by Sylvia Mendoza
In general, hate crimes are on the rise in the United States. Of the 11,862 reported hate crimes in 2023, 1,832 were due to antisemitism, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2023 Hate Crime Statistics Report. That is a 63% increase over 2022 numbers.
In the Garden State, bias incidents are also on the rise. According to data compiled by the New Jersey State Police, released by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, anti-Black and anti-Jewish bias is the most common race- and religion-based motivations for reported bias incidents in 2023. In fact, anti-Jewish bias represented 22% of all bias reported incidents.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a non-profit organization that fights antisemitism, bigotry and discrimination, keeps its own count of hate incidents against Jewish people on a national scale—both criminal and non-criminal acts. ADL has been tracking antisemitic incidents since 1979 and splits them into three categories—verbal or written harassment, vandalism, and physical assault. By their measure, nearly 8,900 anti-Jewish hate incidents and/or crimes occurred nationwide in 2023. By comparison, ADL recorded nearly 3,400 incidents in 2022. A hate incident is one that is driven by hate but which is not a crime. For example, name-calling may be motivated by hate but is not a criminal act.
According to a preliminary report issued by ADL’s Center for Extremism, California had the highest number of incidents—1,266. New York had 1,218 antisemitic incidents, followed by New Jersey with 830. ADL will issue a final report in spring 2025.
“Data show the vast majority of ethnic hate crimes are against Jews, regardless of their percentage of a population, whether it’s the nation as a whole, or in municipalities or cities,” explains Alan Abbey, a research fellow at the Jewish research think tank, Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel. Abbey also publishes the online edition of The Jerusalem Post, the oldest and largest English-language daily newspaper in Israel.
What is antisemitism?
According to the U.S. State Department’s website: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” That definition comes from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which is part of the United Nations. It is a non-legally binding working definition.
“The IHRA definition has become the preeminent and most widely accepted definition and learning tool used around the world when it comes to understanding manifestations of antisemitism today,” explains Scott Richman, the Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League for New York and New Jersey. “Many people do not understand the long history of antisemitism, going back thousands of years, how antisemitism manifests today, or even what it means to be Jewish. A definition provides critical education and guidance to help people understand the complex ways that antisemitism can manifest today so that we can call it out and combat it where we see it.”
The State Department website lists contemporary examples of antisemitism. These examples also come from the IHRA and include: (1) Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews (often in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion). (2) Making mendacious [dishonest], dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as a collective—especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions. (3) Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, the state of Israel, or even for acts committed by non-Jews. (4) Accusing Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust. (5) Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interest of their own nations.
The website also contains this disclaimer: “However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
Defining antisemitism in New Jersey
While 37 states and Washington D.C. have adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, efforts to adopt it in New Jersey have met with resistance. The New Jersey bill [S1292] would adopt the IHRA definition, which would be used to determine whether an alleged act was motivated by antisemitism. In addition, the bill would appropriate $100,000 for a public awareness campaign to combat antisemitism.
Freedom of speech is the primary concern with New Jersey’s bill. Critics, including some Jewish organizations, claim that if signed into law, it would punish criticism of Israel. In June 2024, hundreds of people spoke at New Jersey Senate committee hearings that debated the pros and cons of adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism in New Jersey and the passage of S1292. The public hearings lasted more than nine hours over two days.
At the hearings, Emma Horowitz, a resident of Teaneck who supports the bill, said, “In order to combat something, we must be able to define it, and this is something that law enforcement and other communal institutions have long struggled to do.”
Renee Steinhagan, a Jewish woman, criticized the bill, saying, “By making the Israeli government immune from criticism it will exacerbate antisemitism. It shields the Israeli state from criticism and fosters hostility and rage against Jews.”
At press time, S1292 had been reported out of committee; however, no other movement on the legislation had been taken in the New Jersey State Senate. Should the New Jersey Senate pass the bill, it would still need support from the New Jersey State Assembly and the signature of the governor in order to become law.
“Whatever the definition of antisemitism, considering it as a form of hate speech is only the beginning of the analysis, because one of the distinctive features of American free speech law is that in most contexts, there is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment and to the protection of free speech,” explains Perry Dane, a professor at Rutgers Law School in Camden who focuses on Jewish and constitutional law. “So, people have a right to spew whatever hate they want. And in many contexts, there’s no legal consequence.”
