A new report from the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations (LACCHR) found that antisemitic incidents in the county increased by 153% from 2022 to 2023.
The LACCHR’s released its first annual Hate Incident Report on April 4; the report defines hate incidents as “are noncriminal acts motivated by prejudice or bias against a person or group’s actual or perceived identity(ies). Hate incidents can include noncriminal verbal abuse, harassment, and display of offensive materials.” The report found that the number anti-Jewish hate incidents surged from 66 in 2022 to 167 in 2023. Antisemitic incidents were 90% of all religiously motivated hate incidents that occurred in the county in 2023, an increase from 83% in 2022.
The report also found that Muslims were the second-most targeted group of religiously motivated hate incidents, as anti-Muslim hate incidents consisted of 8% of all such incidents in 2023 and increased by 133% (from six to 14) in 2022-23. As a whole, religiously motivated hate incidents increased from 80 to 185 in that timespan (131%) and consisted of 21% of all reported hate incidents in the county in 2023.
“The most common type of offense was hate speech,” the report stated. “Hate speech increased from 77 to 184. In 2023, hate speech comprised 99% of the total and in 2022 it was 96% of the total. The other offense was noncriminal threat, which was 1% of the total in 2023, and 4% in 2022.” The report added that “incidents with evidence of White Supremacist ideology increased 76%, from 17 to 30. Middle East conflict-related incidents increased from 0 to 25, a significant increase.”
“Incidents with evidence of White Supremacist ideology increased 76%, from 17 to 30. Middle East conflict-related incidents increased from 0 to 25, a significant increase.” – From the report
The report highlighted two specific instances of reported religiously motivated hate incidents in 2023; the first occurred in January of that year in the La Brea neighborhood, where a Middle Eastern male allegedly referred to his neighbor in their apartment building as a “Jewish b—-” several times and “let’s see who is going to win, the Jewish or Muslims?” The Middle Eastern man allegedly became enraged after the apartment manager asked the man to turn the volume down on music he was blasting in the building’s common area. The report also highlighted an incident from July 2023 in Studio City, where two Middle Eastern girls, aged 10 and 13, were allegedly derided as “terrorists” when they refused to say if they support Israel.
Overall, hate incidents increased by 35% (609 to 821) in LA County in 2023; anti-Black incidents increased by 12% and consisted of 52% of all racial and ethnic motivated hate incidents. Hate incidents against Latinos consisted of 15% of all racial and ethnic motivated hate incidents, 60% of which “included anti-immigrant slurs.” Hate incidents motivated by sexual orientation and gender increased by 24% and 53%, respectively.
“Hate incidents can be just as traumatic for victims as hate crimes, and can perpetuate systemic inequality; so all of us must report them, not accept them as ‘normal,’” LACCHR Executive Director Robin Toma said in a statement. “Understanding hate incident data along with hate crime data is a crucial new dimension for effective prevention and intervention policies and action.”
