ADL official on anti-Jewish, Muslim hate: 'Our fight is often one that is together'
Members of the American Jewish community are sounding the alarm about rising antisemitic sentiment following Hamas’ attack on Israel last weekend.
Even before the crisis, reports of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. had reached an all-time high in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The FBI also released data on Monday showing that anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by more than 37% in 2022 – the second-highest number on record and the highest number in almost three decades. There were a total of 11,634 criminal hate crime incidents motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity in 2022, according to the data.
There are also fears of rising Islamophobia amid the conflict, which was underscored over the weekend when an Illinois man allegedly stabbed a 6-year-old Palestinian Muslim boy to death and seriously injured his mother. The Justice Department opened a federal hate crimes investigation into the alleged murder of the boy.
ABC News’ Linsey Davis spoke with Oren Segal, the vice president of the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism, about the new hate crime data and the Jewish community’s concerns amid the war.
MORE: Groups work to protect Jewish Americans following Hamas attack on Israel
LINSEY DAVIS: Joining us now for more on the heightened tensions both abroad and right here at home is Oren Segal, the vice president of the Center on Extremism with the Anti-Defamation League. Oren, thank you so much for coming on the show. Today, the FBI released new hate crime data that showed anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by more than 37% in 2022. That's the highest in almost three decades. Is there a concern that the current state of things will only exacerbate that?
OREN SEGAL: We're very concerned that the rhetoric that we're seeing in our public discussion at rallies around the country in the aftermath of the massacre that we saw in Israel will only make people engage in more of that activity. In fact, we've already seen spikes in antisemitic incidents reported to us at ADL, and this is a trailing indicator. We know that in the weeks and and months ahead, there's going to be even more reporting for this moment in time. So the Jewish community is feeling vulnerable and the incidents that are happening are backing that up.
DAVIS: And we're seeing increased police presence at synagogues already. What are some of the biggest concerns you're hearing from the Jewish community right now?
SEGAL: Some of the biggest concerns that I'm hearing are the over 250 rallies that have occurred throughout the country and in major cities and smaller towns that have essentially included language that celebrates, glorifies and legitimizes these Hamas terrorist attacks. Nothing will make people feel less vulnerable than knowing the people in their community are celebrating the murder and abduction of children and the elderly, even if it's 10,000 miles away.
MORE: Reported antisemitic incidents reached all-time high in 2022, ADL says
DAVIS: The ADL also tweeted out that they were disgusted and horrified that a young boy was murdered, allegedly, for being Muslim. We just had Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on, who is also the first Muslim-American ever elected to Congress. Explain to our viewers why it's important for this organization to speak out about suspected Islamophobia as well.
SEGAL: I mean, this is part of what we do at ADL. In order to fight antisemitism, you have to fight Islamophobia, racism, misogyny and other forms of hatred. And in order to fight those hatreds, you have to stand up against the antisemitism. Unfortunately, as the FBI has already indicated, is that synagogues and mosques are, in particular, vulnerable right now to potential attacks based on what we're seeing around the world. Our fight is often one that is together, even though much of the public discussion tries to divide us.
DAVIS: Oren Segal, vice president of the Center on Extremism with the Anti-Defamation League, we thank you so much for coming on.
SEGAL: Thank you.