By: Fern Sidman

Across the United States, Jewish communities are grappling with an alarming escalation in antisemitic incidents, from coordinated threats to violent attacks, prompting urgent law enforcement responses and intensifying concerns about public safety. As The Algemeiner (algemeiner.com) reported on Wednesday. recent incidents in cities from New York to Boulder, Colorado, draw attention to a disturbing normalization of hatred against Jews in American public life — a trend driven by both old-fashioned bigotry and increasingly militant anti-Zionism.

In Highland Park, a quiet Chicago suburb with a vibrant Jewish population, residents were jolted by a vile anti-Semitic letter containing explicit threats of violence. The letter’s contents were so grave that federal and state authorities, including the FBI and the Illinois Terrorism and Intelligence Center, were called in to assess the risk and coordinate protective measures. As reported by The Algemeiner, the city took the extraordinary step of temporarily shuttering all local religious institutions out of an abundance of caution.

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering responded forcefully, saying: “Even in Highland Park, where we strive to lead with compassion and inclusion, hate can still find its way to our doorstep. We are living through a time when antisemitism is rising — not only across the world, but here at home.”

Rotering added that the city’s Jewish community, woven into its cultural and civic fabric for generations, “will not be overshadowed by hate.”

This chilling incident is one of many in a nationwide spike tracked by law enforcement and watchdog groups. In New York City, which leads the nation in recorded antisemitic hate crimes, a Jewish woman was assaulted by an elderly man wielding a cane after he shouted, “Stupid b—ch. Go back to your country.” According to the information provided in The Algemeiner report, the incident occurred in a subway station, and the victim’s attempt to record her assailant only enraged him further. Screenshots from her footage are now circulating online as NYPD Crimestoppers seeks the public’s help in identifying the attacker.

In Garrett Park, Maryland, federal agents arrested Clift A. Seferlis for sending dozens of threatening messages to Jewish organizations in Philadelphia, invoking Holocaust imagery and referencing the antisemitic pogrom Kristallnacht. As the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported and The Algemeiner report confirmed, Seferlis threatened to “physically destroy” at least one institution, and referred ominously to its “many big open windows” and a need to “rebuild” after a future act of destruction.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Juan Diaz-Rivas was arrested for a brutal hate crime in which he and several accomplices beat a Jewish man unconscious while shouting “F—ck the Jews, Free Palestine.” According to prosecutors cited by The Algemeiner, the victim was punched, kicked, and left bleeding on the ground. A bystander who attempted to intervene was also attacked.

These incidents, though horrific in isolation, are part of a broader and deeply unsettling trend.

In Boulder, Colorado, a pro-Israel rally turned into a scene of terror when Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, attacked demonstrators with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, injuring 15 people. As The Algemeiner report detailed, Soliman reportedly shouted “Free Palestine” and later told investigators he intended to “kill all Zionist people.” If convicted, he faces over 600 years in prison.

Just days earlier, in Washington, D.C., a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staff members outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by the American Jewish Committee. The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, reportedly screamed “Free Palestine” during his arrest and told FBI agents he acted “for Gaza.” According to the information contained in The Algemeiner report, federal charges confirmed the shooting was politically and ideologically motivated.

These attacks coincide with the release of harrowing new statistics from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The group’s Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, parsed and analyzed by The Algemeiner (algemeiner.com), revealed a staggering 9,354 antisemitic incidents in 2024 — a record-breaking figure since the ADL began collecting such data in 1979. That averages 25.6 incidents per day across the United States.

More than 58% of these incidents were explicitly linked to Israel or Zionism, a trend The Algemeiner report highlighted as indicative of how anti-Zionist rhetoric is increasingly being used as a cover for classic antisemitism. College campuses were particularly hard-hit, with the ADL reporting 1,694 antisemitic incidents in 2024 — an 84% year-over-year increase. Public assaults and property vandalism also spiked, with synagogues, kosher markets, and Jewish-owned businesses targeted across the country.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told The Algemeiner: “Jewish Americans continue to be harassed, assaulted, and targeted for who they are on a daily basis and everywhere they go. But let’s be clear: we will remain proud of our Jewish culture, religion, and identities, and we will not be intimidated by bigots.”

The convergence of violent anti-Zionism, Holocaust trivialization, and classic Jew-hatred has created a uniquely combustible and dangerous environment for American Jews. From threats mailed under cover of night to Molotov cocktails hurled at peaceful demonstrators, the rise in antisemitic incidents is not just a national disgrace — it’s a national emergency.

As The Algemeiner report indicated, the American Jewish community is facing its most perilous moment in decades. Whether law enforcement, elected officials, and civil society respond with the urgency the situation demands remains an open question. For now, the Jewish people are left to navigate rising hatred with courage, resilience — and the sobering knowledge that the threat is no longer hidden in the shadows. It is here, and it is growing.