February Sees Significant Uptick in Antisemitic Incidents Across World, CAM Data Finds

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Information Hub tracked a total of 229 antisemitic incidents reported in the media worldwide in February 2022, a 44.9% increase from the prior month and a 40.5% increase from February 2021.

CAM’s Monthly Antisemitism Report classifies incidents of Jew-hatred (including physical assault, verbal harassment, vandalism, and hate speech) by the ideologies of the perpetrators.

Of February’s incidents, 57.2% (131) had far-right motives, while 17.0% (39) had far-left motives, and 7.9% (18) had radical Islamist motives. The remainder — 17.9% (41) — had unidentifiable motives.

The month saw 52.3% and 21.9% year-to-year increases in incidents of far-right and far-left antisemitism, respectively, while a 21.7% decrease was recorded in the Islamist category.

Also in February, CAM monitored 16 physical attacks against Jews, a 166.7% rise, year-to-year, as well as 93 incidents of antisemitic vandalism, a 116.7% increase, year-to-year.

A wave of incidents targeting Jews in New York City — including a spate of street assaults in Brooklyn — prompted Mayor Eric Adams to convene a roundtable meeting with dozens of Jewish community leaders to discuss ways to combat antisemitism.

“Hatred won’t be tolerated in our city,” Mayor Adams said. “Antisemitic acts of violence are an attack on every New Yorker and they will be met with the force of the entire city.”

Meanwhile, a study conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and released by CAM on Feb. 9 showed a sudden spike in coordinated social media activity calling for the release of convicted “Lady Al Qaeda” terrorist Aafia Siddiqui preceded the Jan. 15th hostage-taking incident at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, in which British Islamist extremist Malik Faisal Akram demanded the U.S. free her from prison.

Furthermore, a report compiled by the Tbilisi-based Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) highlighted a rise in antisemitism in the South Caucasus nation of Georgia that was attributed to “pro-Russian violent extremist groups” motivated by the war in Ukraine.

Also in February, the CAM Information Hub published a comprehensive online database detailing the adoptions and endorsements by U.S. states of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism — 19 have done so thus far.

There were nine adoptions of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism in February — by the Republic of the Philippines; Federation of Filipino Canadian Associations of Quebec (FFCAQ); FC Nürnberg; Town of Surfside, Florida; Duke University Student Government; Florida Atlantic University Student Government; and Venezuelan municipalities of Chacao, Baruta, and El Hatillo.

The full monthly report can be viewed here.

For more information on CAM’s antisemitism incidents data, which is collected on a weekly basis, visit: combatantisemitism.org/newsletters