ADL Records Historic High in Antisemitic Assaults and Attacks with Deadly Weapons in 2025, Third Highest Year for Overall Antisemitic Incidents

American Jews targeted an average of 17 times per day; 39-percent increase in incidents of
assault involving a deadly weapon

NEW YORK, May 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The year 2025 marked one of the most violent periods for American Jews, with physical assaults reaching record high levels and antisemitic attacks resulting in fatalities on American soil for the first time since 2022 and in Jewish fatalities for the first time since 2019, according to ADL's (the Anti-Defamation League) annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, released today.

There were 6,274 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism in 2025, an average of 17 incidents per day. While this total represents a 33-percent decrease from 2024, it remains considerably higher than the total in years prior to the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel, and ranks as the third-highest year for antisemitic incidents (after 2023 and 2024), since ADL began tracking in 1979.

Even as overall incidents decreased, physical assaults increased by 4 percent, and incidents of assault involving a deadly weapon increased by 39-percent. Moreover, three people were murdered in antisemitic attacks this past year: two victims in the May 21, 2025, shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., and one victim who died from injuries sustained in the June 1, 2025, firebombing attack at a "Run for Their Lives" event in Boulder, Colorado.

"Our 2025 Audit, which shows it was one of the most violent years for American Jews on record is a reminder of how dramatically the threat landscape has shifted. Numbers that would have shocked us five years ago are now our floor," said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director. "People are being murdered because of antisemitism on American soil, and thousands more are threatened. ADL will not stop until that baseline changes."

Main Findings

• Assaults: 203 incidents were categorized as assault, an increase of 4 percent compared to 2024 (196 incidents).
  • Incidents of assault involving a deadly weapon increased to 32 in 2025 from 23 in 2024.
  • At least 300 people were victimized by incidents of assault. It was the first year since 2019 during which Jewish people were murdered in the United States in antisemitic attacks.
• Vandalism: 2,068 incidents (a 21-percent decrease from 2024) were categorized as vandalism.
• Harassment: 4,003 incidents (a 39-percent decrease from 2024) were categorized as harassment.
• Geographic Reach: Antisemitic incidents occurred in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The states with the highest levels of incidents were New York (1,160), California (817) and New Jersey (687).

"Behind every one of these incidents is a real person: a family threatened at their synagogue, a rabbi attacked on the street, a student harassed on campus," said Oren Segal, ADL Senior Vice President for Counter-Extremism and Intelligence. "2025 brought some of the most violent antisemitic attacks in recent memory. Even as overall incidents declined, the surge in physical assaults is a stark reminder that a historically high level of antisemitism puts Jewish lives at risk. The safety of Jewish communities depends on our collective willingness to meet this moment with urgency, which is what we are doing every day at ADL."

A Notable Decrease in Overall Incidents and Yet, No American Community is Spared

Incidents at K-12 Schools Remain Stable
Unlike most other locations, incidents at non-Jewish K-12 schools remained almost similar in 2025 (825) compared to 2024 (860). While incidents at other types of locations are more often driven by organized group activity, both from the anti-Israel and white supremacist spaces, at K-12 schools, most incidents involve individual, peer-to-peer behavior, such as antisemitic harassment or students vandalizing classrooms with swastikas. ADL's litigation team has been pursuing several cases against K-12 schools, including against the Concord-Carlisle Regional School District, which recently came to a close with the school district agreeing to take steps to address antisemitism.

Factors that explain the decrease in antisemitic incidents in 2025:

• Incidents on college and university campuses saw the steepest decline of any location type in part due to colleges addressing antisemitism on their campuses. In 2025, ADL recorded 583 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, which is 66 percent lower than in 2024 (1,694 incidents).
  
  • Combating campus antisemitism is a major priority for ADL. Since its 2024 launch, ADL's Campus Antisemitism Report Card has driven meaningful progress in how colleges address antisemitism, with the share of schools earning A and B grades rising significantly in 2026 as universities increasingly adopt ADL-recommended policies. But the threat of antisemitism on college campuses is far from gone; incidents remained almost three times higher in 2025 than in 2021. ADL also filed several Title VI lawsuits and reached a settlement in a complaint against Pomona College -- putting additional pressure on campuses to adopt meaningful reforms in response to the threat of litigation.
• In 2025, 45 percent of all incidents (2,847 incidents) were related to Israel or Zionism. This is a lower rate than in 2024, when 58 percent of antisemitic incidents were Israel-related. Anti-Israel rallies featuring extreme anti-Israel rhetoric that crossed the line into antisemitism also decreased significantly – 67 percent overall and 83 percent on college campuses.
  
  
• There was also a nearly 50-percent drop in white supremacist propaganda distribution.

Methodology

The ADL Audit includes both criminal and non-criminal acts of harassment, vandalism and assault against individuals and groups as reported to ADL by victims, law enforcement, the media and partner organizations and evaluated by ADL's experts.

The complete dataset for antisemitic incidents for 2016-2025 is available on ADL's H.E.A.T. Map, an interactive online tool that allows users to geographically chart antisemitic incidents and extremist activity. The full dataset can also be downloaded by anyone who would like to take a closer look at individual incidents.

ADL is careful to not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism. Legitimate political protest, support for Palestinian rights or expressions of opposition to Israeli policies is not included in the Audit. As an example, slightly fewer than half of anti-Israel rallies assessed by ADL contained antisemitic content that qualified to be counted within this Audit. ADL's approach to Israel-related expressions comports with the IHRA definition of antisemitism. The complete Audit methodology is included in the report on our website.

The Audit offers a snapshot of one of the ways American Jews encounter antisemitism, but a full understanding of antisemitism in the U.S. requires other forms of analysis as well, including public opinion polling, assessments of online antisemitism and examinations of extremist activity, all of which ADL offers in other reports.

ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913 to protect the Jewish people, ADL works to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all. In the face of rising antisemitism and extremism, we protect, advocate, and educate, through a mix of programs and services using the latest innovations and technology, and seek to create a world without hate. More at www.adl.org.

SOURCE Anti-Defamation League