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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Anti-Defamation League reported antisemitic incidents last year shot up 41% in Massachusetts on Thursday. Peggy Shukur, the organization's interim regional director in New England, told WBZ NewsRadio that's a record.
New England also saw record numbers of incidents. Massachusetts came in 6th in the nation overall for number of incidents, above even bigger states like Pennsylvania and Illinois. She said hate incidents against Jews in Massachusetts took a tumble during the pandemic, but have risen back since 2020.
Incidents at people's homes doubled in the state from 2021, jumping from 10 to 20 overall. She shared anecdotes of a family in Stoneham who had swastikas put on their front lawn. Another family had the image carved into their car.
"When antisemitism actually crosses somebody's threshold it creates a level of fear and violation that's even more intense than something in a public space," she said.
She said the spike in numbers is probably caused by a variety of factors, but that celebrities being more openly antisemitic could have something to do with. She touched on Ye's public antisemitic statements last fall.
"Kanye West has 30 million followers, that's way more than there are Jews in the entire world...When he says something, it has a very big impact on followers and emboldens people to act on their hate," she noted.
Shukur said the record numbers may just be the tip of the iceberg.
"Incidents like this are notoriously underreported, the same thing that we see with hate crimes, so there's likely a lot more of these incidents that never make it to a report," she said.
Shukur said showing public support for those targeted by the harassment can help ease their feelings of isolation.
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