‘Emboldened’

Report: There Was a 57% Spike in Anti-Semitism in 2017

Figures have been blamed on the “divisive state of our national discourse.”

Jewish civil-rights group the Anti-Defamation League has reported a 57 percent jump in anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. in 2017 and placed the blame on the “divisive state of our national discourse.” The group recorded 1,986 anti-Semitic incidents last year, up dramatically from 1,267 in 2016 and the highest figure the ADL said it has found in more than two decades. The reported incidents include 952 instances of vandalism and 1015 examples of harassment, including 163 bomb threats against Jewish institutions. Jewish leaders said far-right extremists in the U.S. had been emboldened in the past year, with Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, whose synagogue received a bomb threat last year, telling the AP that anti-Semitism was becoming virulent “in a way I have not seen in my lifetime.” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said: “There’s no question we would love to see the president call out anti-Semitism as consistently and clearly as he does other issues.”