Since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, rates of anti-Jewish hate crimes and anti-semitism have increased nationally, according to the FBI and and Anti-Defamation League audit.
“Since then, we’ve seen the threat elevated,” Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, said as reported by The Times of Israel. “To be more specific, between October 7 and January 30 of this year, we opened over three times more anti-Jewish hate crime investigations than in the four months before October 7.”
According to the ADL audit of antisemitic incidents in 2023, ADL tabulated 8,873 antisemitic incidents across the United States.
This represents a 140% increase from the 3,698 incidents recorded in 2022 and is the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.
The ADL tracked more incidents in 2023 than in the previous three years combined.
The incidents the ADL tracks include anti-semitic harassment, vandalism and assault in the United States.
On June 3, West Lafayette City Council voted against a resolution supporting a ceasefire in Gaza. Supporters of the ceasefire stormed out of the building in protest. Protestors shouted the words, “Shame, shame on the Council,” as a unified voice.
Jewish leaders in the community were at the meeting and expressed their concern over how similar resolutions passed have harmed other Jewish communities. They described incidents of anti-semitism that affected a range of ages of Jewish citizens, from elementary students and college students to adults since the Oct. 7 attack.
A common theme occurred from the voices of dissenters to the resolution at the meeting.
Some worried about the resolution dividing the community. Local Ron Ellis said, “My neighbor next to me is Hindu, across the street is Muslim, just the street down is Jewish … I think most important for the council is what can we do to bring peace and unite us as a community where we continue to have respect.”
Many were concerned about a local government body overreaching its jurisdiction into issues beyond it, said Rabbi Avremel Gluck of Chabad at Purdue, a worldwide Jewish movement. “We don’t want to see geopolitics fragment the local community.”
Speakers from the community were limited to two minutes of time at the meeting.
When asked later how the Jewish community had been affected by the attack of Oct. 7, Gluck, appearing to be in his early 30s, was noticeably upset with eyebrows furrowed.
“Definitely, among Jewish students, there is a pre-Oct. 7 reality and a post-October 7 reality,” Gluck said. “Before, many students had never experienced anti-semitism here. Since October 7, we’ve had students who have people in their classes and labs who won’t talk to them anymore because they want them to fully denounce Israel and its right to exist. For all Jews, Israel is our homeland.”
These people will not ask about how these students want to vote, what they think of certain Israeli politicians or certain Israeli policies. Instead, they are asking them to completely deny the Jewish connection to the land of Israel, he said.
“There have been non-political clubs on campus who have taken a stance against Israel. Many of our students didn’t feel like they had a place in those clubs,” Gluck said. “There shouldn’t be a connection between one’s stance on Israel and being a part of a vinyl or disability club.”
He listed experiences of animosity online and on-campus toward Jewish students — instances of hateful comments towards Jews. Some were called fake Jews for being supportive of Israel. Others were called Nazis or Jewish ISIS.
“Since October 7, it seems most students who are just trying to get a STEM degree, trying to complete college and have a basic social life are being forced into this,” Gluck said. “Everyone’s being asked, ‘Where do you stand?’ If you don’t say what people like then, ‘You support child murder,’ which is ridiculous.”
For thousands of years, when Jewish people pray, they face Jerusalem and talk of a return to Zion. The land of Israel is a fundamental facet of Judaism, he said.
“To ask a man of Jewish descent to denounce their connection to the land of Israel is anti-semitism.”
Chabad’s largest event is a Friday night dinner for Shabbat, the day of rest in Judaism. They average about 100 students in attendance each week.
“For that Friday (after Oct. 7) over 200 students were messaging me saying, ‘I’m sure there’s no space. I don’t need a seat. I don’t need food. I just want a hug,’” he said.
“We were hurting. It’s been even tougher for us when people play down those feelings, play down the atrocities of October 7, the Jewish connection to Israel and blatant anti-semitism,” Gluck said. “Jews just wearing a kippah on campus will get abuse thrown at them. All of that is anti-semitism. We have to denounce that in the strongest terms.”
Since Oct. 7, Chabad at Purdue has improved the security of its house.
As reported by KTLA 5, on June 4 a Chabad house at the University of Southern California was vandalized. Their glass front door was smashed open by two men.
“Nationally, there has been a lot of damage to buildings,” Gluck said. “Chabad is not an Israeli embassy. Chabad is a Jewish center and our houses have all kinds of Jews with very different political opinions. Some call themselves anti-Zionist Jews. But, we’ve updated our security system since October 7 because of the fear of what we’ve seen on other campuses.”
He described an incident in which two Jewish girls came to the Chabad house crying. A man had been yelling in their face, close enough for them to feel the warmth of his breath saying they were continuations of Nazis.
At the West Lafayette City Council meeting on June 3, there were parents who told Gluck they were afraid to participate in the meeting because of how their children were being treated at school.
“Middle school-aged children are getting bullied at school, getting told they support a genocide, a massacre of children,” he said. “This is to an 11-year-old West Lafayette, American kid. They’re not worried about politics, they’re worried about playing Pokemon or whatever they do.
“Just after the meeting, someone threw a punch at a woman who was against passing the resolution,” he said. “I don’t think the city council is equipped to deal with such an issue. When you run for city council, no one’s asking for your views on foreign policy. It’s not Congress.”
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