Since October 7 of the previous year, US advocacy organizations have noted an increase in incidents targeting Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian communities. Across the nation, individuals have faced antisemitic slurs and anti-Muslim rhetoric linked to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), dedicated to fighting antisemitism, documented over 10,000 antisemitic occurrences in the US following the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7. This figure vastly surpasses any annual record from the past 45 years.

Simultaneously, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported over 8,000 anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian complaints in 2023 alone, nearly half of which emerged in the last three months of the year amidst the ongoing conflict in Gaza. In the first half of 2024, the council recorded close to 5,000 complaints of discrimination.

The recent rise in hate crimes is part of a longer trend that has been escalating for a decade, according to data from the FBI, which indicates that hate crimes are currently at the highest level since tracking began in 1991.

Here’s a closer look at the increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish incidents over the last year:

Growing antisemitic hate crimes in the US

From October 7, 2023, to September 24, 2024, the Anti-Defamation League reported a 200% rise in anti-Jewish incidents compared to the same timeframe the previous year.

Since 2014, the annual rate of antisemitic incidents has steadily increased, breaking records in the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and now 2023.

Data from the ADL reveals that over 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents occurred at Jewish establishments like synagogues and community centers, with more than half involving bomb threats.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, remarked in a statement that following the attacks on October 7, “we have witnessed an alarming number of antisemitic threats and calls for increased violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere.”

The report highlighted that the levels of threats, vandalism, and assaults against Jewish Americans are “unprecedented.”

Increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes

In 2023, the Council on American-Islamic Relations recorded over 8,000 complaints, marking the highest number in CAIR’s 30-year history.

CAIR’s report for 2023 indicated that the “main driver of this surge in Islamophobia was the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine in October 2023.” The total of 8,061 complaints was a significant increase from the previous peak of just over 6,700 in 2021.

These complaints covered various issues, including immigration, employment, education discrimination, and reported hate crimes.

The organization recorded 4,951 reports of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian discrimination from January to June 2024, indicating a 69% rise over the same period in 2023.

Zanah Ghalawanji, a staff attorney at CAIR, previously mentioned that the media portrayal of Muslims during the conflict contributed to an increase in hate crimes. She expressed, “Many in the Muslim community felt that this period was even worse for them than after 9/11.”

Hate crime incidents have been escalating since 2014

Overall hate crimes reached a peak in 2023, the highest number recorded since data collection began in 1991, according to the FBI.

Early findings from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University indicate that hate crimes reported to police increased once again in 2023 across the ten largest US cities.

New York and Los Angeles experienced significant rises in anti-Jewish hate crimes, with increases of 12.6% and 48%, respectively. Additionally, Los Angeles and Chicago faced 40% and 300% hikes in anti-Muslim hate crimes, as per the study’s results.

Experts caution that hate crime statistics can be misleading, and the FBI’s figures may underrepresent the actual occurrences. Not all of the more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country are required to report hate crimes, and in 2022, fewer than 80% of these agencies submitted data to the FBI.