Three Massachusetts Communities Are ADL Antisemitic ‘Hotspots’

Jewish leaders say a wave of antisemitism has swept North America and the world since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Demonstrations in favor of Palestinians in Gaza and against Israel's war on Gaza's Hamas government have erupted in cities and on college campuses across the country, including here in Massachusetts.

Rabbi Micah Greenland, the International Director of The National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), said in a recent Fox News Digital opinion piece, "Since the horrors of October 7, 2023, Jewish high schoolers across North America have faced a drastically altered reality, marked by fear, hostility and a surge in antisemitism."

President Donald Trump is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in federal aid to Harvard University in Cambridge over the school's reluctance to address antisemitism on campus.

The Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Audit of Antisemitic Incidents for 2024 says Massachusetts recorded 438 antisemitic incidents last year, one fewer than in 2023, representing the fifth-highest number of incidents of any state in the country.

Those incidents include harassment (276), vandalism (157) and assaults (5).

The ADL report identifies Boston, Cambridge and Newton as "primary hotspots" for antisemitic activity in Massachusetts.

The report states, "Massachusetts ranked third nationally for college campus incidents, with 107 total incidents, 89% of which were Israel-related." Jewish students at Tufts University were "spat on and harassed" during a campus meeting and told to "Go back to Israel," according to the report.

The ADL says protestors at an anti-Israel protest at Suffolk University "displayed signs with messages that included: 'Zionists not welcome here."

The Audit of Antisemitic Incidents says, "Perhaps the most alarming was the 150% increase in incidents targeting the visibly Orthodox community, including one incident where an individual yelled, 'Death to all Jews,' at an Orthodox mother and her three children."