SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WMBD) — Antisemitic incidents rose by nearly 75% last year in Illinois and the state posted the 12th highest number of such incidents in the nation.
Moreover, that’s a 379% increase in such incidents from 2019 when the Anti-Defamation League recorded 44 incdients. In 2023, there were 211 such incidents in Illinois.
That’s the gist of a press conference held Tuesday in Springfield by the ADL and members of the Illinois Legislative Jewish Caucus. They also issued a “call to action” on how to address this rise in incidents of antisemitic assaults, vandalism and harassment.
“In the 45 years since the ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979, it has never been this bad,” said ADL Midwest Regional Director David Goldenberg.
The spike came mostly after the massacre of more than 1,000 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, by Hamas militants and the ongoing war in Gaza.
One such incident occurred about a month ago at Bradley University when antisemitic messages were spraypainted on buildings and sidewalks on campus.
Goldenberg called the total in 2022 a “watershed moment.” Then 121 incidents were documented, a record until 2023 when 211 were recorded.
Broken down, ADL recorded 155 incidents of antisemitic harassment, 54 incidents of antisemitic vandalism, and 2 antisemitic assaults in Illinois in 2023. This compares to 75 incidents of antisemitic harassment, 46 incidents of antisemitic vandalism, and 1 antisemitic assault in 2022.
Added Goldenberg: “Concern in the Jewish community is significant and heightened, especially considering most antisemitic incidents tracked in 2023 occurred after October 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust – and it isn’t letting up.”
State Sen. Laura Fine who represents the northern suburbs of Chicago which includes heavily Jewish areas like Skokie, said her community is “on edge” because they are nervous what about might happen. Children, she said, are afraid to go to school in some cases.
