A newly released report shows hate and violence against Jewish people nationwide reached a new record in 2023.
The Secure Community Network in Chicago tracks and reports threats against Jewish communities across the country.
“Vandalization and harassment, threats of mass attacks and shootings, and certainly a dramatic increase in swatting incidents and bomb threats directed at Jewish institutions,” said Michael Masters, CEO of the Secure Community Network.
The Secure Community Network said antisemitic incidents nationwide have more than doubled from 2,551 in 2022 to 5,404 in 2023 and most of those happened after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel.
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“Part of the increase we know is because we are getting much more diligent as a community in reporting,” said Masters. “But there is no question there has been a dramatic increase in threats.”
Masters also just joined the FBI Terrorism Task Force Executive Board in Chicago.
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“We’re often seeing threats that are connected domestically and often internationally,” Masters said. “We’re coordinating very closely with state, local, and federal law enforcement.”
The rise in antisemitism is concerning for the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie.
“I think it’s important for people to remember what is possible when hatred and bigotry and prejudice are left unchecked,” said Kelley Szany, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center senior vice president of education & exhibits. “How can we learn and maybe shift our thinking, shift how we might be responding in a particular way, education about antisemitism today?”
Saturday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz.
“What we hope people will take away is what happens when we see silence. What happens when we see indifference,” Szany said. “When people come here, they are indeed learning what they can do and how they can use their voice to speak out against antisemitism or any issue that affects them.”
The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center will offer free admission Friday.
“We need to remember and pledge never to forget as we look at the resurgence of antisemitism, as we look at the ideology of hate and Holocaust denial,” Szany said.
