A new report from the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel is raising alarm over what it describes as a sharp increase in anti-LGBTQ violence, harassment and organized attacks across the country in 2025.
The report says at least one physical assault against a queer person now occurs every week in Israel. Physical attacks made up half of all reported public-space incidents this year, up from 32 percent in the previous report. Reports of extortion and threats also jumped from 3 percent last year to over 13 percent this year.
In a nationwide survey included for the first time, 91 percent of respondents said they experienced LGBTQ-phobia over the past year, but only 7 percent reported it. The association documented 322 incidents of LGBTQ-phobic harm this year, along with more than 2.6k anti-LGBTQ comments and 1,325 abusive social media posts. One of the report’s most troubling findings involves alleged organized attacks targeting gay men through dating apps, mainly Grindr.
The association says it has documented more than 20 cases since late 2024 in which fake profiles were allegedly used to lure victims into violent ambushes. The report also found transgender people accounted for about 55 percent of anti-lgbtq harms despite representing a smaller portion of Israel’s LGBTQ community.
