Palm Beach County led Florida in reported antisemitism acts during 2023, ADL report says

Describing it as a wave of antisemitism, the number of harassing and threatening acts against Jewish communities in Florida rose sharply in 2023, with Palm Beach County recording the highest number of incidents in the state, the Anti-Defamation League reported this week in its 2023 audit.

The ADL said Florida had 463 documented acts of antisemitism in 2023, up from 269 reported in 2022. Three South Florida counties — Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade — accounted for just more than 200 of them.

Palm Beach County reported 84 documented cases of antisemitism, up from 20 in 2022. Miami-Dade reported 62 in 2023 and Broward 55.

Bomb threats, leaflet drops helped fuel increase in Palm Beach County incidents

A rise in bomb threats against Jewish institutions and in the distribution of literature to residential communities by extremist groups were among the factors that contributed to Palm Beach County's increase, said Sarah Emmons, the ADL’s Florida regional director.

"There were a couple of categories where we really saw some significant jumps," Emmons said in an interview on Wednesday, April 17.

"In Palm Beach County specifically, there were 15 bomb threats. That was versus zero the year before,” she said, noting it mirrored the national trend and that some incidents increased after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Emmons also said Palm Beach County also had a higher number of reports involving the distribution of offensive literature, acts of vandalism and physical assaults.

As recently as 2023, officials have estimated that about 12% of Palm Beach County's population is Jewish.

Michael Hoffman, the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, said the county has seen an increase in activity by various white supremacist groups who have moved into the area. Last year, the Jewish Federation voted to start to Palm Beach County Center to Combat Antisemitism & Hatred. It recently organized a visit to Israel by leaders from non-Jewish communities.

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"Combatting antisemitism is not an issue just for the Jewish community to address," Hoffman said. "We need allies in the greater community representing all faiths, all ethnic groups, elected officials, faith leaders (and) law enforcement."

The county had 21 offensive literature incidents in 2023, compared to just two the year before, according to ADL statistics. Emmons said an act in which someone drove around to communities in one city was counted as one incident.

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She said a state law that took effect in May increasing penalties for harassing acts against religious groups helped to reduce the number of incidents.

Under the law, people who deface or damage religious cemeteries, project images of religious “animus” onto a property without permission or harass others because of religious-based garments can be charged with a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines.

State Attorney's Office successfully prosecuted antisemitic literature cases in Palm Beach County

The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office in August announced one of its first successful prosecutions of a person accused of distributing antisemitic literature.

A 33-year-old Maryland man pleaded guilty to a charge of resisting an officer without violence, as well as misdemeanor charges of dumping litter and attempting to dump litter. A judge placed him on 12 months of probation.

In November, a man identified by authorities as the leader of an extremist group was sentenced to 30 days in jail after a jury found him guilty of attempting to dump nearly 50 pounds of litter from the back of a U-Haul.

West Palm Beach police said the man and three others tossed extremist literature in weighted plastic bags onto residents' yards, promising they would continue to do so even after they were cited for it.

In her remarks to statewide media, Emmons noted the incident from December in Juno Beach in which a sand-sculpted menorah was destroyed and defaced with a swastika.

Members of the Jewish Community Synagogue in North Palm Beach  paid the artist to rebuild the menorah at the same spot and about 200 people attended a communal lighting to cheer its restoration.

She also recounted an incident from December at Boca Raton-area high school in which an image of a swastika was carved into a desk.

"Unfortunately, we saw a rise across the state in vandalism, especially after (Oct. 7) and Palm Beach was not spared from those incidents," she said.

Florida ranked fourth nationally as antisemitic incidents soared nationwide

The ADL's 2023 audit of antisemitic incidents, released Tuesday, April 16, disclosed 8,873 documented cases across the United States last year, the highest total since the ADL began tracking incidents in 1979.

Florida recorded the fourth-highest total among all states, finishing only behind California, New York and New Jersey, Emmons said.

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ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a separate press briefing that the Oct. 7 attacks and the ensuing military conflict were a significant factor in the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents across the U.S.

Greenblatt described acts of antisemitism as "a five-alarm fire that is still raging across the country and in our local communities and campuses.

“Jewish Americans are being targeted for who they are at school, at work, on the street, in Jewish institutions and even at home," he said. “This crisis demands immediate action from every sector of society and every state in the union.”

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: ADL: Antisemitism acts spiked in Palm Beach County, Florida in 2023