U.S. Antisemitic Incidents Remained at Historic High in 2020

·  Vandalism: There were 751 vandalism incidents, cases where property was damaged in a manner that harmed or intimidated Jews. Swastikas, which are generally interpreted as symbols of antisemitic hatred in this context, were present in 517 of these incidents. Acts of antisemitic vandalism decreased 18 percent, from 919 incidents in 2019.

·  Assault: There were 31 assault incidents, cases where individuals were physically targeted with violence accompanied by evidence of antisemitic animus. Antisemitic assault decreased by 49 percent from 61 incidents in 2019. The assaults involved a total of 41 victims. No antisemitic fatalities were reported for the first year since 2017.

Incidents were reported in 47 states as well as the District of Columbia. The states with the highest numbers of incidents were New York: 336, New Jersey: 295, California: 289, Florida: 127 and Pennsylvania: 101. Combined, these states account for nearly 57 percent of the total number of incidents.

ADL’s Center on Extremism has gathered the complete 2020 data, as well as data from the previous two years, on ADL’s H.E.A.T. Map, an interactive online tool that allows users to geographically chart antisemitic incidents and events nationally and regionally.

In 2020, there were 327 reported incidents at Jewish institutions such as synagogues, Jewish community centers and Jewish schools, an increase of 40 percent from 234 in 2019. Of that total, 264 were incidents of harassment, 61 were incidents of vandalism and 3 were incidents of assault.

ADL’s Audit recorded 331 antisemitic incidents attributed to known extremist groups or individuals inspired by extremist ideology. This represents 16 percent of the total number of incidents. White supremacist groups were responsible for 277 antisemitic propaganda distributions. Other extremist activity included provocations by the Goyim Defense League, a loose network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism.

A total of 178 antisemitic incidents in 2020 involved references to Israel or Zionism, compared to 175 in 2019. Of those, 38 appeared in the form of white supremacist propaganda efforts, which attempt to foment anti-Israel and antisemitic beliefs.

In January and February, antisemitic incidents in schools, colleges, and universities were reported at significantly higher levels than they were during the same period in 2019. Those numbers dropped precipitously as educational institutions across the nation switched to remote learning.

“There was a marked decline of school-based incidents after March, when nearly all schools moved to fully remote learning, so the pandemic definitely played a role in shifting how and where antisemitism manifested in 2020,” Greenblatt said. “This was offset to some degree by the high number of Zoombombing incidents targeting Jewish people and other marginalized communities.”

The Audit offers a snapshot of one of the ways American Jews encounter antisemitism, but a full understanding of antisemitism in the U.S. requires other forms of analysis as well, including but not limited to public opinion polling, assessments of online antisemitism, and examinations of extremist activity, all of which ADL offers in other reports, such as ADL Global 100Online Hate and Harassment: The American ExperienceSurvey on Jewish Americans’ Experiences with AntisemitismMurder and Extremism in the United States in 2020, and the ADL Survey of American Attitudes Toward Jews.