Threats and violence against Jewish Americans
Jews are roughly 2 percent of Americans and the target of most religion-based hate crimes the FBI records. In 2025 law enforcement agencies reported 1,528 anti-Jewish incidents, about 63 percent of all religion-based hate crime, and the year brought two fatal attacks.
What you need to know
- 1,528 anti-Jewish hate crime incidents were reported to the FBI in 2025, the largest of any religious bias type and second only to anti-Black incidents among all bias types.
- Counts fell from 2,095 in 2024, but the ADL recorded a record 203 antisemitic assaults in 2025, 32 of them with deadly weapons, up 39 percent.
- 2025 attacks included the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington and a firebombing in Boulder, Colorado.
- The warning that matters is not the slur. It is a slur joined to a named synagogue or person, a means and a time.
The official count
| Bias type | Category | 2025 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-Jewish | Religion | 1,528 | 2,095 | -567 |
Counts are incidents reported by agencies that file with the FBI. A lower number can mean fewer agencies reported, not less hate. See every bias type.
Attacks that define the threat
- Oct. 27, 2018 · Pittsburgh, Pa.
A gunman killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. He had posted threats against a Jewish refugee charity online before the attack.
- Apr. 27, 2019 · Poway, Calif.
A gunman killed one woman at Chabad of Poway on the last day of Passover after posting a manifesto online.
- Aug. 8, 2019 · Las Vegas, Nev.
Plot stopped. An FBI-led terrorism task force arrested a security guard who had discussed firebombing a synagogue near his home and told investigators he had spent two years weighing ways to attack Jewish people. The regional ADL office and an LGBTQ bar were also on his list. Agents found bomb components and attack sketches; he pleaded guilty to a federal weapons charge and was sentenced to two years.
- Dec. 10, 2019 · Jersey City, N.J.
Two attackers killed a police detective, then three people inside a kosher market.
- Jan. 15, 2022 · Colleyville, Texas
A gunman held a rabbi and congregants hostage at Congregation Beth Israel for 11 hours. All hostages escaped.
- Apr. 13, 2025 · Harrisburg, Pa.
An arsonist firebombed the Pennsylvania governor's residence hours after the family's Passover seder.
- May 21, 2025 · Washington, D.C.
Two Israeli embassy staffers were shot dead leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
- June 1, 2025 · Boulder, Colo.
An attacker firebombed a walk for Israeli hostages. One victim later died of her injuries.
Terms and signals
Analysts and officers see these in posts, comments and channels. Knowing them lets you read a threat for what it is.
- Triple parentheses, (((name)))
- Marks a person or outlet as Jewish so others can target them.
- ZOG
- "Zionist Occupied Government," the claim that Jews secretly run the government. Common in accelerationist and militia material.
- "The goyim know" / JQ
- Conspiracy shorthand. "JQ" means "the Jewish question," lifted from Nazi usage.
- 6MWE
- "Six million wasn't enough," a celebration of the Holocaust.
- Day of the Rope
- A fantasy of mass hanging from neo-Nazi fiction. Treat it as a call for violence, not a joke.
- Happy Merchant
- An antisemitic caricature image used as a meme and avatar.
A term alone is not a threat. Hateful speech is often legal. NCTIC scores escalation: a specific target, a means, a time, and signs of planning or goodbye messages.
From talk to attack
Calendar. Shabbat, the High Holidays, Hanukkah and Passover concentrate people in known places at known times. Attackers have chosen them. Threats that mention a holiday deserve faster review.
Named sites. Posts that move from "the Jews" to a specific synagogue, school, kosher store or rabbi are the shift NCTIC scores highest.
Leakage. Pittsburgh and Poway attackers both posted before acting. Federal threat assessment research calls this leakage: telling others, often online, about intent to harm.
Spillover from world events. Spikes follow news from the Middle East. Anger at a foreign government that turns into threats against a local synagogue is still a threat against a local synagogue.
Report a threat
- Call 911 for anything imminent. Report threats to local police and the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI.
- Synagogues and schools can connect with the Secure Community Network, the national security organization for the Jewish community, and with local community security initiatives.
- Send screenshots with the URL, the account name and the time. Do not engage the poster.
- Send threats you find to NCTIC at pesach@lattin.us or 505-932-9060. We route each one to the agency with jurisdiction.
Frequently asked
How many antisemitic hate crimes were there in 2025?
Law enforcement agencies reported 1,528 anti-Jewish hate crime incidents to the FBI for 2025, about 63 percent of religion-based incidents. Separately, the ADL counted 6,274 antisemitic incidents of all kinds, including 203 assaults.
Did antisemitic hate crime go down in 2025?
The FBI count fell from 2,095 to 1,528, and fewer agencies' reports can account for part of any drop. Violence did not fall: the ADL recorded more assaults than in any year since it began tracking in 1979, and 2025 included fatal attacks in Washington and Boulder.
What antisemitic code words should police know?
Common ones include triple parentheses around names, ZOG, JQ, 6MWE and Day of the Rope. A term alone is not a threat. It matters when it is joined to a named target, a means or a time.
Who should a synagogue call about an online threat?
911 if it is imminent, then local police and the FBI. The Secure Community Network and local Jewish community security groups can help with assessment and protection. NCTIC routes threats it finds to the agency with jurisdiction.
Who studies this
NCTIC's analysis draws on official data and the work of these organizations. Listing them does not mean they endorse NCTIC.
Tracks antisemitic incidents and maintains the Hate Symbols database.
National security organization for the Jewish community, works with law enforcement.
Publishes the annual survey on the state of antisemitism in America.
How we put this together. Hate crime counts are incidents reported by law enforcement agencies to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program for 2025, released Aug. 14, 2026, as tabulated by the Arab American Institute; 2024 comparisons use the FBI's updated Crime Data Explorer figures. These counts cover only agencies that report and only incidents that reach police, so they understate the problem, and year-to-year changes partly reflect which agencies filed. Attack summaries draw on court records and news reporting cited below. Watch terms come from NCTIC analysis and public research such as the ADL Hate Symbols database. NCTIC products are analysis and can be wrong.
NCTIC is an independent nonprofit, non-governmental organization. It is not a government agency, does not act under government authority, and does not make or enforce laws.
We take no position on immigration or other policy questions and do not blame threats on any group. Our anchor is simple: the law says no violence against people, whoever they are.