While harassment targeting Jewish people has declined in recent years, a new report claims that physical violence against Jewish people has increased, reaching a near-50-year-high. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported Wednesday that physical assaults against Jewish people in the U.S. last year totaled more than 200, a high not seen since 1979. According to the ADL, physical violence against Jewish people has been rapidly increasing over the past several years, rising from fewer than 50 in 2020 to 203 in 2025.

Last year, there were 32 incidents of assault including deadly weapons — up from 23 in 2024 — and three were fatal, including a shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., an attack on a Colorado rally for Israeli hostages, and a stabbing in New York City. According to CNN, a University of Arizona professor was also killed. The graduate student responsible thought that the professor was Jewish. He wasn’t.

The ADL reported 6,274 incidents of overall harassment or hatred against Jewish people in the U.S. last year, down 33% from 2024, while incidents on college and university campuses fell more sharply, to 583 incidents in 2025, down 66% from 1,694 in 2024.

“The surge in physical assaults is a stark reminder that a historically high level of antisemitism puts Jewish lives at risk,” said ADL senior vice president for counter-extremism and intelligence Oren Segal, in a statement. “Jews in this country are still being harassed, assaulted and targeted an average of 17 times a day. That is not a sign of deep progress,” he added. Addressing the decrease in targeting of Jewish people overall but the heightened levels of physical violence, Segal commented, “When the tide goes out … what’s left is the stuff that is too heavy to wash away.”

In comments on Thursday night’s episode of “Washington Watch,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), who is Jewish, warned that the left-wing activists who frequently target Jewish people will soon turn to targeting Christians. “They hate Jews, but they hate Christians too. They hate Western values, and Jews are simply seen as an easy target because there aren’t many of us,” the congressman said, noting that there are fewer Jewish people globally than there are people who live in Beijing, China.

“But make no mistake, the people who are calling for damage to Jews, when they’re done with us, they’re coming for the Christian community,” he warned. “There’s a famous flag that they like to fly that says, ‘Today we come for the Saturday people. Tomorrow we come for the Sunday people,’” referring to the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian tradition of celebrating Christ’s resurrection on Sundays. “That’s something that everyone needs to keep in mind.”

Attacks against Jewish people have also risen globally, particularly in Europe, where mass immigration has imported millions of Muslims who are openly hostile to Jewish people and Christians. According to Axios, worldwide incidents of harassment and violence targeting Jewish people have increased by more than one-third (34%) since Palestine-based paramilitary and terrorist organization Hezbollah attacked Israel in 2023. Europe, Axios reported, has experienced “a wave of stabbings, arson attacks and synagogue vandalism” targeting Jewish people.

As war rages between the U.S. and Israel against Iran, a Policy Exchange study found that 25% of Muslims in Britain hold a favorable view of the terrorist group Hamas, while nearly as many (23%) hold a favorable view of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). While only 11% of the general public in Britain said that they hold an unfavorable view of Jews, 21% of Muslim respondents reported unfavorable views of Jewish people.

Fine pointed out that many of those targeting Jewish people in Europe also target Christians. “Now we see church after church after church in Europe somehow catching on fire,” he observed, highlighting a growing trend of likely arson attacks targeting historic churches across the continent. “Again, first they come for the Jews, then they come for everyone else,” he added. “That is the fight that we’re up against, and we’ve got to fight it hard every day.”