In 2024, the United States experienced a record high number of reported antisemitic incidents, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) annual report. The organization documented 9,354 incidents of antisemitism across the country, the highest number in the 46 years it has tracked such data.
The increase is part of a long-term trend. The report notes that antisemitic activity in the U.S. has risen 344% over the last five years and nearly 900% over the past decade.
Most of these incidents took place in states with large Jewish populations, like New York and California, but antisemitism has not been limited to major metropolitan areas. In 2024, 31 antisemitic incidents were reported to the ADL in Wyoming, a state with a Jewish population of around 2,000 people.
Rabbi Zalman Mendelsohn, who leads the Chabad Jewish Center in Jackson, has seen some of these incidents himself.
“Several years back, iIt was very disturbing when I was called by a member of our community that somebody had spray painted swastikas on the signs at the entrance of a state park,” he said
The ADL’s data shows that vandalism, in particular, has become more common. In 2024, antisemitic vandalism increased by 20%, with 2,606 incidents recorded nationwide.
A growing portion of these incidents is connected to tensions related to the war in Gaza. According to the ADL, 58% of all antisemitic incidents in 2024 included references to Israel or Zionism, often surfacing at protests or through slogans. The ADL said many of these expressions crossed the line from political criticism into hate speech or threats against Jews.
According to Rabbi Mendelsohn, while Wyoming’s community isn’t immune to national trends, the response from neighbors has often been one of warmth and support.
After the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel, the Chabad Center sent letters and menorah images to homes throughout Teton County, asking residents to display them in windows as a sign of solidarity. The response, Mendelsohn said, was deeply moving.
“We watched an enormous amount of people put up these pictures and text me and email me their support for the Jewish community during this time when we were attacked,” he said. “In Wyoming, we witnessed something very different… Thousands upon thousands of people writing, ‘Wyoming stands with Jews,’ ‘Wyoming stands with Israel.’”
According to the ADL report, Jewish institutions across the U.S. were targeted with hundreds of bomb threats and hundreds more antisemitic messages in 2024. In some cases, synagogues and Jewish schools were picketed or harassed. Though the overall number of incidents at Jewish institutions decreased by 14%, threats and vandalism remained at historically high levels.
Mendelsohn acknowledges that there have been disturbing moments even in Wyoming, such as a bullet hole recently discovered in the synagogue in Cheyenne. But he believes those incidents are the exception, not the rule.
“We know that the vast majority of the people in the state of Wyoming accept us,” he said. “But unfortunately, every so often, there are people who act with hatred.”
