Antisemitic Incidents Remain High in Connecticut in 2024

Continued post-Oct. 7 spike; antisemitic incidents on campus increase

Bridgeport, CT, April 22, 2025… According to new data released today in the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, antisemitic incidents in Connecticut remained historically high in 2024, with 159 recorded incidents – 134 percent higher than the total for 2022.

In 2023, ADL recorded 184 antisemitic incidents in Connecticut. The majority of incidents in Connecticut in 2024 were harassment (104), followed by incidents of vandalism (53), and assault (2). Incidents of harassment increased by 89 percent compared to 2022, and incidents of vandalism increased by 308 percent compared to 2022. While Connecticut was 16th in the country in terms of overall number of incidents, when calculating for population size, the state came in 9th in incidents per capita (4.33).

“The data makes clear that there has not just been a surge of antisemitism over the past four years, there is an unfortunate trendline that antisemitism has become embedded in our society,” said Stacey Sobel, ADL Connecticut’s Regional Director. “Of particular concern are the rise in incidents on college campuses and the proliferation of incidents in Jewish institutions and schools. ADL Connecticut is committed to focusing on confronting antisemitism through educational programs and resources, community outreach and law enforcement engagement.”

Data Highlights for Connecticut

• Total incidents: 159
• Bomb Threats: 23
• Gathering, parade, picketing, meeting: 31
• Offensive Literature Distribution: 8
• Vandalism: 53
• Verbal/Written Harassment or Threat: 42
• Physical Assault (no weapon): 2
• Israel/Zionism Related: 73
• Swastika Present: 33
• Extremist Related: 21
• Antisemitic white supremacist propaganda: 20
• Impacting the Orthodox community: 3

Incidents by Location Type

• Business Establishment: 3
• Cemetery: 2
• College/University 26 (up from 17 in 2023)
• Home/Housing: 6
• Jewish Institution/School: 33
• Non-Jewish School: 30
• Online: 4
• Public Area: 55

The following cities were identified as having the highest number of reported incidents in the state:

• New Haven: 30 incidents
• Greenwich: 12 incidents
• West Hartford:15 incidents
• Hartford: 13 incidents

Antisemitic incidents in Connecticut took place in a variety of locations, with 26 incidents reported on college campuses (up from 17 in 2023 and 4 in 2022). This represents a 53 percent increase of incidents on college campuses from 2023 to 2024.

Examples of incidents from 2024 in Connecticut:

• At a teen center, a ten-year-old Jewish girl was punched in the face by another youth who cried “I can punch you because you are Jewish.”
• A visibly Jewish Yale student was taunted, stabbed in the eye by masked anti-Israel protestors.
• A Jewish cemetery in Waterbury was vandalized with over 12 gravestones desecrated.
• Hundreds of antisemitic comments were left on a Yale University gymnastics team Facebook post for Hanukkah, including: “I just see three Terrorists,” “Six million somersaults” and “Ah yes the synagogue of Satan.”
• Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, distributed propaganda in Waterbury that read: “No Zionists in government, we serve one nation” and “Reclaim America”.
• A Bridgeport synagogue received an antisemitic bomb threat.
• In Weston, swastikas were carved into a Jewish high school student’s locker.
• In Oxford, two middle school students harassed a Jewish classmate by playing German marching songs and performing Nazi salutes.
• In West Hartford, an individual made antisemitic and racist comments to a Jewish day school employee over the phone.
• In Fairfield, “I’m Jewish, of course I like coins” was written on a high school student’s car.
• A middle school teacher in Darien reportedly instructed students to write a paragraph about how Hitler was “good for the German economy” and taught students how to draw a swastika.
• Of the 159 antisemitic incidents recorded in Connecticut, 21 had an extremist nexus with the majority of incidents involving the distribution of white supremacist propaganda.

United States

Across the country, ADL recorded 9,354 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism in 2024. This total represents a 5 percent increase from 2023, a 344 percent increase over the past five years, an 893 percent increase over the past 10 years and is the highest level recorded since ADL started tracking this data in 1979. The 12-month total for 2024 averaged more than 25 targeted anti-Jewish incidents in the U.S. per day, more than one an hour.

Incident Response work is core to ADL

When incidents of antisemitism and other forms of hate are reported, ADL ensures the individual impacted gets the help they need. Depending on the nature of the incident, we will engage a range of partners including K-12 school and college administrators, law enforcement, the Attorney General’s office, faith leaders and other community partners. Follow-up actions include working with law enforcement professionals to disrupt potential threats, advocating for legislation that improves state and local prevention and response tactics to antisemitic hate crimes and all forms of hate violence, and providing education and training to teachers and administrators, through programs like No Place for Hate. The ADL team is proud of our work to support community members in the wake of an incident. If you experience an incident of antisemitism, please report it to ADL at https://www.adl.org/report-incident.

Methodology

The ADL Audit includes both criminal and non-criminal acts of harassment, vandalism and assault against individuals and groups as reported to ADL by victims, law enforcement, the media and partner organizations and evaluated by ADL’s experts.

The complete dataset for antisemitic incidents for 2016-2024 is available on ADL’s H.E.A.T. Map, an interactive online tool that allows users to geographically chart antisemitic incidents and extremist activity. The full dataset can also be downloaded by anyone who would like to take a closer look at individual incidents.

ADL is careful to not conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism. Legitimate political protest, support for Palestinian rights or expressions of opposition to Israeli policies is not included in the Audit. ADL’s approach to Israel-related expressions comports with the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

The complete Audit methodology is included in the report.

The Audit offers a snapshot of one of the ways American Jews encounter antisemitism, but a full understanding of antisemitism in the U.S. requires other forms of analysis as well, including public opinion polling, assessments of online antisemitism and examinations of extremist activity, all of which ADL offers in other reports, such as: ADL survey of Antisemitic Attitudes in America 2024; Campus Antisemitism One Year After the Hamas Terrorist Attacks; the ADL Global 100: Index of Antisemitism^®; Online Hate and Harassment: The American Experience and White Supremacist Propaganda Assessment Focused on Jews and Immigrants in 2024.

View more information about the ADL Audit of Antisemitic Incidents.