Anti-Semitic Acts Rose in ‘98, ADL Says

NEW YORK —  For the first time in three years, anti-Semitic acts increased across the United States in 1998, the Anti-Defamation League said Wednesday.

While the number of incidents involving harassment, threat or assault remained virtually unchanged, with 896 incidents reported, compared to 898 in 1997, the 1998 audit of anti-Semitic incidents showed an increase in vandalism at synagogues, Jewish schools, community centers and other communal institutions and private property.

A total of 715 incidents of vandalism were reported in 1998, a 6% increase from the prior year, in which 673 incidents occurred, the ADL said.

“We are disappointed that there was even a slight increase in this year’s numbers,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director. “We are concerned that vandalism was so prevalent, because an attack on a synagogue is an attack on an entire community.”

The Internet also continued to play an increasingly prominent role in disseminating hate literature through hundreds of sites on the World Wide Web, the ADL said.

Although difficult to quantify, e-mail threats and messages of hate transmitted over the Web have increased dramatically in recent years, the ADL said.

“The audit is one measure of anti-Semitism in America,” said Foxman. “It reminds us that we cannot afford to be complacent, even when crime is reportedly on the decline. It also sheds light on ways in which communities come together after experiencing anti-Semitism to counteract the painful effects of hate.”