By Casey Couch, Cleveland Jewish News
The Anti-Defamation League’s annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents found that antisemitic incidents across Ohio dropped sharply in the last year, falling 47% from 394 incidents in 2024 to 209 in 2025, according to data released on May 6.

In a statement, ADL Regional Director Kelly Fishman said that antisemitic incidents in Ohio dropped from 233 in 2024 to 117 in 2025, and that progress reflects the hard work of law enforcement, higher education and the broader community.

“But 117 incidents is still 117 too many,” said Fishman, who is based in Cleveland. “We know that every number in this data represents a real person whose sense of safety was shaken. Antisemitism remains a genuine and prevalent threat to Jewish Ohioans, and ADL Ohio River Valley remains committed to expanding on the progress we saw in 2025.”

The Ohio River Valley region, which includes Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, tracked 31 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, down from 77 incidents in 2024. White supremacist propaganda also decreased from 46 incidents in 2024 to 37 incidents in 2025. The ADL attributed the decline in these numbers to its pointed work in targeting those areas of improvement from previous year’s data.

Fishman added it’s important to note the human cost of antisemitism, which extends far beyond those directly targeted, citing an incident that resonated with her in the past year.

“An Ohio State University student described returning to her dorm last September only to learn that a swastika-emblazoned flyer with the message ‘We’re back’ had appeared at Mirror Lake, at the heart of campus,” Fishman said.

The student described feeling unable to focus on her studies, constantly on guard, and worried about her safety and her roommate, who is Black, felt the threat too, according to Fishman.

In the ADL’s national report, 2025 marked one of the most violent periods for American Jews, with physical assaults reaching record historically high levels and antisemitic attacks resulting in fatalities on American soil for the first time since 2022 and in Jewish fatalities for the first time since 2019.

Across the country, there were 6,274 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment, and vandalism in 2025, an average of 17 incidents per day. While this total represents a 33% decrease from 2024, it remains considerably higher than the total in years prior to Oct. 7, 2023 and ranks as the third-highest year for antisemitic incidents, after 2023 and 2024, since ADL began tracking in 1979.

Incidents of assault involving a deadly weapon also increased nationally by 39%, claiming two victims in the May 21, 2025 shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., and one victim who died from injuries sustained in the June 1, 2025 firebombing attack in Boulder, Colo.

To read the complete June 2026 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.