by NJJN Staff

June 4, 2009

Although the number of anti-Semitic incidents in New Jersey decreased slightly in 2008, the state ranks first in the nation in reports of such incidents, the first time it has held such a dubious distinction.

The Anti-Defamation League’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents counted a total of 238 incidents in 2008 in New Jersey, contrasted with 247 in 2007.

The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States declined for the fourth consecutive year, according to the audit.

“It is heartening to see the decline in incidents,” said ADL NJ regional director Etzion Neuer in a statement, “but we continue to see a troubling persistence of hate in New Jersey, indicating how anti-Semitism still remains embedded into the fabric of our society. Every incident has an effect on a victim that cuts deep and usually reverberates throughout the community.”

The 238 incidents included 177 incidents of vandalism, 59 incidents of harassment, and two physical assaults on Jewish individuals.

The counties with the highest totals were Monmouth (43), Middlesex (38), Bergen and Ocean (28 each), and Morris (19).

Reported incidents in the state included a spree of anti-Semitic vandalism by three college students who hit East Windsor, Hightstown, and Roosevelt in January 2008; graffiti featuring antiwar slogans, a peace symbol, and the phrase “Stop the Jew problem now!” written on the wall of a school restroom in Cranford in April; and an assault by teens on a hasidic Jew in Jackson in May.

The ADL web page announcing the audit also lists the desecration by four juveniles of the Poile Zedek Cemetery in New Brunswick in January 2008, during which nearly 500 gravestones were toppled and damaged. In a statement issued shortly after the incident, however, the ADL said it agreed with the findings of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, which concluded that the desecration at the cemetery was not motivated by anti-Semitism.

The states with the highest totals were those with large Jewish populations, including New Jersey, California, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania. The top four states accounted for 59 percent of the anti-Semitic incidents recorded by ADL.

ADL’s national audit counted a total of 1,352 incidents of vandalism, harassment, and physical assaults against Jewish individuals, property, and community institutions across the United States in 2008, representing a 7 percent decline from the 1,460 incidents reported in 2007.

The audit identified 37 physical assaults on Jewish individuals, 702 incidences of anti-Semitic vandalism, and 613 cases of harassment in 2008. They included acts against high-profile Jewish community institutions and communal properties, such as the repeated vandalism of the San Francisco Holocaust Memorial and the desecration of dozens of graves at a Jewish cemetery in Chicago with swastikas and hate group symbols.

Some 42 percent of the incidents occurred at homes, private buildings, or businesses; 23 percent took place in educational establishments, including public and private schools and universities, according to the audit.

“It is encouraging that the number of anti-Semitic incidents continues to decline, but the sheer volume of incidents reported and the violent nature of many of the physical assaults is a reminder that we cannot be complacent,” said ADL national director Abraham Foxman. 

Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States last peaked in 2004, when ADL reported 1,821 incidents.

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