Crime

Antisemitic attacks jump to highest levels in decades, ADL finds

The Anti-Defamation League issued a report indicating 2022 had the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. since at least the 1970s.

Definition of antisemitism
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The Anti-Defamation League issued a report this week indicating a rise an antisemitic incidents throughout the U.S. in 2022. 

The organization said there was a 36% increase in incidents in 2022 compared to 2021. The ADL noted 3,697 antisemitic incidents last year, which marked the most since the organization began tracking them in 1979.

The ADL said there were 2,298 reported incidents of harassment last year, an increase of 29%. The number of vandalism incidents rose by 51% to 1,288. There was a 26% increase in antisemitic assaults in 2022. 

It noted that 107 out of 111 antisemitic assaults involved a deadly weapon. 

The ADL noted this trend has been occurring for years. Antisemitic incidents have increased in eight of the last nine years. 

Images of swastikas, Hitler reported at Stanford dorm
Images of swastikas, Hitler reported at Stanford dorm

Images of swastikas, Hitler reported at Stanford dorm

Someone drew images of swastikas and Adolf Hitler on a whiteboard that was hanging from a Jewish student's dorm room.

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The report indicated that the rise in antisemitic hate crimes can not be attributed to one cause or organization. 

The ADL called on government leaders to condemn antisemitism and make places safe from attacks. 

“Public officials and civic leaders — from the president, to governors, attorneys general, mayors, other civic leaders, and law enforcement authorities — must use their bully pulpits to speak out against antisemitism and all forms of hate and extremism,” the ADL said. “Regardless of its origins — from the far left to the far right and anywhere in between — leaders must call out antisemitism, including anti-Zionist antisemitism, and rally their communities to action.”

The ADL is also calling on tech platforms to block hate speech. 

“While the pervasive scope of these incidents touched individuals across different age ranges, professional disciplines, cultural backgrounds, and geographic locations–including everyone from teenagers to university professors to elected officials to religious leaders–all are bound by the common experience of online hate and its detrimental impacts,” the ADL said.

The ADL posted its full report on its website.