, notably chants, speeches and signs at rallies protesting Israeli policies. In a report released Tuesday, the ADL, which has produced annual tallies for 46 years, said it's the first time Israel-related incidents — 5,422 of them in 2024 — comprised more than half the total. A key reason is the widespread opposition to Israel's military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The ADL's findings add grist to an intense, divisive debate among American Jews — and others — over the extent to which vehement criticism of Israeli policies and of Zionism should be considered antisemitic. The debate has broadened as President Trump's administration makes punitive moves against universities it considers too lax in combating antisemitism and seeks to deport some pro-Palestinian campus activists. The upshot, for numerous Jewish leaders, is a balancing act: decrying flagrant acts of antisemitism as well as what they consider to be the administration's exploitation of the issue to target individuals and institutions it dislikes. 'The fears of antisemitism are legitimate and real — and we don't want to see those real fears exploited to undermine democracy,' said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. 'I feel that a majority of American Jews can believe that two things are true at the same time.' The ADL said in its new report it is 'careful to not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism.' But there are gray areas. For example, the ADL contends that vilification of Zionism — the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel — is a form of antisemitism, yet some Jews are among the critics of Zionism and of the ADL itself. Incidents at anti-Israel rallies that counted as antisemitism in the new ADL tally include 'justification or glorification of antisemitic violence, promotion of classic antisemitic tropes ... and signage equating Judaism or Zionism with Nazism.' Also counted were celebrations of the Hamas attack on Israel and 'unapologetic support for terrorism.' 'In 2024, hatred toward Israel was a driving force behind antisemitism across the U.S.,' said Oren Segal, who leads the ADL's efforts to combat extremism and terrorism. The report depicted university campuses as common venues for antisemitic incidents, saying many Jewish students 'face hostility, exclusion and sometimes physical danger because of their identity or their beliefs.' The experience of those students was evoked by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism — an umbrella group for more than 800 Reform congregations in North America — as he discussed the complexities arising from current antisemitism-related developments. 'We have an obligation to our students on campus,' Jacobs said. 'Can they go to Seder? Can they feel safe wearing a yarmulke?' 'At the same time, this current administration has weaponized the fight against antisemitism by weakening core democratic institutions,' Jacobs added. He referred to the detention and threatened deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old graduate student who served as a negotiator and spokesperson for pro-Palestinian activists at Columbia University. Khalil has been detained since March 8 despite facing no criminal charges. 'There has to be a legal case — not just you don't like what he says,' Jacobs said. 'What has kept Jewish people safe is the rule of law, due process. If it is undermined for Palestinians, it will be undermined for all of us.' The ADL dismayed some progressive Jewish leaders by welcoming Columbia's acquiescence in March to Trump administration demands and by initially commending the campaign targeting pro-Palestinian activists such as Khalil. Recent critics of the ADL include Michael Roth, the first Jewish president of Wesleyan University; political commentator Peter Beinart; and Columbia professor James Schamus, who has been urging his fellow Jews on the faculty to oppose the university's compliance with administration demands. Washington Post columnist Matt Bai wrote a scathing column about the ADL on April 1. 'You can't call yourself a civil rights organization in the United States right now — let alone a civil rights organization for a minority that has been brutally evicted all over the world — and not loudly oppose the cruel and unlawful removal of foreigners whose views happen to be out of fashion,' Bai wrote. Two days later, the ADL's CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, wrote an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy seeking to distance the ADL from aspects of the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. 'As an organization that has fought for a minority community for more than 100 years, ADL is incredibly sensitive to the importance of allowing all views to be expressed — even those that we or the majority of Americans disagree with,' Greenblatt wrote. 'We should be holding people accountable for actual crimes, not Orwellian thoughtcrimes.' 'We can protect the civil liberties of Jewish students even as we preserve the civil liberties of those who protest, harass or attack them because they are innocent until proven guilty,' he added. 