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US anti-Semitic hate crimes spiked 37 percent in 2017

Hate crimes in the United States jumped 17 percent in 2017, with a huge 37 percent spike in anti-Semitic attacks, marking the third year in a row that such attacks have increased, according to FBI data released on Tuesday.

 

The release of the data comes just weeks after a gunman burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue and shot dead 11 worshippers while shouting "All Jews must die."

 

According to the FBI's annual Hate Crime Statistics report, there were a total of 7,175 hate crime incidents reported last year by law enforcement agencies, up from 6,121 incidents in 2016. The agency did not offer a reason for the increase.

 

The report showed a 37 percent jump in anti-Semitic incidents to 938 from 684 a year earlier.

 

Critics say US President Donald Trump's rhetoric has fomented a surge in right-wing extremism and may have even helped provoke the bloodshed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, which was the worst attack on America's Jewish community.

 

The Trump administration has rejected any notion that he has encouraged white nationalists and neo-Nazis who have embraced him, insisting the president's true aim is to unify America.

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.13.18, 22:05