Antisemitic incidents in the United States reach record

NAIL report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) revealed that in 2019, the Jewish community in the United States USA was the target of high-level anti-Semitic incidents of all time.

The New York-based Jewish NGO counted 2,107 anti-Semitic incidents last year, an increase of 12% from the 1,879 recorded in 2018. There has been, on average, up to to six anti-Semitic incidents in the United States for each day of the calendar year. ADL audit of anti-Semitic incidents.

This is the largest number of attacks recorded since the NGO began monitoring anti-Semitic incidents in 1979,

and understands physical assault, harassment and vandalism.

The ADL defines anti-Semitic aggression as "an attempt to inflict physical damage on one or more perceived Jews or Jews, accompanied by evidence of an anti-Semitic spirit".

"It was an unprecedented year of anti-Semitic activity, a time when many Jewish communities across the country had direct encounters with hatred," said group CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

Greenblatt attributed the increase in attacks to "normalization of anti-Semitic tropes", tensions in the political landscape and on social media. He also warned that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is fueling anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, a major factor behind the attacks.

Among the report's main findings, there was a slight decrease in incidents in Jewish synagogues and community centers, but anti-Semitic incidents continued to increase in schools and universities.

Although New York recorded the highest number of attacks with more than 400 cases, followed by New Jersey and California, Hawaii and Alaska were the only places where no incidents were reported reported.