Anti-Semitic incidents up by 57 percent in 2017
Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League, is calling on “all public figures” to speak out against intolerance.
Jonathan Greenblatt in 2017. Some rights reserved by Gage Skidmore.
The Anti-Defamation League is reporting a 57 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States between 2016 and 2017, the highest tally that the Jewish civil rights group has counted in more than two decades.
The New York City-based organization released data showing 1,986 anti-Semitic incidents last year, up from 1,267 in 2016. That’s the highest total since 1994 and the largest single-year increase since the group began collecting this data in 1979.
The ADL said the sharp rise includes 952 vandalism incidents, an increase of 86 percent from 2016. The group also counted 1,015 incidents of harassment, including 163 bomb threats against Jewish institutions.
