WASHINGTON (TNND) — A tense confrontation unfolded Tuesday night outside a historic Manhattan synagogue, where a large group of anti-Israel protesters clashed with police and shouted hateful rhetoric at people attempting to enter the building.
Video from the scene shows demonstrators crowding the entrance, yelling and attempting to disrupt services inside. Some protesters were heard hurling antisemitic insults and making violent threats toward worshippers as officers worked to maintain order.
The incident came just one day after multiple synagogues and Jewish homes in Queens were vandalized with swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti, heightening concern among Jewish communities in New York and beyond.
The back-to-back incidents coincide with a troubling new report from the Anti-Defamation League, which found that physical assaults against Jewish Americans reached their highest levels in decades last year — even as overall incidents of harassment and vandalism declined.
“While some people may look at the overall data and say things might be getting better, we have to understand that the most harmful, violent type of incidents — the ones that resonate and create fear within the community — are actually increasing,” said Oren Segal, the ADL’s senior vice president for counter-extremism and intelligence.
That fear is underscored by several deadly attacks in recent months.
Three people were killed in the United States in 2025 because of their Jewish faith, including Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a couple shot outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Karen Diamond was also killed in a Molotov cocktail attack in Boulder, Colorado, during a demonstration calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The killings marked the first antisemitism-related murders in the U.S. since 2019.
Other violent incidents have added to the sense of unease. A firebomb struck the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro during Passover while his family was inside. In another case cited by the ADL, a driver rammed a vehicle into a synagogue in Michigan while dozens of children were attending daycare.
“These are all reminders of why the community feels anxiety,” Segal said.
Despite the rise in violence, the report notes one area of improvement: antisemitic incidents on U.S. college campuses dropped sharply, falling 66% from the previous year.
Still, the scenes in Manhattan underscore a broader concern — that while some forms of antisemitism may be declining, the most dangerous expressions are becoming more frequent and more severe.