Continued efforts to educate
In May 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships launched an Antisemitism Awareness Campaign, which is aimed at educators, students, parents and communities, and provides the necessary tools to address the issue.
In 2023, the federal government released the first ever National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, one of the most comprehensive and ambitious efforts to counter antisemitism in American history. The strategy implores both parties to condemn antisemitism in all its forms. Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, a former special envoy at the U.S. State Department appointed to monitor and combat antisemitism abroad, called this “taking politics out of the issue.”
In an op-ed for The New York Times, Dr. Lipstadt wrote that antisemitism goes beyond the threat to the Jewish people. She said that terrorist organizations that perpetuate antisemitic ideologies are not just sowing hatred against Jews.
“The primary goal may not be only to spread Jew hatred, but to use Jew hatred to sow societal divisions and make all of us doubt the political health and strength of the democratic world,” Dr. Lipstadt wrote. “Anything that erodes the rule of law and undermines our national security must be confronted collectively.”
Discussion Questions
- What do you think leaders and people in the community can do about increased attacks against Jewish people?
- Do you agree or disagree with Dr. Lipstadt that spreading hatred against Jews threatens more than just the Jewish people? Explain your answer.
Glossary Words
antisemitic—being prejudice or hostile toward Jewish people.
antisemitism —prejudice or hostility toward Jewish people.
This article originally appeared in the Respect winter 2025 issue.
BONUS CONTENT: Dispelling Anti-Semitic Tropes
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) conducts a survey every year to determine Americans’ attitudes toward Jewish people. In its 2023 survey, ADL asked respondents to rate the truthfulness of 14 negative Jewish stereotypes, also called tropes or “canards,” which is characterized as a baseless rumor. ADL’s survey found that one in five Americans agree with at least six of those tropes.
There are many antisemitic tropes or canards that have been repeated and perpetuated over time, with some overlapping others. In order to dispel these myths, it is helpful to know where they came from and how they have continued to thrive even in modern times. Below are just a few of these tropes.
Domination and Control
According to advocates, the Domination and Control trope is the one most commonly used and believed in today’s society. For example, in 2022, a gunman in Colleyville, TX targeted a synagogue because he believed that Jews had the power to free a convicted terrorist serving an 86-year sentence in New York City, whom he wanted released.
This particular trope dates back to the Middle Ages and has adapted over the years. It was reinforced in 1903 with the publication of an antisemitic text, titled “The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion,” which falsely claimed to be minutes from a meeting of Jewish leaders where plans for global domination were discussed. Adolph Hitler used the lies in this document to spread hatred for the Jewish people by blaming them for economic hardships experienced by Germans. It was even used as a teaching tool in German schools to reinforce hatred of the Jews. This conspiracy theory is still prevalent today with repeated false accusations that Jews control the world financial system and the media, including the press, and the music and film industries. ADL’s 2023 survey revealed that 26% of respondents believe that Jews have too much power in the business world.
Wealth and Greed
The Wealth and Greed trope goes hand-in-hand with the Domination and Control trope. This one dates back to Medieval Times when Christians thought of money lending as a sin. Money lending was one of the few occupations that Jews were allowed to have at that time. The Wealth and Greed trope has been perpetuated in literature and the arts for centuries. For example, Shakespeare’s character of Shylock, the money lender in the Merchant of Venice, is probably the most famous example of the stereotypical greedy Jew, helping to perpetuate the myth.
Those who push this trope often point to Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, as an example of Jewish greed even though all the disciples and Jesus himself were Jewish. The trope became so normalized that in the 1930s the Oxford English Dictionary contained a definition for the word “Jew” that stated, “to cheat.” The false narrative of the wealthy Jew was included in much of the Nazi propaganda, cementing anti-Jewish sentiment among the Germans, which led to the atrocities of the Holocaust. The trope still endures today. The ADL survey revealed that 20% of Americans agreed with the statement: “Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want.”
Deicide
Deicide is the act of killing a divine being. In 2020, ADL reported that 27% of Americans still believed that the Jews killed Jesus, committing deicide. Believers of this trope see Jesus’ trial as a conflict between Jews and Christians, even though Christianity wasn’t founded until after Jesus’ death. Hitler used the trope of the Jew as “Christ Killer” to win the support of the German people in exterminating the Jews. The Vatican disavowed the deicide trope in the 1960s, saying that the Jewish people must not be held responsible for Jesus’ death, yet the canard still persists today.