Antisemitic Hate Incidents At U.S. Record: What’s Happening In SoCal

LOS ANGELES, CA — Antisemitic incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism, including 392 in California, reached an all-time high in 2021, according to an Anti-Defamation League report Tuesday.

The ADL’s annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents describes 2,717 attacks on Jewish people last year, a 34 percent year-over-year increase, according to the ADL, which began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.

That amounts to an increase of more than seven antisemitic incidents a day.

According to the full report, in California, two "extremist murders," two terrorist plot/attacks, nine white supremacist events, 392 antisemitic incidents and 236 white supremacist propaganda incidents were reported in the last year.

In Southern California, more than 150 antisemitic incidents were reported. A variety of other incidents have been reported across the region, including one extremist murder reported in San Ysidro. Antisemitic incidents were reported in higher volume in metropolitan areas with 127 incidents reported in Los Angeles and 26 reported in San Diego.

On April 18 in Huntington Beach, people associated with the antisemitic Goyim Defense League distributed propaganda in a local neighborhood that read: "Every single aspect of the Covid agenda is Jewish" and "Every single aspect of the Ukraine-Russia war is Jewish," according to the report.

A series of antisemitic flyers placed in bags weighted down by rocks were also left around Beverly Hills and Hollywood Hills earlier this month, NBC reported. In December, those same flyers were left in Beverly Hills on the first night of Hanukkah.

On April 12 in San Diego, people associated with Crew 562, a neo-Nazi group, and the antisemitic Goyim Defense League drove a U-Haul covered in antisemitic messages through the streets of San Diego, the report said.

And in Pasadena on April 11, an unknown person or group distributed propaganda at Pasadena City College "that blamed Jews for a host of societal ills and said 'if whites understood the depths to which jews control our countries and our institutions of power and the way in which they wield that power in an effort to destroy our interests, we would rise up and eradicate them immediately.'"

The propaganda materials included links to Christogenea, a Christian Identity website, and also the antisemitic Goyim Defense League.

As for white supremacist incidents, most recently, in Irvine, Patriot Front hung a banner from an overpass that read: "America First," on Tuesday. On Wednesday, that same white supremacist group hung an identical banner from an overpass in Westley.

Antisemitic incidents “reached a high watermark across virtually every category” in the audit, the ADL said, including at:

• Jewish institutions such as synagogues and community centers, up 61 percent.
• K-12 schools, up 106 percent.
• College campuses, up 21 percent.

Physical assaults increased 167 percent, incidents of harassment increased 43 percent, and acts of antisemitic violence rose 14 percent, according to the audit.

The ADL reported a surge in violence during the May 2021 conflict between Israel and Hamas. Antisemitic incidents, including violent attacks on Jewish people, increased 148 percent from the previous May as hundreds of anti-Israel protests took place in dozens of U.S. cities on May 10, the date marking the official start of military action.

“While we have always seen a rise in antisemitic activity during periods of increased hostilities between Israel and terrorist groups, the violence we witnessed in America during the conflict last May was shocking,” ADL chief executive and national director Jonathan A. Greenblatt said in a news release.

“Jews were being attacked in the streets for no other reason than the fact that they were Jewish, and it seemed as if the working assumption was that if you were Jewish, you were blameworthy for what was happening half a world away.”

Anti-Israel protests accounted for only a portion of the violent attacks on Jews in 2021, and not the largest portion, according to the ADL. Physical assaults also spiked in November and December, when there were no contributing geopolitical events.

Nearly 18 percent of the incidents last year — at least 484 — were attributable to actions by domestic extremists, the ADL said.

“When it comes to antisemitic activity in America, you cannot point to any single ideology or belief system, and in many cases, we simply don’t know the motivation,” Greenblatt said in the release. “But we do know that Jews are experiencing more antisemitic incidents than we have in this country in at least 40 years, and that’s a deeply troubling indicator of larger societal fissures.”

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2021 Findings: By The Numbers

Total antisemitic incidents: 2,717, up 34 percent

• Assaults: 88, up 167 percent
• Victims: 131
• Use of deadly weapons: 11
• Fatalities: 0

Harassment: 1,776 incidents, up 43 percent

• Vandalism: 853 incidents, up 14 percent
• Swastikas used in 578 incidents

States reporting incidents: 50 and the District of Columbia, with the following states accounting for 58 percent of total incidents:

• New York: 416
• New Jersey: 392
• California: 367
• Florida: 190
• Michigan: 112
• Texas: 112

• Antisemitic incidents at Jewish Institutions: 525
• Harassment: 413
• Vandalism: 101
• Assaults: 11

About 25 percent, or 111 incidents, were linked to anti-Zionist or anti-Israel sentiments. Domestic extremist groups or individuals inspired by extremist ideology were responsible for 484 antisemitic incidents, 18 percent of the total, the ADL said.

White supremacist groups and extremists were responsible for 422 antisemitic propaganda distributions, a 52 percent increase from the year before.

A total of 345 antisemitic incidents in 2021 involved references to Israel or Zionism; of them, 68 appeared in the form of white supremacist propaganda efforts, which the ADL said attempt to strengthen anti-Israel and antisemitic beliefs.