New Report: Anti-Semitism rises in the US
Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. spiked 21 percent last year, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League. While many American Jews may have thought that hatred of Jews and Judaism was on the decline, but the US saw a sharp rise in assaults, vandalism and harassment targeting Jews.
The ADL has released a spring report that, for nearly the past 10 years, showed fewer incidents targeting American Jews. That downward trend contrasted sharply to the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Europe.
“The United States still continues to be unique in history” as a safe place for Jews, said Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s national director.
photo: Peter Richter campaign billboard
The U.S., which is home to about 40 percent of the world’s Jews, still stands in stark contrast to European anti-Semitism and far higher levels of antipathy against Jews in the Middle East, as reflected in studies of anti-Semitic attitudes worldwide.
“It’s still different here than anywhere else, but don’t take anything for granted, and be concerned,” Foxman said.
The ADL counted 912 incidents in 2014, up from 751 the previous year.
The report includes assaults, vandalism and harassment targeting Jews, Jewish property and institutions that were reported to ADL’s 27 regional offices and to law enforcement. It shows 36 assaults, up from 31 in 2013; 363 incidents of vandalism in 2014, compared with 315 in 2013; and 513 incidents of threats and harassment in 2014, contrasted with 405 in 2013.
Some of examples of anti-Zionist or anti-Israel expressions linked to anti-Semitism include a vandal in Malibu, Calif., who painted “Jews=Killers” and “Jews are Killing Innocent Children” near the entrance to a Jewish summer camp last July. Another vandal spray-painted “Free Palestine” and “God Bless Gaza” in red on a synagogue in Lowell, Mass.
Those were among the 139 anti-Semitic incidents reported in July 2014, more than double the 51 reported incidents for the same month a year earlier.
The ADL also called 2014 a particularly violent year that included the fatal shootings at a Jewish community center in Overland Park, Kan.
