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PublishedApril 02nd 2014

            

19% drop in anti-Semitic incidents in the US: ADL

Coinciding with report, televangelist Pat Robertson says Jews are too busy 'polishing diamonds' to do chores

A new report shows a 19 percent decrease in anti-Semitic incidents in the US in 2013.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), in its Annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, reported Tuesday that there were 751 incidents in 41 states and Washington, DC — among the lowest numbers since 1979.

The audit includes assault, vandalism and harassment targeting Jews and Jewish property and institutions.

“In the last decade we have witnessed a significant and encouraging decline in the number and intensity of anti-Semitic acts in America,” said Abraham Foxman, ADL’s national director, in a statement.

“The falling number of incidents targeting Jews is another indication of just how far we have come in finding full acceptance in society, and it is a reflection of how much progress our country has made in shunning bigotry and hatred.”

But the audit did find a “significant” increase in “violent anti-Semitic assaults” — 31 assaults in 2013 compared to 17 in 2012.

“The high number of violent in-your-face assaults is a sobering reminder that, despite the overall decline in anti-Semitic incidents, there is still a subset of Americans who are deeply infected with anti-Semitism and who feel emboldened enough to act out their bigotry,” Foxman said.

In related news, Televangelist Pat Robertson said Monday Jews are too busy “polishing diamonds” to do weekend chores.

“What is it about Jewish people that make them prosper financially? You almost never find Jews tinkering with their cars on the weekends or mowing their lawns,” Robertson said during his Christian television program The 700 Club.

Robertson added that Jews were polishing diamonds instead of fixing their cars.