SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuesday, April 22, released its 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents revealing that antisemitic activity San Diego has surged to historic levels. The report also shows a sustained and alarming rise in antisemitic acts nationwide, with 2024 marking the fourth consecutive year of record-setting incidents.
Across the country, there were 9,354 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism across the country in 2024. This total represents a 5 percent increase from 2023 (already a record-setting year), a 344 percent increase over the past five years, an 893 percent increase over the past 10 years and is the highest level recorded since ADL started tracking this data in 1979.
In San Diego, antisemitic incidents increased significantly across most major categories in 2024. The region saw a 379% increase in incidents over the last five years from 29 incidents in 2020 to 139 incidents in 2024.
Additional data for San Diego:
- 139 total incidents of antisemitism — up 28% from 108 in 2023
- 105 incidents of harassment — up 19% from 88 in 2023
- 30 incidents of vandalism — up 67% from 18 in 2023
- 4 incidents of assault — up 100% increase from 2 in 2023
- 27 incidents on college campuses — up 125% from 12 in 2023
- 15 incidents at K–12 schools — down 29% from 21 in 2023
“These numbers are deeply disturbing, especially the sharp increase in campus-related antisemitism and violent assaults,” said Fabienne Perlov, Regional Director of ADL San Diego. “We are seeing a disturbing normalization of antisemitic rhetoric and hate in our local schools, public spaces, and institutions of higher education. The Jewish community in San Diego – and across the country – deserves to live and learn without fear.”
Given the rise of antisemitic vandalism, ADL San Diego sponsored the Stop Hate Littering Act (AB 3024) led by Assemblymember Chris Ward. The San Diego community witnessed a precipitous rise of antisemitic flyering in recent years. The bill, signed into law in 2024, was a response to this increase in hate littering and is a foundational first step in addressing that tactic which seeks to instill fear in the community.
“The surge we’re witnessing is not just in numbers but in intensity and boldness,” Perlov added. “We are urging community leaders, educators, law enforcement and elected officials to take this seriously. Antisemitism is not a Jewish problem – it is a societal problem, and the time to act is now.”
How the Public Can Support the Fight Against Antisemitism
Good data drives good policy. With ADL’s extensive tracking of antisemitic incidents, the organization can successfully advocate for legislation to protect the Jewish community. If you experience or witness an incident of antisemitism, please report it to it to ADL at www.adl.org/report-incident.
You can contact local legislators to urge them to advocate to increase funding for the state Nonprofit Security Grant Program which protects faith institutions from the barrage of extremist threats they face every day, enhance Holocaust education across all educational levels, and affirm the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism as a framework for understanding classic and modern manifestations of this hate.
Major National Findings
- 9,354 incidents of antisemitism across the United Statesrepresenting a 5% increase from 2023. The massive spike in antisemitic incidents following the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel continued in 2024, with totals again exceeding any other annual tally in the past 46 years. The 12-month total for 2024 averaged more than 25 targeted anti-Jewish incidents in the U.S. per day, more than one an hour.
- Assaults: 196 incidents (a 21 percent increase from 2023) were categorized as assault, defined as cases where Jewish people (or people perceived to be Jewish) were targeted with physical violence accompanied by evidence of antisemitic animus. Orthodox Jews were targeted in 30 percentof assaults. The 196 incidents of assault targeted at least 250 victims, none of these assaults were fatal.
- Vandalism: 2,606 incidents (a 20 percent increase from 2023) were categorized as vandalism, defined as cases where property was damaged along with evidence of antisemitic intent or where there was an antisemitic impact on Jews. Swastikas, which are generally interpreted as symbols of antisemitic hatred, were present in 37 percent of these cases.
- Harassment: 6,552 incidents (up from 6,535 incidents recorded in 2023) were categorized as harassment, defined as cases where one or more Jewish people (or people perceived to be Jewish) were harassed with language that includes antisemitic slurs, stereotypes or tropes. There were 647 bomb threats. The harassment category also includes many of the expressions of antisemitism occurring at anti-Israel rallies described above.
- Incidents on (or around) college and university campuses rose more steeply than any other location type. In 2024, ADL recorded 1,694 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, which is 84 percent higher than in 2023. Campus incidents comprised 18 percent of all incidents, a larger proportion than in any previous Audit.
- Antisemitic activity also increased by 19 percent in public areas (3,452 incidents) and by 11 percent at business establishments, including Jewish-owned businesses. 860 incidents were reported at non-Jewish K-12 schools in 2024, a decrease of 26 percent. Given the insidious nature of bullying, compounded by the fact that many children may not feel empowered to report their experiences, it is likely that the actual number of school-based antisemitic incidents was significantly higher than the data reported in the Audit.
- Antisemitic incidents occurred in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The states with the highest levels of incidents were New York (1,437) and California (1,344). Their largest cities, New York City (976) and Los Angeles (297), also reported the most incidents.
Methodology
The ADL Audit includes both criminal and non-criminal acts of harassment, vandalism and assault against individuals and groups as reported to ADL by victims, law enforcement, the media and partner organizations and evaluated by ADL’s experts.
The complete dataset for antisemitic incidents for 2016-2024 is available on ADL’s H.E.A.T. Map, an interactive online tool that allows users to geographically chart antisemitic incidents and extremist activity. The full dataset can also be downloaded by anyone who would like to take a closer look at individual incidents.
ADL is careful to not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism. Legitimate political protest, support for Palestinian rights or expressions of opposition to Israeli policies is not included in the Audit. ADL’s approach to Israel-related expressions comports with the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
The complete Audit methodology is included in the report on our website.
The Audit offers a snapshot of one of the ways American Jews encounter antisemitism, but a full understanding of antisemitism in the U.S. requires other forms of analysis as well, including public opinion polling, assessments of online antisemitism and examinations of extremist activity, all of which ADL offers in other reports, such as: ADL Survey of Antisemitic Attitudes in America 2024, Campus Antisemitism One Year After the Hamas Terrorist Attacks, the ADL Global 100: Index of Antisemitism, Online Hate and Harassment: The American Experience and White Supremacist Propaganda Assessment Focused on Jews and Immigrants in 2024.
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Preceding provided by the Anti-Defamation League.