Report: Anti-Semitic incidents soar by 57 percent in 2017
The Anti-Defamation League is reporting a 57 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the US last year, the highest tally it has counted in more than two decades.
The Jewish civil rights group says in a report Tuesday that it found 1,986 anti-Semitic incidents last year, up from 1,267 in 2016. The group says that's the highest total since 1994 and the largest single-year increase since it began collecting the data in 1979.
The ADL says the sharp rise includes 952 vandalism incidents, an increase of 86 percent from 2016. The group also counted 1,015 incidents of harassment, including 163 bomb threats against Jewish institutions.
ADL national director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt says the increase appears to be partly fueled by emboldened far-right extremists.