'If we sacrifice our constitutional freedoms in the pursuit of security, we undermine the very foundation of the diverse, pluralistic society we seek to defend.' Beyond the Israel-related incidents, these were among the other findings in the new ADL report: — The total number of antisemitic incidents in 2024 was up by 344% from five years ago. — 196 incidents, targeting more than 250 people, were categorized as assault; none of these assaults were fatal. — 2,606 incidents were categorized as vandalism. Swastikas were present in 37% of these cases. — There were 647 bomb threats, most of them targeting synagogues. — Antisemitic incidents occurred in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. More than 10% of the incidents occurred in New York City. — There were 962 'antisemitic propaganda incidents' linked to white supremacist groups. Three groups — Patriot Front, Goyim Defense League and the White Lives Matter network — were responsible for 94% of this activity. The ADL says its annual report tallies criminal and noncriminal acts of harassment, vandalism and assault against individuals and groups as reported to the ADL by victims, law enforcement, the media and partner organizations, and then evaluated by ADL experts. Crary writes for the Associated Press.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Anti-Defamation League reports record number of antisemitic incidents
The Anti-Defamation League recorded a record amount of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. throughout 2024, with anger at Israel as the driving force behind them, according to a report released Tuesday. Each year since 1979, the ADL has tracked antisemitism in the U.S., and the 9,354 occurrences it recorded in 2024 were a record high — surpassing last year's then-record of 8,873 incidents. However, the organization has also faced increased criticism for how it defines antisemitism. For example, the phrase 'from the river to the sea,' a common chant at pro-Palestine protests nationwide, counts as antisemitic, according to the ADL. However, the ADL claims, 'Legitimate political protest, support for Palestinian rights or expressions of opposition to Israeli policies' do not automatically count as antisemitic. 'The fears of antisemitism are legitimate and real — and we don't want to see those real fears exploited to undermine democracy,' said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. 'I feel that a majority of American Jews can believe that two things are true at the same time.' Unsurprisingly given the criteria, the ADL found an 84% increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses compared to 2023. The organization said 18% of all antisemitic events occurred on campuses. New York led all states with 1,437 antisemitic incidents, according to the ADL. New Jersey was third with 719 such events. More than half of all 9,354 antisemitic incidents were related to Israel, the ADL said. 'Israel-related incidents' accounted for 2,856 events, and 'incidents at anti-Israel rallies' accounted for 2,596 incidents, according to the ADL. The ADL has also been criticized for standing by as President Trump's administration targets certain students for participating in pro-Palestine rallies. 'We appreciate the Trump Administration's broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism — and this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions,' the ADL said after Mahmoud Khalil was detained in March. With News Wire Services
New York Post
22-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Antisemitism in US fueled by anger at Israel, ADL says
The Anti-Defamation League says the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States reached a record high last year and notes that 58% of the 9,354 incidents related to Israel, notably chants, speeches, and signs at rallies protesting Israeli policies. In a report released Tuesday, the ADL, which has produced annual tallies for 46 years, said it's the first time Israel-related incidents — 5,422 of them in 2024 — comprised more than half the total. A key reason is the widespread opposition to Israel's military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The ADL's findings add grist to an intense, divisive debate among American Jews — and others — over the extent to which vehement criticism of Israeli policies and of Zionism should be considered antisemitic. Advertisement 6 The Anti-Defamation League says the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States reached a record high last year. AP Political backdrop The debate has broadened as President Donald Trump's administration makes punitive moves against universities it considers too lax in combating antisemitism and seeks to deport some pro-Palestinian campus activists. The upshot, for numerous Jewish leaders, is a balancing act: Decrying flagrant acts of antisemitism as well as what they consider to be the administration's exploitation of the issue to target individuals and institutions it dislikes. Advertisement 'The fears of antisemitism are legitimate and real — and we don't want to see those real fears exploited to undermine democracy,' said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. 