Anti-Semitic Incidents Up 86 Percent Compared With Same Time Last Year

A Jewish advocacy organization expects a staggering increase in anti-Semitic incidents by the end of 2017. That projection comes after the Anti-Defamation Leaguecounted an 86 percent spike in attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions so far this year, according to a report released Monday.

In its Annual Audit of Anti-Semitic incidents, the civil rights organization found 541 acts of vandalism, violence and harassment against American Jews already reported in 2017. This recent increase follows last year's total of 1,266 acts, by the organization's count, a 34 percent spike over 2015.

Moreover, the league reports 369, or nearly a third of these incidents, occurred in the last two months of 2016.

It also linked 34 incidents directly to the 2016 election, including an instance of graffiti that read "Kill the Jews, Vote for Trump" and a Florida confrontation where a man said, "Trump is going to finish what Hitler started."

"There's been a significant, sustained increase in anti-Semitic activity since the start of 2016 and what's most concerning is the fact that the numbers have accelerated over the past five months," said Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt in a statement accompanying the numbers.

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