ADL Reports Spike in Antisemitic Assaults

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently released their annual audit on the state of antisemitism in the United States.

The annual audit states that 2025 was one of the most violent years on record for American Jews. Physical assaults reached record high levels and resulted in fatalities for the first time in four years. There were 6,274 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment, and vandalism in 2025, an average of 17 incidents per day. More than 200 physical assaults were reported, and it was the first time that a high number of physical assaults were recorded since the ADL began tracking incidents of antisemitism in 1979. Physical assaults increased by four percent, and incidents of assault involving a deadly weapon increased by 39 percent.

“The record number of incidents of anti-Jewish vandalism locally is particularly concerning because anti-Jewish hate escalated into record violence nationally,” said Todd Young, regional director of ADL Southeast. “If increasing numbers of individuals are brazen enough to damage property, we worry that violence may not be far behind.”

While there has been an overall decrease from the previous year, it remains higher than the totals in years prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. Moreover, three people were murdered in antisemitic attacks on American soil: Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky outside the Capitol Jewish Museum on May 21, 2025, and Karen Diamond, who succumbed to her wounds after a firebombing attack at a Run For Their Lives event in Boulder, Colo., in support of hostage release efforts. It was the highest number since 2019.

The main findings of the report include:
• Assaults: 203 incidents were categorized as assault, an increase of four percent compared to 2024 (196 incidents).
• Incidents of assault involving a deadly weapon increased to 32 in 2025 from 23 in 2024.
• At least 300 people were victimized by incidents of assault.
• Vandalism: 2,068 incidents (a 21 percent decrease from 2024) were categorized as vandalism.
• Harassment: 4,003 incidents (a 39 percent decrease from 2024) were categorized as harassment.
• Geographic Reach: Antisemitic incidents occurred in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The states with the highest levels of incidents were New York (1,160), California (817), and New Jersey (687).

College campuses saw a 66 percent decrease in incidents, marking the highest decline of any location type. This was in part due to colleges addressing antisemitism on their campuses by strictly enforcing campus protest and open expression policies. New rules banning encampments, overnight demonstrations, and building takeovers curbed the large-scale campus disruptions seen in 2024.

In Georgia, the overall number of antisemitic incidents decreased from 163 in 2024 to 83 in 2025. Thirty-two out of 83 incidents occurred in Atlanta, and 2025 saw an increase in vandalism from 25 to 29 incidents. Incidents of harassment decreased by 61 percent, and due to the decrease in harassment, Georgia experienced a 49 percent decrease in total incidents from 2024 to 2025.

In 2025, 45 percent of all incidents (2,847 incidents were recorded) were related to Israel or Zionism. It’s a lower rate than in 2024, when the number was 58 percent. Anti-Israel rallies that featured extreme rhetoric and crossed the line into antisemitism also decreased 67 percent overall, and 83 percent on college campuses.

While this is the first overall decline in antisemitic incidents since the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, violence is still increasing at record high rates.

“We’ve been seeing an increasing amount of violence. It’s not surprising, because everything we see in the news, the ramming in Bondi Beach, the shooting in D.C., the firebombings in Colorado, etc. We’re not caught off guard by it, we’ve been preparing, talking to state and local law enforcement, we do constant threat assessment, and train staff and congregants to be prepared in an emergency: medical aid, ‘run hide fight,’ and de-escalation techniques,” said Brian Davis, head of security at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

Davis also highlighted the Fund for Protections of Communities, a new statewide grant that would go towards hiring security personnel for other Jewish institutions in Atlanta and across the state.

Davis said, “In Georgia, the cost for the Jewish community alone is $5.5 million that we spend on security personnel. The Fund for Protections of Communities also gives us relief to invest in other opportunities.”