FBI data indicates anti-Jewish 'hate crimes' increased by 63% in 2023

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According to crime statistics released by the FBI on Monday, 63% more incidents of single-bias anti-Jewish “hate crimes” occurred in 2023 than in 2022.

While there were 1,122 reported anti-Jewish hate crime incidents reported in 2022, there were 1,832 such incidents in 2023.

This is the highest number of anti-Jewish crimes reported since the FBI started collecting the data in 1991.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) noted that, despite Jews constituting only 2% of the U.S. population, these anti-Jewish hate crimes “comprised 15% of all hate crimes and 68% of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2023, which is consistent with patterns from prior years.”

The 1,832 incidents of anti-Jewish crime included 2,002 individual offenses. The vast majority (700) of these hate crime offenses against Jews fell under the categories of “intimidation” (700 offenses) and “destruction/damage/vandalism” of property (1,000 offenses).

Anti-Muslim hate crimes similarly increased by 49%, but the numbers are significantly lower, with 236 incidents reported.

The FBI does not divide the hate crimes data by month, therefore it is not possible to determine to what extent the Israel-Hamas war has contributed to this rise in hate crimes.

However, just a few weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on southern Israel last year, Reuters reported that antisemitism had rapidly risen across the world.

The ADL has also reported a drastic rise in antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7.

“At a time when the Jewish community is still suffering from the sharp rise in antisemitism following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, the record-high number of anti-Jewish hate crime incidents is unfortunately entirely consistent with the Jewish community’s experience and ADL’s tracking,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in response to the newly released FBI statistics.