A man has been arrested in Washington DC for spraying two Jewish people with an unknown substance while yelling “gas the Jews”.

The suspect, Gary Wood, was arrested by Metropolitan Police for simple assault and resisting arrest.

Mr Wood is also being investigated for the crime “being motivated by hate or bias”, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Anti-Semitism has seen a major spike in the United States.

The Anti-Defamation League reported that from October 7 to December 7, there was the highest level of anti-Semitic incidents within a two-month period since the company began tracking that data in 1979.

CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt spoke about the relentless pattern of anti-Semitism since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

“This terrifying pattern of anti-Semitic attacks has been relentless since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, with no signs of diminishing,” he said.