From swastikas to bomb threats, anti-Jewish incidents on record-setting track
Anti-Semitic incidents in Massachusetts — swastikas scrawled in middle schools, hateful fliers papering college campuses, threats phoned into community centers — jumped dramatically from 2015 to 2016, new data from the Anti-Defamation League show.
Massachusetts witnessed the fifth-highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in the nation in 2016, with 125 episodes, up from 50 the year before. California, with 211, experienced the most, followed by New York, New Jersey, and Florida. The increases coincide with the divisive campaign for president.
“What is particularly concerning is the escalating number of harassment incidents, because they are a warning sign,” said Robert Trestan, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League’s New England office. “We need to pay close attention to these because we don’t want to see an escalation to violence.”
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