As the war in Gaza rages for a second month, violence of a different kind is erupting across the United States.
Bias attacks against American Jews, Muslims and Arabs have risen to levels not seen in years, fueled by a conflict that often triggers strong feelings on both sides of the issue.
The Anti-Defamation League, an American Jewish advocacy group, documented a staggering 832 antisemitic incidents of assault, vandalism and harassment between October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel, and November 7. That amounts to an average of nearly 28 incidents a day and represents an increase of 315% over the same period last year. The incidents included more than 600 acts of harassment, 170 instances of vandalism, and 30 assaults, ADL said.
At the same time, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights organization, reports an "unprecedented surge in bigotry" since the war started. Between October 7 and November 4, the group received 1,283 requests for help and complaints of anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias, an increase of 216% over an average 29-day period last year. CAIR said more than 15% of complaints fielded by its national office involved alleged hate crimes.
Behind the numbers are real people. While the majority of the reported incidents don't rise to the level of hate crimes, at least two recent deaths have been tied to the conflict.
On October 14, Joseph M. Czuba, a 71-year-old Illinois landlord, fatally stabbed Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy, after seriously wounding his mother, Hanaan Shahin, in their home outside Chicago. Czuba was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder.
Then last week, Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jewish protester, died following an altercation at dueling pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrations in a Los Angeles suburb. Loay Alnaji, 50, a pro-Palestinian demonstrator, was arrested on Thursday in connection with Kessler's death.
The vitriol and violence fueled by the Gaza war have spread to U.S. colleges and universities, heightening tensions between pro- and anti-Israel student groups.
A Cornell University professor was caught on camera calling the Hamas attack on Israel "exhilarating" and "energizing." A student at the Ivy League school was later charged with making threats against Jewish students. At Drexel University in Philadelphia, a Jewish student's dorm room door was set on fire. At the University of Texas, a group of men targeted students during a Palestine Solidarity Committee meeting. And a Muslim student at Stanford University was allegedly run down by a driver making a racist remark.
The Department of Education on Thursday announced new investigations into six U.S. colleges over alleged incidents of Islamophobia and antisemitism, part of the Biden administration’s aggressive effort to counter the surge in anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish hate incidents.
President Joe Biden, who has faced criticism from American Muslim and Arab groups for his unwavering support of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, delivered an Oval Office address last month to denounce antisemitism and Islamophobia.
"We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism," Biden said. "We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia."
Law enforcement officials are sounding the alarm over the Israel conflict’s knock-on effect.
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned this month that the bureau is concerned that violent extremists — both domestic and homegrown — "will draw inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks against ordinary Americans."
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict often inspires hate crimes, but the ripple effect has been outsized this time, magnified by the length and intensity of the war, the polarization of public opinion and media coverage, the spread of false and inflammatory information, and the use of inciteful language by people on both sides of the issue.
Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and professor emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino, said the U.S. is experiencing a "generational hate spike that is likely to have a longer and more violent half-life than prior event-driven increases."
"The bigoted backlash from the Israel-Hamas war is causing online invective and disinformation to skyrocket, while anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate crime incidents are spiking to possible decade highs," Levin said. "And in the case of anti-Jewish hate crimes, a possible record in the U.S."