PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey and Pennsylvania saw some of the most incidents of anti-Semitism across the country last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League's annual audit.
The ADL reported 2,024 anti-Semitic instances of assault, harassment and vandalism across the U.S., which was actually a 4% decline from 2019's record high. However, 2020 was still the third-highest year that the ADL has recorded.
Of those incidents, 101 were in Pennsylvania and 295 in New Jersey. The other highest-reported states include New York with 336 incidents, 289 in California, and 127 in Florida.
Altogether, these five states account for 57% of the year's cases.
This is the second year in a row that both Pennsylvania and New Jersey were reported as the top five states with the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents.
"While any decline in the data is encouraging, we still experienced a year in which antisemitic acts remained at a disturbingly high level despite lockdowns and other significant changes in our daily lives and interactions with others," Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and national director, said in a statement. "As communities begin to open up and people spend more time in person with others, we must remain vigilant."
Incidents of anti-Semitism fell at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, especially at schools and colleges when they made the switch to remote learning, according to the audit. However, "Zoombombing" cases rose. The ADL reported nearly 200 video-conferencing attacks, more than half of which targeted Jewish schools and synagogues.
ADL Philadelphia Regional Director Shira Goodman said it's important to reports these incidents.
"We want people to be aware of their rights. We want people to be aware of the places they can report and we want other people to stand up and call it out, whether it's a joke or a meme that is inappropriate or racist or biased or anti-Semitic on Facebook. Something you hear on the street, you hear in the office. You need to speak up because silence is what allows this ignorance and hatred to fester."
