A new report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. hit a new record in 2024, and the Granite State contributed to that disturbing trend.
The audit, released Tuesday, reported 9,354 antisemitic incidents recorded in the U.S. last year. It’s the highest number since 1979, when the ADL first began collecting data.
Also noteworthy: It’s the first time most of the incidents (58 percent) were related to Israel or Zionism.
The ADL audit found reports of antisemitic incidents rose 51 percent in the Granite State last year, the highest rate of increase in New England.
The jump comes from two different ends of the political spectrum, according to Samantha Joseph with the ADL.
Patriot Front, the white supremacist hate group, accounts for a large share of the increase, as do multiple leftwing groups behind campus protests this year.
“There continues to be a lot of white supremacist activity, and Patriot Front is responsible for the majority of that,” Joseph said.
But left-wing extremists also embraced antisemitism during protests against Israel’s war on Hamas, Joseph said. The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, in which approximately 1,200 people were murdered and hundreds taken hostage, saw some left-wing extremists openly support Hamas within hours of the attack. Since that day, more left-wing extremists have been open in their antisemitic views.
For example, a group of progressive activists vandalized the Israeli-owned Elbit Systems in Merrimack just weeks after the Hamas attack.
“Oct. 7 is the watershed moment that changed the trajectory,” Joseph said.
Tracy Richmond, with the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire, said keeping up with reports of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack is almost a full-time job. The federation works closely with the ADL to keep the community informed.
“Since Oct. 7, we have heard about more and more instances of antisemitism within our state,” Richmond said. “We work hard to make sure that the citizens of New Hampshire know they can reach us with any concerns, and we will continue fighting against hate as long as these events occur. This goes for our public schools, the private high schools, and all the colleges throughout New Hampshire.”
The ADL tracks protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, but Joseph pointedly said that protesting the government of Israel or its policies is not antisemitism. The ADL only counts incidents that cross the line into blatant hate mongering by protestors or organizers.
Some of those incidents include the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack being celebrated on the University of New Hampshire campus as part of the Palestinian Solidarity Coalition’s “Week of Rage.” During that celebration, protestors chanted the slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” widely viewed as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state.
UNH also saw protestors take up other Hamas slogans like “Smash Zionism” and “Globalize the Intifada” during protests held throughout the year.
In Manchester, a protest put together by a plethora of Marxist groups like the ANSWER Coalition, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Congress of Workers’ Organizations featured a speaker who said, “It is the Zionists, ironically the new Nazis of the 21st century, who by theology is rooted in Jewish supremacy. Although only specific kinds of Jews.”
But slogans and chants weren’t the only things tracked. Last year, Jewish students and professors at Dartmouth College were targeted with a threat of violence. An anonymous email sent to several Dartmouth offices justified the threat by citing violence against Palestinian women and children, as well as Islamophobia.
So far, New Hampshire has not been mired in antisemitic violence, though that is happening in other parts of the country, Joseph said.
“We are seeing an increase in assaults, which is very worrisome,” she said.
