Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia experienced significant patterns of antisemitic incidents in 2024, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit.
This regional data reflects national trends — the ADL recorded more than 9,300 antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2024, a 5% increase compared to 2023 and the highest level ever recorded in the ADL’s 46-year history for the fourth consecutive year.
This newly released information comes as a recent Tel Aviv University study shows a “sharp decline” in rates of antisemitic incidents worldwide in 2024. These rates, however, “broadly remain higher” than they were before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Contrary to the study’s international findings, Maryland saw a 5% increase and Virginia a 19% increase in the number of reported antisemitic incidents. D.C. saw a 12% decrease, according to a press release by the ADL.
“The levels of antisemitism we’re seeing across these states should never be accepted and yet have become a persistent reality for Jewish communities,” Meredith Weisel, the vice president of the ADL and managing regional director of ADL D.C., said in the press release.
She specifically mentioned significant increases in local incidents on college campuses and incidents that target Jewish institutions and relate to anti-Israel sentiment. For the first time in audit history, a majority of the reported antisemitic incidents included elements related to Israel or Zionism.
Maryland saw a reported 356 antisemitic incidents in 2024, making it the state with the sixth-highest number of reported antisemitic incidents.
Despite a decrease from 2023 to 2024, Maryland ranks second nationwide for antisemitic incidents in public schools. Montgomery County is particularly overrepresented in state antisemitism data; the county’s 96 antisemitic incidents accounted for 90% of kindergarten through 12th grade cases in Maryland, according to the press release.
There were seven reported antisemitic assaults in Maryland in 2024, up from five in 2023. This data includes the state’s first assault on a college campus in more than three years, which was Israel-related.
Virginia had the tenth highest number of reported antisemitic incidents in the U.S., with 266 total incidents in 2024. Perhaps most notable is the fact that the 168 Israel- and Zionism-related incidents in 2024 marks a 91% increase from 2023.
White supremacist propaganda is also on the rise in Virginia. The ADL defines such propaganda as the distribution of “racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+” material. This continues last year’s trend — Virginia and Texas were the states with the most white supremacist propaganda activity in 2023.
Virginia also ranks fifth in the U.S. for K-12 antisemitic incidents, with 55 such incidents in 2024, up from 45 in 2023.
In D.C., 31 of the 151 total reported antisemitic incidents took place at a college or university. D.C. ranked 16th in the nation for its rate of college and university antisemitic incidents and saw a 30% increase in Israel and Zionism-related incidents.
In January 2024, a prominent local Orthodox rabbi was assaulted by a Lyft driver in D.C., who told the rabbi to exit the car, chased him up the street, struck him in the face multiple times and slashed him with his keys.
The DMV region also saw multiple cases of other antisemitic assaults, vandalism and harassment, including a person who intentionally set fire to the gates of a Jewish museum in Maryland.
In attempts to combat the surge in local antisemitism, the ADL has worked with almost 20 area universities and brought students to testify before Maryland lawmakers in support of the Maryland Campus Accountability Act and the Remove Discrimination in Education Act.
The 2025 Campus Antisemitism Report Card — with data from 2024 to 2025 — reflected some progress from local colleges, the press release stated. Both American and Georgetown universities improved from a grade of “C” to “B,” while the University of Virginia progressed from a “D” to a “C.”
The ADL strongly supported the County Board Member Anti-Bias Training Act, which mandates that all members of Maryland’s county boards of education complete anti-bias training at least once during their term, according to the Maryland General Assembly. The bill passed both chambers in Maryland and awaits Gov. Wes Moore’s signature.
