The Anti-Defamation League's annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents shows that attacks against Jewish targets in the United States declined for a second straight year in 2006. The audit released Wednesday reported 1,554 incidents against Jewish individuals or community institutions in the United States – a 12 percent drop from the 1,757 reported in 2005. Here were 669 acts of anti-Jewish vandalism in 2006 – a slight increase from the previous year. However, incidents of harassment or assault dropped substantially, from 1,140 to 885.
“The audit is just one measure of anti-Semitism in the United States,” said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman. “There is also an onslaught of anti-Semitism out there in blogs, e-mails and Web sites – and most significantly in conspiracy theories about alleged Jewish power which have even penetrated the mainstream – that simply cannot be quantified.”
ADL national chairman Glen Lewy noted that approximately four anti-Semitic attacks occur daily in the United States. Among those was a shooting attack last summer on the Jewish federation offices in Seattle in which the federation's assistant director, Pamela Waechter, was killed, and five people were wounded.
“The audit is just one measure of anti-Semitism in the United States,” said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman. “There is also an onslaught of anti-Semitism out there in blogs, e-mails and Web sites – and most significantly in conspiracy theories about alleged Jewish power which have even penetrated the mainstream – that simply cannot be quantified.”
ADL national chairman Glen Lewy noted that approximately four anti-Semitic attacks occur daily in the United States. Among those was a shooting attack last summer on the Jewish federation offices in Seattle in which the federation's assistant director, Pamela Waechter, was killed, and five people were wounded.