ADL: A disturbing trend of Israel-related antisemitic incidents continues in Florida | Opinion
On Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League released our annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents for 2024. The numbers are staggering.
There were 9,354 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment, and vandalism across the country — a 5% increase over 2023.
In Florida, ADL tracked 353 antisemitic incidents in 2024. While this represents a 24% decline from the 463 incidents recorded the previous year, Florida continues to experience heightened levels of antisemitism. The current number of incidents is 31% higher than those reported in 2022 (which was itself a record-breaking year).
In fact, five of the six reported antisemitic assaults in Florida took place in Miami-Dade County.
While any decrease in the number of incidents is welcome, the audit data reveals significant shifts in antisemitic activity across Florida, with Israel-related incidents rising from 116 to 161. (Israel-related incidents and demonstrations that did not include antisemitic expressions were not included in the audit.)
This is a truly disturbing trend. It is unconscionable that a single antisemitic incident occurred after the horrific attack on October 7, 2023, in Israel — the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust — much less the numbers that we have seen.
Whether it’s a swastika that was spray-painted on the fence of an individual’s home, hateful rhetoric like “Hitler was right” spray-painted on a sidewalk just one block from a synagogue or a visibly Jewish individual physically assaulted by another who allegedly stated, “I hate the Jews… I want to kill you now,” the fact that such anti-Jewish bigotry persists is unacceptable and reinforces the need for greater civility, education and vigilance.
When a Florida business receives a letter from an unknown source reading, in part, “Jewish kids are our focus” and “Our guns are loaded,” and the front of the envelope is labeled with “Hizbollah,” this is not an academic exercise into analyzing or critiquing a policy of the government of Israel. This is a violent act of antisemitism with a clear message of hate intended to instill fear and cause damage to a community.
All of these incidents happened in Florida in the past year.
We must take action to ensure that such antisemitism in our society does not continue to metastasize or, worse still, become normalized.
Antisemitic incidents, like all forms of bigotry, do not simply impact the individuals or locations targeted. They have ripple effects and unintended consequences that reverberate throughout Jewish communities. Therefore, when hate targets any community, all should respond.
We need people of all backgrounds and affiliations to speak out with clear and unwavering voices to address antisemitism and bigotry from their own side. Elected officials, celebrities, and all in the public eye should leverage their platforms to signal that antisemitism has no place at school, on campus, in the workplace or society at large.
People who witness or are victim of an antisemitic or other bias-motivated incident should report it to law enforcement when there is a potential criminal element, and always to ADL, at ADL.org/ReportIncident.
Our communal response — and indeed, our knee-jerk response to antisemitism, or any instance in which a group is targeted — must be to unequivocally show our willingness to stand with our fellow Floridians who are being made to feel victimized, targeted and terrorized in their own communities. At this time, in this moment, the Jewish community — disproportionately impacted by hate — needs ally-ship.
Daniel Frank is Florida regional director for the Anti-Defamation League.