COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (AP) — A Jewish civil rights group’s annual tally of antisemitic incidents within the U.S. reached a document excessive final 12 months, with a surge that coincided with an 11-day warfare between Israel and the Hamas militant group, in accordance with a report launched Tuesday.
The Anti-Defamation League counted 2,717 antisemitic incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism in 2021, a 34% improve over the previous year and the very best quantity because the New York Metropolis-based group started monitoring such incidents in 1979.
Over 260 Palestinians and 13 Israelis had been killed in the course of the May 2021 war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli plane struck tons of of targets in Gaza, whereas Hamas launched 1000’s of rockets at Israel. The Israeli air drive bombed and destroyed a 12-story tower that housed dozens of households in addition to workplaces belonging to The Related Press and the Al-Jazeera satellite tv for pc channel.
ADL counted 297 antisemitic incidents that occurred between the Might 10 begin of army motion and the top of the month, a 141% improve from the 123 incidents that it counted throughout the identical interval in 2020.
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“The perpetrators of many of those incidents explicitly referred to the battle between Israel and Hamas,” the report says.
ADL mentioned its tally of antisemitic incidents nonetheless elevated by 46% over the last 20 days of Might 2021, in comparison with the identical interval in 2020, even when incidents with specific references to Israel or Zionism are excluded.
“It’s alarming as a result of the vitriol in opposition to the Jewish neighborhood is coming from all angles,” mentioned Oren Segal, vp of the ADL’s Heart on Extremism.
ADL counted 15 antisemitic assaults between Might 10 and Might 30 of final 12 months after counting none throughout the identical interval in 2020. The group mentioned there may be proof that not less than eight of these assaults had been motivated by “anti-Israel/anti-Zionism sentiment.”
For instance, it cited a May 18 incident during which folks in a caravan of vehicles and flying Palestinian flags attacked Jewish diners exterior a Los Angeles restaurant.
“The Palestinian supporters pushed one of many victims to the bottom and kicked him. Quickly after, a brawl erupted, and subsequent information experiences indicated the attackers additionally hurled anti-Jewish slurs in the course of the melee,” the ADL report says.
ADL additionally cited a May 20 incident in New York Metropolis, the place a Jewish man carrying a yarmulke was attacked on his technique to a pro-Israel rally. His attackers yelled anti-Jewish and anti-Israel slurs whereas they punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed him, the report says.
ADL says its audit contains incidents of harassment, vandalism or assault that included “anti-Israel and/or anti-Zionism themes” if in addition they categorical “traditional anti-Jewish animus” or “demonize Jews as a gaggle for actual or perceived help of Israel.”
The 11-day warfare led to tons of of “anti-Israel” protests and rallies within the U.S., the report says. However the group says its audit didn’t embody these occasions until they “featured slogans or indicators that straight linked their opposition to Israel or Zionism to all Jews or included antisemitic tropes.”
The audit discovered that extremists teams or people, together with white supremacists, had been liable for 484 incidents final 12 months, up from 332 in 2020. The distribution of antisemitic fliers, banners, stickers or written messages accounted for many of these incidents. Additionally they included acts of vandalism and bomb threats to Jewish establishments.
The group’s tally of complete 2,717 incidents final 12 months included 1,776 instances of harassment, a 43% improve from 1,242 in 2020. ADL additionally counted a 14% improve in vandalism instances (from 751 in 2020 to 853 final 12 months) and a 167% improve in assault incidents (from 33 in 2020 to 88 final 12 months). The 88 assault incidents concerned 131 victims, none of whom had been killed, the report says.
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ADL says it compiles knowledge for its annual audit by evaluating info reported by information media, victims, regulation enforcement and neighborhood leaders. The group says it avoids conflating basic criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism.
“Nonetheless, Israel-related harassment of identifiable teams or people could also be included when the harassment included anti-Jewish references, accusations and/or conspiracy theories, or when American Jews are demonized for his or her actual or perceived help of Israel,” the report says.
