By Jonathan Greenblatt
A Jewish Israeli restaurant owner faced an online harassment campaign after a video posted by a staff member calling her out as a “Zionist” went viral on TikTok.
At an Illinois school, students started a new game at recess called “Concentration Camp,” which involved a selection process and putting their Jewish classmates into the “camp.”
A Jewish high school student in Columbus, Ohio, repeatedly was targeted with horrific and stereotypical A.I.-generated antisemitic memes and videos over a period several months before parents, ADL and the school intervened.
All these awful incidents, and thousands of others like them, happened in communities across the U.S. in 2025. And yet, most Americans never hear about these incidents of antisemitism which don’t make for big headlines. But for those of us working to protect Jewish communities, these are the stories that play out, in different forms, with terrifying regularity.
ADL just released its annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, and I want to be direct about what the headline number means, and what it does not.
First there is good news. We recorded 6,274 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2025, down 33% from the record-shattering 9,354 in 2024. This indisputably is an improvement. We can and should celebrate this healthy sign of progress.
However, it’s also not that simple. In a news cycle that rewards simple narratives, some will not bother to read past the headline. But poke just a bit at this figure, and there is cause for concern.
Here is what the data actually shows: 2025 was the third-highest year for antisemitic incidents since ADL began tracking them in 1979. It was one of the most violent years for American Jews in recent memory. Physical assaults reached a record high.
Three people were murdered simply because of their Jewish identities. And the level of antisemitism in this country today is 70% higher than what we saw in 2022, before the Oct. 7 massacre fundamentally transformed the landscape. The baseline has shifted, and we must not pretend otherwise.
Every single day, 17 Jewish communities across the country experienced antisemitic incidents both small and large.
They ran the gamut from offensive slights in a schoolyard to violent attacks affecting the entire community. In 2025, we’ve seen swastikas spray-painted on synagogues, students harassed at school, antisemitic slurs uttered in the workplace and Jewish businesses vandalized. And then there’s the more public incidents that make headlines.
On May 21, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Their sole offense was attending an event at a Jewish institution. As he was taken away by authorities, the suspect chanted “Free, free Palestine.”
On June 1, in Boulder, Colorado, 82-year-old Karen Diamond was firebombed and burned to death because she was walking to raise awareness of hostages being held in subterranean dungeons by Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization. The alleged attacker, authorities say, told them he had planned the attack for a year and “wanted to kill all Zionist people.”
We also know that last year could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the swift and courageous actions of law enforcement and security officers who managed to stop antisemitic hate crimes before or during the attacks.
The antisemitic incident data is only a reflection of broader trends we are seeing, including the institutionalization of antisemitism in policy spheres — see the efforts of activists to remove the IHRA definition from public life or the DSA demand that their candidates for elected office renounce Zionism — to the normalization of anti-Jewish hate by cultural commentators — Hasan Piker, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes are a few of the most prominent examples — to the spread of hate on social media, and the increasing political polarization of seemingly all spheres of our society.
How does this touch the lives of ordinary people?
Ask the rabbi in San Diego whose synagogue has repeatedly been vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. Or ask the employee at a Connecticut business whose supervisor decided to remove all of the Chanukah menorahs from the office holiday display because “they were making some people uncomfortable.” Or the Massachusetts small business owner who had a brick labeled, “Free Palestine” thrown through the window of his kosher grocery store
So, what will it take to solve the antisemitism crisis in America?
First and foremost, we need more political leaders to speak out, especially when hatred emerges from within their own party. Silence at this moment is a choice, and it is one with consequences. Standing silent or even endorsing candidates who espouse antisemitic views, who traffic in hateful memes or who dismiss the evil of Nazi symbols may help you win an election in the near-term, but you are guaranteed to lose the battle against hate in the long run.
Next, we need social media companies to recognize their responsibility. When their platforms algorithmically amplify antisemitism and hate, they are not neutral. They are complicit in this crisis. Silicon Valley needs to take meaningful action against the antisemitism coursing through their feeds and corroding our culture.
Third, we need school administrators, from kindergarten through graduate school, to recognize that a Jewish student who does not feel safe cannot learn. That is not an abstraction. It is happening today in classrooms across this country.
Finally, we need laws with teeth. Congress must pass the SACRED Act, new bipartisan legislation that would establish 100-foot safe access zones around houses of worship, ensuring that Americans can pray without being intimidated or obstructed.
Lawmakers must also strengthen the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and increase its funding to $1 billion. This cannot happen soon enough because the demand is real, the threats are documented, and the gap between what communities need and what they receive is growing.
The 2025 numbers are down from their peak. That is worth acknowledging and applauding. But 6,274 antisemitic incidents are far from a reasonable decrease. We should not accept that this is some kind of new normal. Indeed, antisemitism in America remains a crisis that requires the full, sustained attention of every U.S. institution.
ADL will keep counting. We will keep fighting. The question is whether America will act on what the data is telling us.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt is CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League.