U.S. antisemitic assaults hit record high as violence intensifies in 2025

Physical assaults against Jews in the United States climbed to a record 203 incidents in 2025, a grim sign that the violence behind the country’s antisemitism problem is getting more severe even as the overall number of incidents fell. The Anti-Defamation League said at least 300 people were victimized in those assaults, and incidents involving a deadly weapon rose to 32 from 23 a year earlier.

The ADL said 2025 was one of the most violent years for American Jews and the first year since 2019 in which Jewish people were murdered in antisemitic attacks in the United States. The group also said antisemitic assaults rose 4% from 196 in 2024, pushing the physical attacks to their highest level since it began tracking incidents in 1979.

That rise came alongside a sharp decline in the broader tally. The ADL recorded 6,274 antisemitic incidents in 2025, down 33% from 9,354 in 2024, but still the third-highest total on record and equal to about 17 incidents per day. The shift suggests the threat did not disappear after the post-Oct. 7 surge eased; it changed form, with fewer incidents overall but more of them turning violent.

College campuses, which were among the most combustible sites for antisemitic activity in 2024, saw a dramatic reversal. The ADL counted 583 campus incidents in 2025, down from 1,694 the year before, a 66% drop. The group said that decline was tied in part to the fading of the anti-Israel encampment movement that drove the spring 2024 spike.

Even with that drop, the pattern across the country remains uneven and concentrated. New York, California and New Jersey recorded the most antisemitic incidents in 2025, showing that the problem is not confined to one region or one kind of setting. The ADL’s findings point to a country where public antisemitism has become less common than at last year’s peak, but far more dangerous when it does occur.