The annual Antisemitism Worldwide report, published by Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), reveals that 2023 saw an increase of dozens of percentage points in the number of antisemitic incidents in Western countries in comparison to 2022. A particularly steep increase was recorded following the October 7 attacks, but the first nine months of 2023, before the war started, also witnessed a relative increase in the number of incidents in most countries with large Jewish minorities, including the United States, France, the UK, Australia, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico.

“October 7 helped spread a fire that was already out of control,” states the report.

According to the report, in New York, the city with the largest Jewish population in the world, the New York Police Department recorded 325 anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023 in comparison to the 261 it recorded in 2022, and the Los Angeles Police Department recorded 165 in 2023 in comparison to 86 in 2022. The ADL recorded 7,523 incidents in 2023 compared to 3,697 in 2022 (according to a broader definition, the number rises to 8,873), and the number of assaults increased from 111 in 2022 to 161 in 2023 and of vandalism from 1,288 to 2,106.

Other countries also saw dramatic increases in the number of antisemitic attacks, according to data collected by the report from governmental agencies, law enforcement authorities, Jewish organizations, media, and fieldwork.

In France, the number of incidents increased from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023 (the number of physical assaults increased from 43 to 85); in the UK from 1, 662 to 4,103 (physical assaults from 136 to 266); in Argentina from 427 to 598; in Germany from 2,639 to 3,614; in Brazil from 432 to 1,774; in South Africa from 68 to 207; in Mexico from 21 to 78; in the Netherlands from 69 to 154; in Italy from 241 to 454; and in Austria from 719 to 1,147. Australia recorded 622 antisemitic incidents in October and November 2023, in comparison to 79 during the same period in 2022.

While the dramatic increases in comparison to 2022 largely followed October 7, the report emphasizes that most countries with large Jewish minorities saw relative increases also in the first nine months of 2023, before the war started.

Click to read the full report.