Anti-Semitic Incidents In New Jersey, U.S. Remain At Record Highs

NEW JERSEY — Harassment, vandalism and other violence targeting American Jews in New Jersey and other states remained at historically high levels in 2020, the Anti-Defamation League confirmed in a new report released this week.

Nationwide, the ADL reported 2,024 incidents in its annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, released this week. The final tally marks a 4 percent decline from 2019, when anti-Semitic incidents in the United States hit a record-high number.

Of these incidents, 614 were recorded in New Jersey, according to the report.

“While any decline in the data is encouraging, we still experienced a year in which anti-Semitic acts remained at a disturbingly high level despite lockdowns and other significant changes in our daily lives and interactions with others,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and national director, said in a news release. “We can’t let our guard down. As communities begin to open up and people spend more time in person with others, we must remain vigilant.”

The most serious of these incidents happened in North Brunswick last summer, when Roy Den Hollander, who was labeled as a men's rights activist by the ADL, shot and killed the son of a judge presiding over a case Hollander had filed.

He also severely wounded her husband, then fled. The judge was not harmed. Hollander, who had previously killed a rival activist, killed himself not long after. Read more here: Suspect In Fatal Shooting Of Judge’s Son In NJ Is Dead: Feds

The incident was labeled an extremist murder by the ADL. While it was the most serious of these incidents, incidents involving White Supremacist propaganda, of which there were 352, was the most prevalent.

There were also 298 anti-Semitic incidents, and five White Supremacist events.

Last year marked the third-highest year for incidents against American Jews since ADL started tracking such data in 1979. There were no terrorist plots or police shootouts involving extremists reported in New Jersey last year.

When it broke down the number of incidents, the report confirmed a total of 1,242 incidents of harassment, a 10 percent increase from 2019.

At the same time, acts of vandalism and assault declined by 18 percent and 49 percent, respectively. No antisemitic fatalities were reported in 2020.

The report mainly attributed the overall drop in reported cases to the shift to online learning; reported incidents at U.S. schools and colleges plummeted during the pandemic, according to the report.

Antisemitic incidents were reported in 47 states and the District of Columbia, the report says.

The states with the highest numbers of incidents were New York with 336 incidents, New Jersey with 295, California with 289, Florida with 127 and Pennsylvania with 101.

Combined, these states accounted for nearly 57 percent of total incidents.

See the full 2020 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents.