According to FBI data, anti-Semitic incidents increased by 63% in 2023

Jews were the target of 1,832 hate crimes last year, far more than any other religious group and a sharp increase from 2022, according to FBI data published on Monday.

The number of anti-Jewish hate crimes last year, when Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel sparked a global surge in anti-Semitism, was up 63% from 2022, when 1,122 incidents were reported.

Jews, who make up about 2.5% of the U.S. population, are regularly more likely to be victims of hate crimes than any other religious group, according to FBI data. In 2023, Jews were the target of 68% of all religiously motivated hate crimes and 15% of the 11,862 hate crimes against all groups. This total number of incidents represents an increase of about 250 from 2022.

“At a time when the Jewish community is still reeling from the sharp rise in anti-Semitism following the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel, the record number of anti-Semitic hate crimes is sadly entirely consistent with the Jewish community's experiences and the ADL's observations,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, which has also found record numbers of anti-Semitic incidents in its own reports.

Muslims were the second most affected religious group, victims of a total of 236 incidents, an increase from the 205 recorded in 2022. Black Americans, who about 13% of the US populationwere victims of 3,027 hate crimes and were the only group that was more frequently the victim of hate crimes than Jews.

According to the FBI, 16,009 agencies across the country reported hate crime data, covering 95.2% of the U.S. population, although not all agencies reported data for every month of the year. As in previous years, several major cities did not report hate crime data, a situation that Jewish organizations have long sought to remedy through legislation. For 2023, several major cities, such as Orlando, Florida, and Newark, New Jersey, reported no data.

A single incident may involve multiple crimes, for example if an offender committed assault and intimidation simultaneously. In total, there were 2,002 crimes against Jews, including 1,000 cases of vandalism, 700 of intimidation, 112 cases of assault, and 62 of aggravated assault. There were seven cases of anti-Semitic arson, and the FBI recorded no anti-Semitic murders.

There were 2,069 Jewish victims, including 1,136 adults and 128 minors.

Jewish groups said the data, while alarming, did not fully reflect the threat to American Jews.

The reported anti-Semitic incidents have “severely disrupted the way of life of many American Jews,” said Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee. “It is unacceptable that in America, of all places, there are an average of nearly five anti-Semitic hate crimes per day.”

Different groups use different standards and methods to quantify the extent of anti-Semitism in the United States. The AJC said the number of anti-Semitic incidents is “likely higher, as hate crimes are largely underreported across the country.” That assessment was shared by the Secure Community Network, a Jewish security agency, which said it recorded more than 5,400 threats and suspicious incidents in 2023 and said the FBI's report “does not fully reflect the extent of the threat.” The ADL's 2023 report counted 8,873 anti-Semitic incidents.