Antisemitic cases in SoCal include vandalism, harassment, and assaults, new report says
The report by the Anti-Defamation League said it's seeing a rise in incidents in every state across the country.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Anti-Defamation League discovered a big increase in antisemitic incidents in its annual audit.
"Right here, in our fine city, we had people assaulted," said Jeffrey Abrams of the ADL in Los Angeles. "Assaulted merely because they were Jewish."
In Southern California, there have been a total of 182 total incidents, a 29% increase from 2020. Of those incidents, 64 were cases of vandalism on businesses, schools, and places of worship.
A total of 104 were cases of online and in-person harassment, and there were 14 assaults.
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"These acts against houses of worship were meant to spread terror, meant to spread fear and why? It's the age-old attribution of the ills of society to the Jewish community," said Abrams.
The report said it's seeing a rise in incidents in every state across the country.
The ADL said some of this can be traced to social media, where people can post things anonymously.
"Social media has been a key contributor to all forms of hate," said Abrams. "There's no reason that the social media companies should not also be held accountable."
Abrams believes everyone needs to be involved to stop the spread of hate.
"Use your voice as well. We all have a stake because this not just the Jewish community," he said.
Officials said as alarming as these numbers are, they feel they are low.
They believe a number of incidents simply go unreported and are asking anyone who is a victim - or has seen something - to report it.