'I feel that a majority of American Jews can believe that two things are true at the same time.' 6 A man displays an Israeli flag at a demonstration in NYC on March 10, 2025. AP The ADL said in its new report that it is 'careful to not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism.' But there are gray areas. For example, the ADL contends that vilification of Zionism — the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel — is a form of antisemitism, yet some Jews are among the critics of Zionism and of the ADL itself. Incidents at anti-Israel rallies that counted as antisemitism in the new ADL tally include 'justification or glorification of antisemitic violence, promotion of classic antisemitic tropes … and signage equating Judaism or Zionism with Nazism.' Also counted were celebrations of the Hamas attack on Israel and 'unapologetic support for terrorism.' Advertisement 'In 2024, hatred toward Israel was a driving force behind antisemitism across the U.S.,' said Oren Segal, who leads the ADL's efforts to combat extremism and terrorism. 6 The debate has broadened as President Donald Trump's administration makes punitive moves against universities it considers too lax in combating antisemitism and seeks to deport some pro-Palestinian campus activists. REUTERS Keeping Jewish students safe The report depicted university campuses as common venues for antisemitic incidents, saying many Jewish students 'face hostility, exclusion, and sometimes physical danger because of their identity or their beliefs.' The experience of those students was evoked by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism — an umbrella group for more than 800 Reform congregations in North America — as he discussed the complexities arising from current antisemitism-related developments. Advertisement 'We have an obligation to our students on campus,' Jacobs said. 'Can they go to Seder? Can they feel safe wearing a yarmulke?' 'At the same time, this current administration has weaponized the fight against antisemitism by weakening core democratic institutions,' Jacobs added. He referred to the detention and threatened deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old graduate student who served as a negotiator and spokesperson for pro-Palestinian activists at Columbia University. Khalil has been detained since March 8 despite facing no criminal charges. 'There has to be a legal case — not just you don't like what he says,' Jacobs said. 'What has kept Jewish people safe is the rule of law, due process. If it is undermined for Palestinians, it will be undermined for all of us.' Criticism of ADL The ADL dismayed some progressive Jewish leaders by welcoming Columbia's acquiescence in March to Trump administration demands and by initially commending the campaign targeting pro-Palestinian activists such as Khalil. Recent critics of the ADL include Michael Roth, the first Jewish president of Wesleyan University; political commentator Peter Beinart; and Columbia professor James Schamus, who has been urging his fellow Jews on the faculty to oppose the university's compliance with administration demands. Washington Post columnist Matt Bai wrote a scathing column about the ADL on April 1. Advertisement 6 Protesters rally in Times Square to oppose the detention of Mahmoud Khalil on April 12, 2025. James Keivom 'You can't call yourself a civil rights organization in the United States right now — let alone a civil rights organization for a minority that has been brutally evicted all over the world — and not loudly oppose the cruel and unlawful removal of foreigners whose views happen to be out of fashion,' Bai wrote. Two days later, the ADL's CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, wrote an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy seeking to distance the ADL from aspects of the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. 'As an organization that has fought for a minority community for more than 100 years, ADL is incredibly sensitive to the importance of allowing all views to be expressed — even those that we or the majority of Americans disagree with,' Greenblatt wrote. 'We should be holding people accountable for actual crimes, not Orwellian thoughtcrimes.' Advertisement 6 Pro-Palestinian protesters gather at Times Square on March 15, 2025. James Keivom 'We can protect the civil liberties of Jewish students even as we preserve the civil liberties of those who protest, harass, or attack them because they are innocent until proven guilty,' he added. 'If we sacrifice our constitutional freedoms in the pursuit of security, we undermine the very foundation of the diverse, pluralistic society we seek to defend.' Beyond the Israel-related incidents, these were among the other findings in the new ADL report: — The total number of antisemitic incidents in 2024 was up by 344% from five years ago. Advertisement — 196 incidents, targeting more than 250 people, were categorized as assault; none of these assaults were fatal. 6 Protesters supporting Mahmoud Khalil rally in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., April 12, 2025. REUTERS — 2,606 incidents were categorized as vandalism. Swastikas were present in 37% of these cases. — There were 647 bomb threats, most of them targeting synagogues. Advertisement — Antisemitic incidents occurred in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. More than 10% of the incidents occurred in New York City. — There were 962 'antisemitic propaganda incidents' linked to white supremacist groups. Three groups — Patriot Front, Goyim Defense League, and the White Lives Matter network — were responsible for 94% of this activity. The ADL says its annual report tallies criminal and noncriminal acts of harassment, vandalism, and assault against individuals and groups as reported to the ADL by victims, law enforcement, the media, and partner organizations, and then evaluated by ADL experts.
