Jews again faced most hate crimes of any religious group in 2022, FBI reports

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Last year, American Jews again faced far more hate crimes than members of other religions, according to a report by the FBI.

There were 1,305 offenses committed against Jews in 2022, the FBI reported in its tally Monday of national crime statistics, far outnumbering the second-largest category, anti-Muslim crimes, of which there were 205.

That disparity is consistent with years of hate crimes reporting showing that Jewish victims far outnumber other religious targets.

Broken down according to category, there were 775 cases of anti-Jewish destruction, damage or vandalism of property; 358 cases of intimidation; 103 cases of simple assault; 38 cases of aggravated assault; and eight cases of larceny or theft.

Last year’s report showed a tally of 817 anti-Jewish criminal offenses, but the national increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes year over year is harder to pin down, because the FBI said the participation of local law enforcement in reporting the crimes to the FBI’s database had “significantly increased” in 2022.

In the past, the FBI has been frustrated in its efforts to get local and state agencies to hew to a uniform standard of reporting. Jewish organizations have for years lobbied for better hate crimes reporting on the state and local levels.

While Jews faced the most religion-based hate crimes, in breakdowns according to race, ethnicity or ancestry, Black victims far outnumbered others, at 4,210.