Some 30% of antisemitic incidents worldwide in 2021 took place in the US, a new report by the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel shows.
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The data in the report, published ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls on Jan. 27, are particularly interesting in light of the hostage taking at the Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, on Saturday. The reveal that the US saw the second-highest number of antisemitic incidents for 2021, after the entire continent of Europe.
According to the report, about 30% of all such incidents reported worldwide in 2021 occurred in the US, and Texas saw only the sixth-highest number of antisemitic occurrences. New York was the US state with the most reported incidents, followed by Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida and California.
The WZO's Department for Combating Antisemitism and for Promoting Diaspora Community Resilience analyzed the numbers and concluded that the US had seen more instances of physical than verbal violence, in sharp contrast to global trends, in which vandalism and antisemitic propaganda were the most frequent forms of antisemitic incidents.
The report complied all the data on antisemitism published for 2021 by different organizations and institutions that follow the phenomenon, and pointed to a rise in antisemitism in the ranks of US academia.
May 2021, when Israel was engaged in an escalation of violence against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saw antisemitic incidents spike.
Raheli Baratz Rix, head of Department for Combating Antisemitism and for Promoting Diaspora Community Resilience at the WZO, told Israel Hayom that "What happened in the Texas synagogue wasn't the event that 'opened' 2022, it's just that most of these incident are routine and not discussed.
"Our job is to not only raise awareness of the situation of antisemitism and encourage countries to fight it, but also to embrace Jewish communities and take care of their community resilience insofar as they are interested. And as a country, we can bring the experience we have acquired through blood to our brethren in the Diaspora, and remind them that this time, too, Israel will always be an anchor for any Jew who wants it to be," Baratz Rix said.
After the Texas synagogue standoff, the Anti-Defamation League called on Congress to double funding for a plan that provides grants to NGOs run by FEMA. The plan provides organizations, including Jewish schools and synagogues, with the help needed to bolster their security.
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