"Anti-Semitism has also gone viral, with anti-Semitic games and websites appearing on the Internet with alarming regularity,'' said Amanda Susskind, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. (Photo by Gary McCarthy)
Story Created:
Jul 27, 2010 at 8:10 PM PST
Story Updated:
Jul 28, 2010 at 9:40 AM PST
Sparked largely by an increase in the Los Angeles area, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in California jumped by 22 percent in 2009, according to a report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.
Across the state, there were 275 reported incidents of anti-Semitism, up from 226 the previous year, according to the league's annual "Audit of Anti- Semitic Incidents.'' It was the highest number of such incidents in a decade and the second year in a row the number increased by more than 20 percent statewide, the report found.
California also had the highest number of reported incidents in the country.
"This year's audit reveals an increase in the number of incidents of harassment, with numerous reports of disparaging comments directed to and about Jews,'' according to ADL Regional Director Amanda Susskind. "In several cases, anti-Semitic epithets accompanied threats of violence and actual physical assaults with, `I'm going to kill you, Jew,' as a typical example.''
Among the incidents detailed in the report were:
-- an attack on a Jewish man on a bus in Los Angeles by a passenger who called the victim a "Jew boy'' and dragged him to the front of the bus;
-- the spray-painting of swastikas and neo-Nazi phrases including "Actung! Juden'' ("Warning! Jews'') on the walls and windows of Chabad Jewish Community Center of Riverside;
-- the taunting of a Jewish teacher at a Los Angeles middle school by students chanting "Hitler, Hitler'' during a class, and drawing swastikas on their folders and desks;
-- a man approaching a group of people outside a Los Angeles synagogue and saying, "(expletive) you Jews. I'm going to kill you. Just wait and see. I'll be back to kill you''; and
-- a man trying to break into the home of a Jewish woman in West Los Angeles while yelling "dirty Jew,'' "stupid Jew'' and "drop dead Jew.''
According to the ADL, Jews are the most frequently targeted religious group. In Los Angeles County, anti-Jewish crimes account for one out of 10 total hate crimes and 65 percent of crimes targeting religious groups, according to the county Commission on Human Relations.
"Anti-Semitism has also gone viral, with anti-Semitic games and websites appearing on the Internet with alarming regularity,'' Susskind said. "The annual audit does not even attempt to count virtual examples but we do believe there is a connection to real-time anti-Semitic acts and speech, especially among middle and high school students.''
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