The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) heralded the results of its latest audit of anti-Semitic acts in the US as indicative of “a fairly consistent decline” as the annual report found the total number of anti-Jewish acts fell by 14% in 2012 compared with the previous year.
The statistics compiled from data reported across 35 American states plus Washington showed a total of 927 incidents occurred over the course of the year, consisting of 17 physical assaults on Jewish individuals, 470 cases of harassment and threats and 440 instances of vandalism, compared with an overall total of 1,080 incidents in 2011.
Whilst conceding the updated figures were “encouraging” in so far as they could be measured as “a barometer of decline”, ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman nevertheless deemed it as “disturbing that there are so many incidents in America”, continuing to caution the community and authorities alike “to remain vigilant in responding to them”.
Despite the decline in acts being most evident in the field of harassment, threats and events, which were down from a total of 731 in 2011, there was an uncharacteristic 33% increase in cases of vandalism, with 440 reported incidents compared with just 330 the previous year. The number of physical assaults similarly showed little sign of abating, with 17 incidents compared with 19 the previous year.
The largest number of anti-Semitic acts occurred in New York, with 248 incidents in 2012, showing a marked increase on the 195 reported the previous year. A close second in overall incidents was California with 185 incidents, although this showed a significant decline from the 235 total of 2011. New Jersey also experienced an increase in acts, with 173 incidents, up from 144 in 2011.
Explaining the latest findings, ADL National Chair Barry Curtiss-Lusher admitted it was impossible to quantify the reasons for certain fluctuations in data, although concluded that “the internet provides racists and bigots with an outlet to reach a potential audience of millions”.
“This explosion of viral hate is impossible to quantify, but it may have led to a migration of sorts where the haters and bigots are more likely to take to the Internet to express themselves anonymously, rather than acting out in a public setting,” he conceded.
Whilst the report, which has been conducted annually since its 1979 inception, does not measure anti-Israel or anti-Zionist acts, it does take into account the use of traditional anti-Jewish stereotypes and imagery “that demonise Jews or create an atmosphere of fear or intimidation for US Jews”.
The boundary between anti-Israel feeling and anti-Semitic acts was found to be particularly fragile during last November’s Gaza escalation, when a protester at an Atlanta demonstration brandished a banner with a slogan reading “Israel, the new Nazis”, while another pictured a Star of David with a Swastika at its core. A swastika and the word “Nazi” were spray painted on the front of a synagogue in Long Beach, California in the same month, which also saw a Jewish institution in San Francisco evacuated after being subject of a bomb threat.