Antisemitic incidents in Pennsylvania rose sharply in 2023 amid Israel-Hamas war, new ADL report says

Pennsylvania saw a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in 2023, amid a nationwide surge of reported antisemitism fueled by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.

The prominent Jewish advocacy group found that attacks on Jewish people went up both nationally and locally last year. Across the nation, ADL tracked 8,873 antisemitic incidents — a 140% increase over the previous year. That figure includes 1,352 pro-Palestinian protests and rallies that the organization dubbed antisemitic, a recent decision in their calculus that has been met with sharp criticism.

Pennsylvania accounted for 394 incidents, the sixth-highest total, most of them originating between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. That marked a 246% increase over the 114 incidents documented by ADL in the commonwealth in 2022.

Andrew Goretsky, the ADL’s regional director, emphasized that — even if you discount the protests — the ADL data represent an irrefutable surge.

“Antisemitic incidents, regardless of how you decide to look at it, are significantly on the rise and must be addressed,” Goretsky said. “There is a lot of anti-Jewish rhetoric that goes on in our state and in our city that isn’t challenged in the way that it needs to be.”

The nationwide increase in antisemitic incidents coincides with a similarly sharp uptick in Islamophobic attacks since the war began, according to Arab-American and Muslim advocacy groups, including the shooting of a Haverford College student and two other Palestinian American men in Vermont.

The annual report follows an unaudited survey published in January that highlighted the alarming surge in antisemitic incidents during the first several months of Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. For the first time since it began tracking antisemitism in the 1970s, the ADL expanded its definition of antisemitism to include certain protests that deploy language critical of Israel or such political slogans as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a sentiment that some have used as a rallying cry for the destruction of Israel.

Vetting hundreds of complaints statewide, the annual audit found antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and assaults were also trending upward prior to the Oct. 7 attack, after which Goretsky saw an “exponential” rise in reports.

Four of the five physical assaults in Pennsylvania last year — up from zero in 2022 — occurred before the October attack on Israel.

Goretsky said those cases took place in K-12 school settings. In one instance, a non-Jewish student forcefully shoved a Jewish student into a locker, telling him to “move it, Jew.” In another case, students forced Jewish classmates to segregate themselves on a school bus, while calling them slurs.

The ADL director said the setting of these assaults raises questions about broader currents of anti-Jewish rhetoric in the United States, which the organization linked to the rise of the alt-right and white supremacist propaganda: “How are we talking about rising hate and rising antisemitism in general? What are children hearing from their parents? From society?”

Antisemitic vandalism, harassment, and other threats also increased across the board last year.

Pennsylvania logged 303 cases of harassment toward Jewish people or those perceived to be Jewish.

The commonwealth also logged 86 cases of antisemitic vandalism, a third of which included a swastika, up from just 29 in 2022. (As with protests, the ADL broadened its definition of antisemitic vandalism post-Oct. 7 to include certain political slogans.)

Bomb threats spiked from 10 cases in 2022 to 51 last year. “The majority of these are hoaxes, but in the end we have to take every one of these seriously,” Goretsky said.

The ADL audit did not include documented incidents that have occurred in 2024 — including a recent series of threats targeting synagogues and other Jewish institutions.

Last week, leaders at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History said someone sent an anonymous letter threatening the museum’s CEO and building near Independence Mall. The incident was reported to multiple law enforcement agencies.

And in an unrelated incident, the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed that an anonymous group sent bomb threats to several synagogues and other Jewish institutions throughout the region. “Our mission is to leave as many people as possible in a pool of blood,” the message said, according to a department official.

Such incidents, Goretsky said, cause significant strife for organizations, often disrupting operations for days on end.

“It creates a lot of fear, and it’s a very significant form of harassment — even if it’s just a hoax,” he said.

Nationwide, the ADL said, 36% of all cases last year referenced Israel or Zionism, the belief that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people.

Goretsky said the organization included only those with “specific rhetoric” — such as mentions of Jewish power or Jewish control of the media, as well as certain protest slogans that the organization deemed an existential threat to Israel. The organization reviewed more than 1,800 recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations. About three-quarters of those were included in the final audited report, counting toward the 8,873 incidents.

Pro-Palestinian activists have criticized the ADL’s newly updated methodology, arguing that conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism sets a dangerous precedent.

Goretsky said in some cases the distinction was much clearer. In one case, he said, he personally witnessed someone in Center City perform a Nazi salute as a pro-Israel demonstration passed through Center City.

“That’s not about supporting Palestinian rights,” he said, “that’s about antisemitism and Jew hatred.”

For comparison, Goretsky said that New Jersey clocked 830 antisemitic incidents last year, with 69 in southern New Jersey, including three bomb threats, 20 acts of vandalism, and 44 harassment cases.