Rise in Anti-Semitic Incidents Reported

The number of hate-motivated incidents against Jews dropped nationwide last year, but rose in Orange County, along with the proliferation of anti-Semitic Internet use, according to a report released this week by the Anti-Defamation League.

The numbers of anti-Semitic incidents rose from 33 in 1995 to 40 in 1996. Huntington Beach reported the most instances with eight. Laguna Hills had three reported incidents, the second highest number in Orange County.

“Seeing that there are 40 different documented incidents in our county should be a wake-up call for our people that we have work to do,� said Rusty Kennedy, director of the Orange County Human Relations Committee. “You can’t just say, ‘I’m not anti-Semitic, so it’s not my responsibility.’ �

Increased numbers may actually be indications of increased reporting, Kennedy said, or of a more active monitoring effort by the ADL.

Nationwide, the total fell from 1,843 in 1995 to 1,722 last year, a 7% decrease. In California, the numbers declined by nearly 30% from 264 reported incidents in 1995 to 186 incidents last year.

Rabbi Bernie King of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot in Irvine said that decreasing state and national numbers are encouraging in light of Middle East turmoil.

“Especially with what is going on in Israel, which tends to encourage those kinds of acts, it hasn’t manifested itself, and that is a positive,� King said.

The most effective deterrent of hate-motivated incidents are tougher laws, ensuring that those who commit crimes motivated by hate face severe punishments, said Sue Stengel, ADL Western States Counsel.

Those who commit crimes in states like California that have hate crime enhancements face harsher penalties than those in states that don’t. A swastika painted on a building is vandalism, but the sentence becomes more severe if it motivated by bias, officials said.

“The tougher laws help to make sure that people are prosecuted to the full extent of the law,� Stengel said. “That’s the reason why the Klan is suffering in the South, because they have been severely punished.�

The audit also points to the proliferation of anti-Semitism on the Internet. Efforts to counter anti-Semitic Web sites and hate e-mail are often stymied by the anonymity the Internet provides.

“The Internet is something we can’t quantify,� Stengel said. “Do you count Web sites? Do you count hits on Web sites? Do you count e-mails?�

But the Internet, a virtually unregulated medium, is also protected by the 1st Amendment. The only way to prevent increasing use of the Internet as an expression of hate, Stengel said, is to make sure the ADL and other organizations counter hate speech with equal effort, also on the Internet.

“All we can do is speak back and encourage others to do the same,� she said.