Boston was among the U.S. cities that saw a “record” increase in antisemitic hate crimes over the last two years, charting a 56% increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes by the end of 2022, according to a newly released report.
The 23 anti-Jewish hate crimes recorded in Boston between 2021 and the end of last year were the most since the FBI began collecting the data in 1991, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. The data were first reported by Axios.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes increased in Boston after the start of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas last October, Axios reported, citing the new data. Hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians also increased during the same time period, Axios further reported.
Overall, Boston recorded 158 hate crimes against all impacted groups by the end of 2022, a 7% increase from the year before.
The 14 crimes reported against Jewish residents in Boston in 2022 marked a 56% increase from the year before. Crimes against the city’s transgender residents rose by a similar amount during the same time period. And the 30 hate crimes against gay males rose by 67%, the largest such increase among all groups, according to the report.
In pure numbers, hate crimes against the city’s Black and African American residents led the way in the new data, with 41 such incidents in 2022, a 13% decrease from the 47 incidents logged in 2021, the data show.
There were 16 hate crimes targeting Boston’s Asian residents in 2022, a 33% decrease from the 24 such incidents reported in 2021, the data show.
Nationwide, “religion-targeted hate crime continued to both climb and diversify [in 2022], rising 27%, in major American cities — quadruple the percentage increase for overall hate crime in surveyed cities that year,” the report’s authors noted.
Jewish Americans were again the “most targeted,” population, with 470 hate crimes in 2022 or 78% of the religion total and a 28% increase, according to the data. Hate crimes against Muslims followed, with an 8% share, 50 crimes, and a 16% jump, according to the report.
Catholics saw a 13% drop to 26 hate crimes, while those of “other” non-Christian faiths were up 117% to 25, the data show.
The new data mirror a similar report released last October by the ADL, which charted an alarming increase in antisemitic hate crimes after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist group.
The ADL said it recorded a total of “312 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7-23, 2023, 190 of which were directly linked to the war in Israel and Gaza.”
In comparison, “during the same period in 2022, ADL received preliminary reports of 64 incidents, including four that were Israel-related,” the ADL data showed. An interactive map of where incidents occurred last October can be found on the ADL’s website.
During the annual menorah lighting on Boston Common last December, faith and political leaders spoke of the importance of fighting back against hate crimes, especially during the heightened atmosphere since the outbreak of war in the Middle East.
“This year, as we celebrate Hanukkah in Greater Boston, our family in Israel continues to fight a war for its survival. Hanukkah is the holiday that celebrates the triumph — the physical and spiritual triumph — against those who try to do us harm and who try to strike fear in our hearts,” Rabbi Marc Baker, the president and CEO of the Boston-based Combined Jewish Philanthropies, said.
