THE Anti-Defamation League (ADL)a Jewish non-governmental organization based in New Yorkexpressed concern today about the “unprecedented number” of anti-Semitic acts recorded in 2023, with the war between Hamas and Israel fueling “a fire that was already out of control”, according to its annual global report.

“If the current trend continues, it will cease to be possible to live a Jewish life in the West: to wear the Star of David, to go to synagogues and community centers, to send one’s children to Jewish schools, to join Jewish groups at universities or to speak Hebrew,” the professor emphasized Uriah Savit of Tel Aviv University at the exhibition.

The ADL’s annual report highlights that anti-Semitic violence had increased before the October 7 war broke out after Hamas’s bloody attack on Israel.

“The aftermath of the horrific attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7 was followed by a tsunami of hatred against Jewish communities around the world,” said Jonathan Greenblatthead of the ADL.

“This year’s report is particularly alarming with unprecedented levels of recorded anti-Semitic actions, even in the US, where 2023 saw the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents ever recorded by the ADL,” he added.

The report, which was written in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, says that anti-Semitic acts in 2023 were clearly more than those in 2022 in most countries where Jews live, mainly in the US, France, Britain, Australia, Italy, Brazil and Mexico.

The publication of the report coincides with Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Ashoa, in Hebrew).