Antisemitism on the Rise in the United States

Reports show that antisemitic physical assaults reached record highs in the U.S. last year. Bret Burkhart and Veronica Carter spoke to the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League for San Diego and Imperial Counties, Fabienne Perlov.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New report out this week about growing anti Semitism in
the US, Anti Defamation League says anti Semitic physical assaults
in the US reached record highs last year and included
Jewish fatalities on American soil for the first time since
twenty nineteen. It also says anti Semitic physical assaults increased

(00:20):
by four percent, assaults involving a deadly weapon went up
by almost forty percent.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
On the Coco News, Lifeline is the regional director for
the Anti Defamation League for San Diego and Imperial Counties.
Fabyan per love Fabian, thank you so much for joining
us on San Diego's Morning News.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Do these findings surprise you or did you expect numbers
like those? I mean that those are off the charts,
They are.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Off the charge. You know, they are sad news and
bad news. The good news is that we are a
decrease of overall anti Semitic incidents in twenty twenty five
by about thirty three percent, both nationally and here in
San Diego. The bad news is that these numbers are

(01:12):
still considerably higher than in twenty twenty two, by about
seventy percent, and you know, twenty twenty five marks the
third highest yeurop anti Semitic incidents in America since we
started tracking this data in nineteen seventy nine. So we're
still very concerned. And like you mentioned, we have about

(01:33):
we had about two hundred violence assaults involving a deadly
weapon in America in twenty twenty five, and three people
were murdered in antisemitic attacks this past year.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Let's talk about San Diego's numbers. What are we seeing
happening here?

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well, san Diego documented ninety one anti Semitic incidents in
twenty twenty five, including thirteen synagogues receiving threats. Like Hitler
was right, and behind each number is a story. You know,
we had a ten year old girl whose classmate drew
swastikas on their hands and said, I hate Jews because
they kill God. You know, these are like elementary school students, children,

(02:16):
And behind these numbers there are your neighbors. They are
not just like statistics, right, there are your neighbors, co
workers and school children. And so while we're seeing a decrease,
the overall numbers are still very concerning and antisemitism remains
a persistent crisis for both our country and our San

(02:36):
Diego community.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
We're speaking with the regional director for the Anti Defamation
League for San Diego and Imperial Counties, Agaan and per Love.
How much of a role has Israel's war and Gaza
played in the increase in anti semitism? I mean, do
you see a correlation?

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Well, there's definitely we've seen an increase of antisemitic incidents
spots October seven. The numbers are really concerning, and more
than half of our antisemitic incidents in twenty twenty five.
We're somehow blaming Jews in America for the war in

(03:15):
the Middle East, you know, for what was happening in Gaza,
and so it is anti semitic, you know, to call
for the death of Jews in San Diego or harass
them because of what is happening thousands of miles away. So, yes,
there is definitely a correlations. We have seen a spike

(03:37):
both in the US and in San Diego past October seven,
and we are hoping that, you know, the number of
anti Semitic incidents will continue to go down, but right
now it's certainly not the case, and especially our Jewish
institutions in San Diego are being targeted. You know, I

(03:58):
don't count the number of times where they're receiving threats,
either over emails, phone calls, or even bomb threats.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Right, any way we can help.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Well, yes, please speak up when you experience or witness
antisemitic incidents. Areas is also urging right now Congress to
pass the Safe Worship Legislation. It's a bipartisan bill that
protects self access to houses of worship. It can be
a church, a synagogue, a mosque. We don't want our

(04:31):
worshipers to not being able to access their synagogue because
there aren't Israel protesters blocking the access so harrassing them.
So any support to pass the Safe Worship legislation and
support the funding of the non profit Security Grant, another
bill that we are pushing for, will be very much appreciated.

(04:51):
We need everyone. You don't have to be Jewish to
start up against antisemitism.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Absolutely. That's the State Worship legislation will be following it too.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Thank you so much for your help, Thank you so
much for having me.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Fallien Perlove is the regional director for the Anti Defamation
League for San Diego and Imperial Counties. On San Diego's
morning news