Crime & Safety

Anti-Semitic Incidents Up in Southland, But Down Statewide

Anti-Semitic incidents in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Kern counties increased by 12 percent, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Anti-Semitic incidents in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Kern counties increased by 12 percent, according to an audit released this week by the Anti-Defamation League.

However, for the first time in three years, California fell from first to second in the nation in the number of anti-Semitic incidents, with 185 reported cases.  Only the State of New York had more reported incidents. 

Nationally, the number of anti-Semitic incidents declined by 14 percent in 2012.

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“We are pleased to see a decline in anti-Semitic incidents around the country and happy to relinquish California’s standing as the State with the most overall incidents” said Amanda Susskind, ADL Pacific Southwest regional director.

Many vandalism incidents included swastikas, a Nazi hate symbol.

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One highly publicized anti-Jewish vandalism crime in 2012 took place when a mother drove her 14-year old daughter and her daughter’s two friends, ages 13 and 14, to the Northridge home of one of their classmates.  The home belongs to a Holocaust survivor’s family.  The three juveniles threw toilet paper into the trees and onto the property, wrote the word “Jew” and drew two big swastikas in maple syrup on the victim’s walkway, and smeared feces on the homeowner’s vehicles.

The mother later pleaded guilty to several criminal charges and was ordered to complete community service, and the girls were ordered by a juvenile court to complete community service.

Examples of incidents reported to the ADL Pacific Southwest Region in 2012 include:

VANDALISM

  • A Jewish student’s college dorm door in Los Angeles was vandalized with swastikas and “Jew die” (April) 
  •  “F*** Jews” and a swastika was carved into parking lot door at a San Fernando Valley hospital (April) 
  • Swastikas, the SS symbol and “kill Jews” were etched into a Jewish victim’s vehicle in the West San Fernando Valley (June)
  • A newspaper vending machine near a Los Angeles high school had “kill the Jews” written on it (August)
  • A Los Angeles synagogue was defaced with a swastika and “F*** Jews” during a period of construction.  Approximately 2 weeks later, same suspect in the graffiti incident allegedly made two phone calls to 911 threatening that he had placed two bombs near the synagogue.  The bomb squad was called in and the situation was diffused (December)

HARASSMENT

In-person:

  • Receptionist at Los Angeles synagogue called a “dirty Jew” by an anonymous caller (January)
  • A man hurled hateful taunts at a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke, including “Hitler should have killed the Jews” while victim was walking in North Hollywood (July)
  • Anonymous voicemail received at a San Fernando Valley synagogue said “A Nazi just walked in the room and you’ve all been exterminated” (September)
  • A Los Angeles continuation high school teacher had a plastic mask painted with a Hitler mustache, a swastika and the word "Hitler" hung from his classroom door (October)

In cyberspace:

  • Riverside county victim received Facebook messages from an acquaintance stating “no one’s killed you yet" and "you'll be dead soon Kike" (June)
  • Local Jewish communal organization received email titled “You are being liquidated to preempt any repetition of the 9/11 Zionist treason” and included threatening statements like inviting people to participate in the “ethnic killing of Zionists” (July)
  • A Los Angeles City government employee received an email that said “Long live the Fuhrer!  There was no Jew genocide.  Even if there was, Jews truly deserved it” (August)
  • Jewish student attending a local university received a threatening email titled “Burn in an oven mother***ing Jew!”  The email included a threat and a picture of a crematorium from the Holocaust with a protruding arm (December) 
-- Information and language from the Anti-Defamation League was used to prepare this report.


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