FBI reports antisemitic crimes against US Jews up by 20 percent in 2021

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A new hate crimes report by the FBI shows there was a twenty percent increase in antisemitic crimes against American Jews in 2021 compared to the year before, Algemeiner reports. Published on Monday, the report documents 817 antisemitic hate crimes in 2021 — up from 683 in 2020.

Although Jews represent just two percent of the US population, they were the fourth most targeted group for hate crimes in 2021, Algemeiner reports. The FBI website explains that its Uniform Crime Reporting Program defines a hate crime as “a committed criminal offense which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias(es) against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”

According to the new FBI report, crimes against Jews in 2021 included over 100 assaults, 175 cases of intimidation, and one sexual assault, Algemeiner reports. White and Black Americans were reported as perpetrators in 208 cases; the identity of 339 perpetrators remains unknown.

The antisemitic crimes listed in the report occurred in all 50 states, including the District of Columbia. The five states with the highest number of cases were: New York (416), New Jersey (370), California (367), Florida (190), Michigan (112), and Texas (112), Algemeiner said.

On Tuesday, Congresswoman Kathy Manning (D-N), co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, said in a statement that the report will “help provide Congress and the public with a more accurate picture of the hate crime landscape across the United States, adding that “this data is critical to effectively address the rise in antisemitism and hate crimes experienced by our communities.”

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