Anti-Semitic incidents up 337% since Oct. 7 Hamas attacks: ADL

AUSTIN, Texas - After the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7th, there has been a spike in reports of anti-Semitism across the country, including vandalism, harassment and assault, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL says that it has recorded 2,031 anti-Semitic incidents between Oct 7 and Dec. 7. During the same period last year, the ADL says it recorded 465 incidents, marking a 337% increase.

The reports since Oct. 7 include 40 incidents of physical assault, 337 incidents of vandalism, 749 incidents of verbal or written harassment and 905 rallies including antisemitic rhetoric, expressions of support for terrorism against the state of Israel and/or anti-Zionism. 

Jake Kurz with the ADL joins FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren to discuss.

MIKE WARREN: You are reporting an over 300% increase in incidents. How did you get to that percentage number?

JAKE KURZ: Really, most of it comes in through our online portal, ADL.org, where folks can report incidents of anti-Semitism or hate of any kind, be it anti-Muslim or racism or you name it. So we get a lot of those reports from that portal, then we go in and, you know, do a little bit of investigative work to ensure that it, in fact, was an anti-Semitic event.

MIKE WARREN: Why did this attack on the other side of the world trigger these incidents here?[3.9]

JAKE KURZ: You know, that's a great question. I think it has a lot to do with our divisions in this country and honestly, worldwide. It may have something to do with our attention to social media and people getting further and further down a rabbit hole of hate there. And then in addition, it's our inability, I think, to come together and have conversations around some of these events to where we can, you know, come to some sort of peaceful resolution here in our country.

MORE ON THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

• UT Austin plans to punish pro-Palestine protesters accused of violating university rules
• Harvard president to remain in position following backlash on antisemitism testimony
• Israel knew about Hamas attack over a year in advance, New York Times report says

MIKE WARREN: In this study, where does the Anti-Defamation League draw the line between the right of free speech and anti-Semitic harassment?

JAKE KURZ: Yeah. So not all speech is free, right? If it poses a significant threat or if it's, for example, calling for genocide of a particular people, that's something we can't support and is actually not supported by the law. So in our mind, colleges at the very least could put some language in their handbooks to say that calling for genocide of a particular people is against their policy. And that's really what we're looking for.

MIKE WARREN: While you're talking about that, we've been showing some video of so many of these anti-Israel demonstrations across the country since this incident. So you consider those demonstrations as part of this anti-Semitic harassment?

JAKE KURZ: Not necessarily. The only reason we might consider those actually anti-Semitic is that they're calling for elimination of Israel entirely or there are anti-Semitic signs or language. There's anti-Semitic language being, you know, spouted during those events. For us, we found that only about 25% actually contain those items that make it an anti-Semitic event.

MORE FOX 7 DISCUSSIONS

• Judge rules against City of Austin in zoning lawsuit
• Passenger rail connecting Austin and San Antonio proposed
• Texas judge orders DPS to release Uvalde shooting records

MIKE WARREN: And that 25% went into your calculations for an over 300% increase.

JAKE KURZ: That is correct, yes. So if we would have had just any collection of individuals who were protesting Israel and, you know, that would have been that much more.

MIKE WARREN: Okay. All right. We're out of time for now. But Jake Kurz with the Anti-Defamation League, thanks for joining us.

JAKE KURZ: Thank you guys so much for having me.