Total incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti, threats and assault are up by two-thirds nationally and have almost doubled in New York City and state when compared to 2016, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL released their Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents today, and says their data shows that there have been 1,299 anti-Semitic incidents across the country through September 30th of this year, compared to 779 through the same time last year. New York State saw the most anti-Semitic incidents in the entire country with 267, which the ADL wrote is "consistent with prior reports, the states with the highest number of incidents tend to be those with the largest Jewish populations."
Of the 267 incidents in New York State, 171 of them took place in New York City alone, compared to 89 in 2016, an increase of 92 percent. Eight of the incidents in New York City were assaults, 167 incidents were classified as vandalism (such as swastikas drawn on subway cars and carved into sidewalks) and 92 classified as incidents of harassment (such as threatening phone calls to Jewish centers and a series of bomb threats made to JCCs earlier this year).
Nationally, the ADL noted that 221 out of 306 anti-Semitic incidents in the third quarter this year took place after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. That rally, which resulted in a white nationalist being charged with intentionally running over counter-protestor Heather Heyer with his car, killing her, elicited a widely-criticized equivocation from President Donald Trump.
Critics and white nationalists themselves called the president's comments about "fine people on both sides" a dog whistle signal to white nationalists. Fortunately, the national media is on the case, preventing the further spread of hateful rhetoric, and not doing something like legitimizing groups that intentionally blur the line between white nationalism and "white advocacy" in an attempt to put a good public face on their views.
