A growing fault line: How US schools are struggling to define and confront antisemitism

In the two years since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict have increasingly entered American classrooms. Across the United States, advocates and educators report a rise in antisemitic incidents, while others warn that the line between political criticism and hate speech is being redrawn in troubling ways. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) , nearly 860 antisemitic incidents were reported in non-Jewish schools last year, a decrease from over 1,100 in 2023 but still markedly higher than pre-war levels. These incidents range from verbal harassment to offensive graffiti and, in some cases, classroom materials that propagate harmful stereotypes. While the surge in incidents has triggered calls for tighter oversight, it has al