Anti-Semitic Incidents Hit All-Time High as Assaults on Jews Surge
26th April 2022
Anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism, and assault was up 34 percent in 2021, with more than 2,700 incidents reported. New Jersey and New York had the most incidents ever—370 and 416, respectively—and New York City alone had 51 assaults—a 325 percent increase from 2020. Most took place in May 2021, when Hamas initiated an 11-day conflict with Israel, firing thousands of rockets on the Jewish state.
Assailants “choked, chased, threatened or struck [victims] with knives, cars, fireworks, or other objects,” according to the ADL. One shot a Jewish man with a BB gun as he was walking on a sidewalk. Another who was wielding a knife injured two parents and their one-year-old child. In Rockland County, N.Y., where nearly a third of the residents are Jewish, a speaker at a community event said, “If I run one of them over … of course I’m going to back over them again.” Many assaults and incidents of vandalism happened at synagogues and schools.