NEW ORLEANS — While the leading group fighting anti-Jewish hate in the U.S. recorded its largest number of antisemitic incidents ever in 2019, the Anti-Defamation League reported fewer cases of antisemitism in Louisiana last year than it did in previous years.
The ADL released its annual audit of antisemitism in America on Tuesday and counted 2,107 reported incidents of assault, harassment or vandalism specifically targeting Jews or Jewish institutions nationwide. That marked a 12 percent increase over 2018 totals and the largest number of cases reported to the ADL in a single year since it started collecting the data in 1979.
The incidents in 2019 were punctuated by deadly shootings during major Jewish observances.
In April, a gunman used an AR-15 assault rifle to shoot the rabbi and three other worshippers during a Passover service at a synagogue in Poway, Calif. A 60-year-old woman who was there mourning her mother’s death was killed, reportedly while trying to shield the rabbi.
In December, during Chanukah, two gunmen from the Black Hebrew Israelite sect – which boasts followers who regularly shout antisemitic slogans in Times Square and claim to be only real Jews in the world – killed three civilians in a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, N.J., and a responding police officer.
“This was a year of unprecedented antisemitic activity, a time when many Jewish communities across the country had direct encounters with hate,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL. “This contributed to a rising climate of anxiety and fear in our communities. We are committed to fighting back against this rising tide of hate and will double down on our work with elected leaders, schools, and communities to end the cycle of hatred.”
Louisiana’s 12,000 Jews – with approximately 10,000 living in the New Orleans area – reported just 10 incidents in 2019, down from 12 in 2018, when swastikas and antisemitic slogans were spray-painted on the Northshore Jewish Congregation’s synagogue in Mandeville. But tiny Jewish communities in Arkansas and Mississippi reported increases, bringing the total for the ADL’s three-state South Central region to 24, a 60 percent spike from previous years.
Regional president Aaron Ahlquist said that’s in line with the national trend.
“From antisemitic extremists disrupting a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in Russellville, Ark., to an antisemitic assault on a man in Lafayette, La., we have seen acts of hate threaten not just the Jewish community, but the entire community,” Ahlquist said.
But Ahlquist also noted that strong support from law enforcement and others, particularly in the New Orleans area, has helped tamp down some of the hate in Louisiana.
“Fortunately, we have had pretty strong community and law enforcement responses in the Greater New Orleans area, and this community is quick to call out hate,” he said.
The incidents counted in the audit do not include online trolling and other examples of antisemitic commentary on social media, which the ADL said is also a rising problem they are tracking. During a conference call Tuesday morning, Greenblatt called on national political leaders to do more to help reverse the disturbing trend.
“If we hope to put the lid back on the sewers of hate… we need to insist that leaders at all levels actually lead to speak out against antisemitism whenever it arises,” he said.
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