ADL 2010 Audit:
A Year Marked by Shooting at the Holocaust Museum; Bomb Threats, Anti-Jewish Pickets
By Judie Jacobson

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The number of antisemitic incidents in the United States remained at a “sustained and troubling” level in 2009, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) 2009 ADL Audit of Anti-semitic Incidents. Released on July 27, the Audit counted a total of 1,211 incidents of vandalism, harassment and physical assaults against Jewish individuals, property, and community institutions across the U.S. during the 2009 calendar year, including 29 physical assaults on Jewish individuals, 760 incidents of antisemitic harassment and threats, and 422 cases of antisemitic vandalism.
Continuing a longtime trend, the states with the highest totals were those with large Jewish populations. The top four states were California, New York, New Jersey and Florida. Connecticut ranked 11 among the 46 states and the District of Columbia included in the Audit. Connecticut’s total of 24 antisemitic incidents included seven incidents of vandalism and 17 incidents of harassment – ranging from an incident on May 11, 2009 in Madison in which a student was harassed by a classmate with taunts such as “I hate all Hebrews” and “I have some German relatives who would love to kill you,” to an incident on Nov. 12, 2009 in Wallingford in which an actor taking part in a Hansel and Gretel scene told onlookers, “If there are any Jews here, you have to go into the ovens first.”
“The fact that Jews continue to be singled out for acts of hate on an average of three times per day in this country is a disturbing reality that we have to confront,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director
“The Audit is one snapshot of antisemitism in America,” added Robert G. Sugarman, ADL national chair. “While it is by no means a complete picture of the problem, it presents us with important statistical data to help us identify and to quantify the wheres, whys and hows of antisemitism in society.”
Major incidents in 2009 included the shooting attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. by an avowed Holocaust denier, a thwarted plot by four Muslim converts to bomb synagogues in Riverdale, N.Y., and repeated in-your-face picketing of institutions and community centers by members of an avowedly antisemitic, Kansas-based church.
It was also a year in which the Internet played an increasingly dominant role in the dissemination of antisemitic messages and content through social networking and content-sharing Web sites.
For the first time in the more than three decades ADL has tracked and reported on antisemitic incidents, the 2009 Audit was significantly revamped to improve reporting methods and update some evaluation criteria.
“In an effort to make the Audit as accurate as possible in measuring antisemitic incidents in America, we have decided to take a more conservative approach to counting certain types of incidents, including graffiti and swastikas,” said Foxman. “We know that the swastika has, for some, lost its meaning as the primary symbol of Nazism and instead become a more generalized symbol of hate. So we are being more careful to include graffiti incidents that specifically target Jews or Jewish institutions as we continue the process of re-evaluating and redefining how we measure anti-Jewish incidents.”
The 2009 Audit’s statistics revealed
several significant trends:

Extremist Plots to Kill Jews
Several extremists motivated by antisemitic ideology attempted to carry out murderous attacks against Jewish institutions. The most prominent incident was the June 2009 shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Anti-Semitism Goes Viral
Facebook, in particular, has become a widely used platform for users seeking to link their antisemitic views to discussions of Israel. Numerous Facebook groups were created in early 2009 in support of the Palestinians, and many of these groups also contained vile antisemitism. One Facebook group called “I Hate Israel,” which boasted more than 1,000 members in 2009, contained dozens of antisemitic posts. Antisemitic comments also flourished on mainstream media Web sites in connection to stories on the Middle East, or stories dealing with the arrest of Jewish businessman Bernard Madoff.

Antisemitic Expressions at anti-Israel Protests
In 2009, anti-Israel protests were a major source of antisemitic agitation in the U.S. These mainly included antisemitic expressions at anti-Israel rallies held in response to Israel’s actions in Gaza in January 2009. At these rallies Holocaust imagery and analogies proliferated and various speakers and placards accused Jews of controlling the U.S. government.

Read more online at http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/5814_12

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