Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 14, 2023

William Brangham:

Judy, the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks antisemitic behavior nationwide, found 2,717 incidents in 2021. That's a 34 percent increase from the year before. That averages to more than seven antisemitic incidents per day.

Jonathan Greenblatt is the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League and author of the recent book "It Could Happen Here: Why America Is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable and How We Can Stop It."

Jonathan Greenblatt, good to have you back on the "NewsHour."

This report documents the most antisemitic attacks in the U.S. since the ADL started recording these events back in the 1970s. Can you help us understand, how should we interpret what you have found?

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director, Anti-Defamation League: Well, I think the data, unfortunately, speaks for itself in some ways.

As you pointed out, this is the highest total we have ever tracked in more than 40 years of doing this work. And we should keep in mind that antisemitic acts were going down in the United States for almost 15 years, and then ,in 2016, they started to move up. And we're now at the point where we have nearly triple the number of incidents today that we did in 2015.

I mean, in the past year alone, assaults increased 167 percent. And we saw examples of vandalism on the rise, harassment on the rise. So I think antisemitism really isn't just, I would suggest, a Jewish problem. It's an American problem. It's typically the canary in the coal mine. And so, as things are beginning to unravel more broadly, the Jewish community is often the target of scapegoating and victimized in that way.

And that's exactly what's happening here.

Read more:
Antisemitic incidents hit a record high in 2021. Whats behind ... - PBS

Category: Anti-Defamation League
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