Antisemitic Hate Crimes Surged by 63% in 2023, FBI
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday published a new report showing that antisemitic hate crimes in the United States hit a record high in 2023, surging by 63%, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports. Although increases in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate crimes were also recorded, the number of antisemtic hate crimes far exceeded them.
The FBI documented 1,832 antisemitic incidents last year, the highest on record, compared to 1,122 in 2022, TOI said. Although Jews only make up 2% of the US population, antisemitic incidents made up 15% of all hate crimes last year, and 68% of all religion-based hate crimes.
“It was not immediately clear how many of the incidents occurred after Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack on southern Israel, when terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war between Israel and the terror group,” TOI noted in its report.
“Antisemitic hate crimes shot up worldwide in the wake of the attack, and have remained at record levels since, amid the ongoing war in Gaza,” TOI noted.
The FBI reported that anti-Muslim hate crime increased by 49%, with 236 incidents in 2023 compared to 273 in 2017, TOI reports. Anti-Arab hate crime increased by 34% last year, with 123 incidents recorded.
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