The horrific Oct. 7 massacre carried out last year by Palestinian Hamas opened a floodgate of Jew-hatred, leading to unprecedented levels of antisemitism. Even more horrifying, Jew-haters chose to commemorate the slaughter and rape by Hamas by increasing antisemitic acts to even greater levels. One rabbi warns that this is a harbinger of the US “closing shop” for the Jews.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report last week claiming a staggering rise in antisemitic incidents in the United States over the past year, recording more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the US. Over the past year, the ADL has recorded the following:

• 8,015 incidents of verbal or written harassment
• 1,840 incidents of vandalism
• Over 150 physical assaults

This was especially prevalent on college campuses, which saw a 500% rise from the previous year. In total, at least 1,200 incidents occurred on campuses, where demonstrations often included calls for violence against Jews and accusations of genocide against Israel.

More than 2,000 antisemitic incidents reported at places such as synagogues and community centers. Notably, over half of these incidents involved bomb threats—a sharp increase from the 81 recorded in the prior year.

More than 3,000 incidents occurred during anti-Israel protests, some of which featured explicit support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

In response to the rising antisemitism, the Biden administration introduced several initiatives aimed at combating hate and ensuring the safety of Jewish communities. However, the effectiveness of these measures has been questioned in light of the escalating incidents.

The commemoration of the horrific Oct. 7 massacre became the focus of even more antisemitism. The Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) recorded 324 anti-Semitic incidents last week, nearly double the highest number of incidents the ARC has ever recorded in a single week of monitoring going back five years.

The previous weekly high for 2024 was 168 incidents recorded in June.

132 anti-Semitic incidents last week occurred on college campuses, making up 40.7% of the total number of incidents recorded this week.

The numbers were especially stark in the United States, where 112 out of 168 anti-Semitic incidents recorded occurred on college campuses.

This is the highest they’ve been since the emergence of anti-Israel encampments in April of this year, highlighting the central role hate groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) play in fostering anti-Semitic atmospheres at American higher education institutions.

CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa said, “The world cannot continue as if nothing has changed. This week, the Combat Antisemitism Movement recorded the highest number of antisemitic incidents since our founding over five years ago. We believe it’s also the week with the highest number of attacks on Jews since the end of the Holocaust.”

He added, “We say to people around the world that you have two choices — stand by and watch, knowing that hatred will eventually turn against you. Or rise up and take a stand. If you’re ready to take action, join us. This call is for people of all faiths — let’s stand together against hatred.”

Rabbi Nachman Kahana, a renowned Torah scholar and co-founder of the Temple Institute, explained the spiritual root cause of antisemitism.

“AntiSemitism is part of human nature,” Rabbi Kahana said.”If all of the Jews got up and said that we were not God’s chosen people, at that point, the nations would love us. But we can’t say that. It would be a lie, and they would know it. Would any other people be able to keep mitzvot for 2,000 years of exile?”

“People hate what they can’t understand. And the nations can’t understand the Jewish people so they hate the Jewish people. They can’t understand why we’re alive.”

“For 2,000 years, they thought they understood us. They thought God hated us. But suddenly, God brought us back to Israel just as He promised. And now the Christians and the Muslims have to rewrite their books. The current American government hates us because they gave billions of dollars to Iran to kill us and we are still here.”

Rabbi Kahana had a message for the Jews in the US.

“If you ever see a store at night, you know it is closing because the store owner is pulling down the gate,” Rabbi Kahana said. ”That’s what we’re watching in America: the gates coming down.”