Anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim harassment complaints spike in Philly region

The first month of the Israel-Hamas war has led to a significant uptick in reported acts targeting Jewish, Muslim, and Arab residents in the Philadelphia area, according to advocacy groups that track such complaints.

Advocates said the spike is alarming but perhaps not surprising, given the social upheaval brought by the latest chapter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Reports of harassment and violence against both Jews and Muslims have spiked nationwide since the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7 and the ensuing military siege in the Gaza Strip.

In Philadelphia, Andrew Goretsky, regional director for the local Anti-Defamation League chapter, said his office received more than 100 complaints since the war began. That total may fall as cases are investigated, but Goretsky said it nonetheless represents more than double the volume of a typical month.

“The volume is heavier — and the vileness with it,” Goretsky said. “We had 500 [complaints] for all of 2022,” he said.

The Council for American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group, tracked 1,283 acts of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias nationwide over the last month, describing the spike as an “unprecedented” increase at more than triple the average volume for the same period last year. About 50 of those new claims came from the Philadelphia region, said Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, executive director of CAIR-Philadelphia.

“For us, it definitely feels like post-9/11 with the range of cases and the different situations,” he said.

Harassment and vandalism, ethnic slurs and assaults, intimidation and bullying — the alleged acts ranged in severity and touched virtually every corner of life in the region, from schools to office buildings to public spaces.

Goretsky said most cases under review by the ADL involved slurs and vandalism, with 17 allegedly occurring on college campuses and 22 at K-12 schools. The bulk could be linked to the war, but also included what Goretsky described as the typical antisemitic acts the ADL might track in a normal month, such as public sightings of swastikas and white supremacist literature.

In one new case, he said, a Jewish man reported that his yarmulke was ripped off his head while he was in public. Goretsky said he personally attended a pro-Israel rally after the Hamas attack at which a woman yelled “Heil Hitler” at the crowd. “It’s utterly horrific and there’s no excuse for that type of behavior,” he said.

Tekelioglu said harassment and bullying at schools and on the streets was a common complaint among Muslim and Arab residents. At least one local business endured shouting and threats from visitors over its public support for Palestine, he added: “People are shouting baseless claims and other anti-Palestinian messaging, and accusing them of being pro-Hamas.”

Both the ADL and CAIR acknowledged that some of the acts may not meet the legal threshold for discrimination or ethnic intimidation. But the reported volume nonetheless speaks to the inflamed divisions wrought by the conflict, and the challenges employers and universities face as they grapple with the volatile public discourse and fears over public safety.

Whether in social media posts, public statements, or rally slogans, language itself has been the most common and perhaps most slippery source of grievance.

Philadelphia’s largest universities have seen a number of blatant antisemitic acts as well as fractious debates over what defines antisemitic speech on campus. The University of Pennsylvania, in particular, has been roiled by complaints of antisemitism and now faces a federal complaint accusing the school of failing to proactively root out such behavior. Other students, meanwhile, have accused university leaders at Penn, Temple and Drexel of pro-Israel bias in failing to support Palestinian students through their public statements.

Tekelioglu said many cases under review by CAIR also deal with alleged workplace retaliation over pro-Palestinian social media posts. Such cases have made headlines nationwide, and in some instances led to high-profile firings due to the inflammatory nature of the posts, but Tekelioglu said such complaints created a chilling effect on Arab and Muslim workers in the region.

Some now fear that expressing public support for Palestine could lead to their being labeled terrorist sympathizers and losing their jobs. “That level of censorship, that level of panic ... our community has not seen this since 9/11, not even at the height of the Trump presidency,” he said.

Tekelioglu said at least two people reported that FBI agents had questioned them about their pro-Palestinian social media activity. (A spokesperson for the FBI field office in Philadelphia said it could not confirm whether such visits occurred, but said that the government “will never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity, including a person’s political beliefs or affiliations.”)

While the ADL focuses on tracking antisemitism, Goretsky said, his office asked local law enforcement to increase patrols at both Jewish and Muslim institutions in the city after Oct. 7, as he knew the vitriol incited by the conflict would not be targeted at just one ethnic or religious group.

“This unfortunately wasn’t unexpected,” he said.