Antisemitic acts in Illinois and nation at worst levels ever, Anti-Defamation League says

Illinois and the rest of the United States are facing an unprecedented level of antisemitic acts since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent war in Gaza, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League Midwest.

In Illinois alone, the 211 antisemitic incidents in 2023 represented a 74% increase from the previous year, according to the report.

“In the 45 years since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979, it has never been this bad,” said David Goldenberg, regional director of ADL Midwest. “The Jewish community in Illinois and across the country is experiencing unprecedented levels of antisemitism.”

The majority of last year’s antisemitic incidents in Illinois, 68% of them, happened after the Oct. 7 attack, when Hamas members killed more than 1,200 Israelis. The rise was so large, the ADL measured 20% more incidents in the state between the attack and the end of the year than in all of 2022.

The antisemitic incidents in Illinois last year include 155 cases of harassment, 54 cases of vandalism and two assaults.

Nationwide, the 8,873 acts of antisemitism reported last year represent an increase of 140% over the year before, which the ADL said was the previous record-setting year.

Many incidents happened in public.

“Jews are being harassed as they walk down the streets” and at schools and college campuses, Goldenberg said. “Not a day goes by when ADL does not hear from the family of a K-12 student who has been harassed or subjected to antisemitic undertones from a peer and even educators.”

Earlier in April, antisemitic flyers were left on parked cars in Lincoln Park. Some of the flyers targeted the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL recorded hate crimes and incidents that don’t legally rise to that level because they better show the larger trend and have “a dramatic impact on the fear of the community,” Goldenberg said.

The incidents were fueled in large part by anti-Israeli groups in Chicago that have “fanned the flames of antisemitism” in regular rallies and on college campuses, Goldenberg said. ADL Midwest targeted these groups in a special report in March.

Goldenberg was joined Tuesday by members of the Illinois Legislative Jewish Caucus in Springfield for a news conference announcing the ADL’s 2023 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. Goldenberg said the ADL was visiting legislators this week to promote a bill to fund hate crime training for law enforcement.

State Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, a sponsor of the hate crime police training bill, emphasized the importance of continuing to fund nonprofit security grants issued by the state. The program provided $40 million for security over the last two years to groups including religious organizations, Morgan said.