#

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.

As Granite State college campuses prepare for a new semester to begin in the coming weeks, the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire has written Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire urging them to ensure the safety of Jewish faculty and students.

“Our goal at the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire is to protect Jewish students and faculty, to ensure they are safe and feel comfortable on campus. It’s not our job to decide who gets prosecuted for breaking the rules and who doesn’t,” Federation board chair Tracy Richmond told NHJournal. “All we are asking is that the universities follow and enforce their own rules and policies, and that they do so consistently.”

In the letter, sent to Dartmouth’s Sian Beilock and UNH’s Elizabeth Chilton, the Federation wrote, “As you know, there has been a surge of antisemitism since Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Sadly, New Hampshire has not been immune, and our universities have faced the same disruptive anti-Israel protests as schools in other states.”

“Jewish students have the right to access education free from intimidation, harassment, and discrimination. Furthermore, there is no legitimate justification for students who encourage violence,” the Federation added.

Neither Beilock nor Chilton responded to NHJournal’s request for comment. And according to Richmond, the schools have yet to respond to the Federation’s letter dated July 25.

The fundamental message, Richmond said, is that institutions should impose the same rules on all students, and they should enforce them as well.

“We ask you to make it clear that activists cannot disrupt the functioning of the university without penalty. We ask UNH to protect viewpoint diversity, civil discourse, and the rights and safety of Jewish and pro-Israel students,” the Federation wrote. “We urge you to continue consistently enforcing rules and ensure that students and faculty that break them face disciplinary consequences.”

Both UNH and Dartmouth were rocked by protests in May, part of a national effort by pro-Palestinian and some pro-Hamas groups. More than 100 people were arrested between the two schools, the majority at Dartmouth. Nearly all of the people arrested at UNH recently had their cases dropped.

While some protesters focused their message on how Israel is waging its war with Hamas, others expressed anti-Jewish sentiments, including the antisemitic chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free.” At UNH, protesters chanted, “U.S., Israel — go to hell!”

The antisemitism isn’t limited to campuses. Across the U.S., there has been a surge in anti-Jewish violence, including mobs pouring into the streets of Washington to protest a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Those protests featured the burning of American flags, waving Hamas flags, assaulting police, and vandalizing monuments with graffiti including “Hamas is coming.”

In New Hampshire, Marxist radicals with Palestinian Action U.S. targeted the Israeli-owned Elbit Systems facility in Merrimack for destruction during a protest weeks after the Oct. 7 terror attack.

The Federation’s letters to UNH and Dartmouth come as U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns denied a motion to dismiss the antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard, ruling that the Ivy League school “failed its Jewish students,” based on the evidence.

According to The Wall Street Journal, six Jewish students brought the federal lawsuit claiming they didn’t feel safe on campus and that Harvard didn’t punish antisemitic student protesters and faculty members. Stearns wrote in his ruling that Harvard’s public statements that it would discipline students and faculty accused of antisemitism were mostly “proved hollow.”

Richmond told NHJournal the Harvard ruling is a win that will help hold institutions, like colleges, accountable.

“I am thrilled Harvard is being held accountable and I believe they should have their day in court to explain their policies and behavior,” Richmond said.

Colleges already have rules in place protecting students from discrimination and violence, Richmond said. The Federation wants to make sure those rules don’t get ignored when it comes to protecting Jewish students and faculty.

“And if these institutions have rules in place, and Jewish students or faculty still don’t feel safe on campus — that’s the problem,” Richmond said.

“We wrote to UNH and Dartmouth to let them know that, when the new semester begins and students return to campus, the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire is here, and we will be watching.”