The ADL yesterday released its annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2021 (full text). According to the report's Executive Summary:
In 2021, ADL tabulated 2,717 antisemitic incidents throughout the United States. This is a 34% increase from the 2,026 incidents tabulated in 2020 and the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.
Of the 2,717 incidents recorded in 2021, 1,776 were cases of harassment, a 43% increase from 1,242 in 2020, and 853 incidents were cases of vandalism, a 14% increase from 751 in 2020. The 88 incidents of antisemitic assault (a 167% increase from 33 in 2020), involved 131 victims; none of the assaults were deadly.
Meanwhile, last week B'nai B'rith Canada released its 2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in Canada (full text). According to the report:
The 2021 numbers show an increase in antisemitic incidents, with an overall jump of 7.2% in comparison to 2020.
There were some changes in patterns. Covid quarantine restrictions including lockdowns appear to have caused the number of cases of in-person harassment to decline significantly. These cases dropped from 620 in 2020 to 367 in 2021 or a 40.8% decline. However, that lack of direct contact may have been a factor in the jump in cases of online hate.
In fact, online hate has become the preferred method of targeting Jews. B’nai Brith logged 2,093 incidents of online hate, or an increase of 12.3% over the 2020 figures of 1,863 cases....
According to the report, there were 75 incidents of antisemitic violence in 2021, compared to only 9 in 2020. Jewish News Syndicate reports on the Canadian audit.
