Antisemitic incidents in South Carolina rose 93% in 2023, audit finds

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Antisemitic incidents in South Carolina nearly doubled last year, according to an audit released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL documented 85 incidents of antisemitism in the Palmetto State in 2023, a roughly 93% increase from the previous year.

The majority of incidents tracked by the ADL — 78 — involved harassment, which the group defines as cases in which one or more Jewish people, or people perceived to be Jewish, were harassed verbally or in writing with antisemitic slurs, stereotypes, or conspiracy theories.

Seven incidents were categorized as vandalism, which is described as cases where property was damaged in a manner that incorporated evidence of antisemitic intent or which had an antisemitic impact on Jews.

The incidents reported in South Carolina represent just a fraction of a staggering increase in antisemitic incidents nationwide.

The ADL tracked more than 8,800 antisemitic incidents across the U.S. in 2023 — the highest number on record since the advocacy group began tracking data in 1979.

Assault incidents increased by 45% to 161 incidents, vandalism increased by 69% to 2,177 incidents and harassment increased by 184% to 6,535 incidents, according to the audit.

The audit shows there was a sharp uptick in the number of recorded incidents in the period immediately following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Between Oct. 7 and Dec. 31, there were 5,204 recorded antisemitic incidents, just over half of which included references to Israel, Zionism, or Palestine.

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The ADL noted that it implemented a new methodology after the Oct. 7 attack to include expressions of opposition to Zionism and support for resistance against Israel or Zionists “that could be perceived as supporting terrorism or attacks on Jews, Israelis or Zionists.” The updated methodology results in the inclusion of 1,350 additional incidents.

“When they occur during public activism (such as at protests), in confrontations between individuals or in the form of vandalism (such as graffiti), these expressions constitute an implicit attack on the great majority of American Jews who view a relationship with Israel to be an important part of the religious, cultural and/or social identities,” the audit reads. “Such rhetoric can be traumatizing to many American Jews and has led to their exclusion from some spaces simply because of that element of how they define and express their Jewishness.”

Physical scuffles or verbal insults between pro-and anti-Israel protestors were not included in the audit “unless the context suggests an antisemitic or anti-Zionist motivation for the assaults,” the audit noted. Protests outside pro-Israel political activist groups or Israeli embassies and consulates were also not included “unless those protests incorporate anti-Zionism, support for terrorism, or classic antisemitic tropes.”

Natanya Miller, Director of Education Initiatives for the Charleston Jewish Federation, said the organization was not surprised by the ADL’s findings.

“We have been responding to incidents across the Charleston area, and the state as a whole, in greater numbers since October 7,” Miller said. “It is more important than ever that our community come together to learn not just how to confront antisemitism, but also how to stand against it.”

The ADL also reported a 237% increase in incidents at Jewish institutions in 2023, which the group said was primarily driven by “massive waves of hoax threats” directed at synagogues and other institutions.

Incidents of antisemitism on college and university campuses — which have hotbeds of tension since the Israel-Hamas war began — spiked by 321% to 922 incidents, the audit found.

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For the second straight year, the ADL found that the Goyim Defense League (GDL) — a white supremacist group whose overarching goal is to expel Jews from the U.S. — distributed more antisemitic propaganda than any other group. The group was responsible for 46% of the total recorded instances of propaganda for the year.

The distribution of such propaganda across South Carolina has led several local communities to enact hate crime or hate intimidation ordinances in the past year including Bluffton, Chester, Florence, Mount Pleasant, and Myrtle Beach. Ordinances have also been proposed in Beaufort, Hardeeville, North Charleston, and Summerville.

“Whether it is swastikas drawn at schools, comments made to people in grocery stores, or flyers promoting conspiracy theories, our community is no stranger to hate, but we are stronger than it,” Miller said.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called on governors across the U.S. to take immediate action to combat the surge of antisemitism, which he described as “nothing short of a national emergency.”

“Jewish Americans are being targeted for who they are at school, at work, on the street, in Jewish institutions, and even at home,” Greenblatt said in a news release. “This crisis demands immediate action from every sector of society and every state in the union. We need every governor to develop and put in place a comprehensive strategy to fight antisemitism, just as the administration has done at the national level.”

In May 2023, the White House rolled out a national strategy to fight antisemitism that outlines over 100 actions that more than two dozen government agencies will take to counter the problem and over 100 calls to action for various government agencies, companies, technology platforms, schools, and others.

On the home front, supporters have continued to push for a statewide hate crimes law but the effort has repeatedly stalled in the state Senate.

The “Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act” passed the House in an 81-34 vote last March but has sat on the Senate’s calendar since. The legislation is named after a Black pastor who, along with eight parishioners, was killed in a June 2015 racist attack at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed its own version of the hate crimes bill in February, adding language to say that nothing in it can be construed as violating free speech, the Associated Press reported.

South Carolina is one of only two states — including Wyoming — that does not allow for extra punishment for hate-motivated crimes.

You can report an antisemitic or discriminatory incident to the Charleston Jewish Federation and the ADL here.

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