Data detailed in the Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, published annually by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), has revealed a sharp rise in hate crimes in the US, notably since the election of US President Donald Trump in November 2016.
According to the report, an eye-opening 30 percent of the 1,266 documented hate crime acts targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in 2016 in the US occurred in November and December, cited by the Jerusalem Post.
Of the documented hate crimes against Jews in the United States in 2016, 720 were recorded as being a harassment or a threat, 510 were acts of vandalism, and 36 were recorded as acts of physical assault.
In just the first quarter of 2017, according to the ADL, a striking 541 incidents of hate crimes against Jews were recorded in the US, putting the annual figure for 2017 to be on track to top 2000, a record. These documented acts included 380 incidences of harassment and 161 bomb threats.
Acts of vandalism in early 2017 have included three documented reports of cemetery destruction and six incidents of physical assault. Last month a New York rabbi received an anonymous email, threatening: "Things will start getting bloodier for the Jew boys, I know where you live."
According to a recent Think Progress report, the White House, while aware of the increase in hate crime in the US, has not acted to address the issue, other than to decry its occurrence in the broadest terms.
The report noted that Trump has gone on record as embracing anti-Semitic behavior and white nationalism with his millions of Twitter followers. After taking office, members of Trump's administration have denied that Nazis specifically targeted Jews during the Holocaust, and have even gone so far as to blame Jews for the recent spike in anti-Semitic attacks, by claiming that the hate crimes were an attempt to portray Trump's anti-Semitic supporters as anti-Semitic.
Established in 1913 and formerly known as B'nai B'rith (Hebrew for "Children of the Covenant,") the ADL has 29 regional offices throughout the United States, as well as three offices outside of the country.
