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ADL Webinar With Law Enforcement Discusses State of Hate Crimes

ADL Los Angeles Regional Director Jeffrey Abrams began the webinar noting that there was a 40% increase in antisemitic incidents from 2016-2020 in California; more recently, there was a 115% increase in antisemitic incidents across the country from May 11-31 following the escalation between Israel and Hamas over that timeframe.
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September 2, 2021
Photo by Drew Angerer / Getty Images

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Los Angeles hosted a webinar with various law enforcement officials on August 26 providing an overview of antisemitism in the country and law enforcement’s role in handling such matters.

ADL Los Angeles Regional Director Jeffrey Abrams began the webinar noting that there was a 40% increase in antisemitic incidents from 2016-2020 in California; more recently, there was a 115% increase in antisemitic incidents across the country from May 11-31 following the escalation between Israel and Hamas over that timeframe.

“When tensions flare in the Middle East, Jews around the world are blamed,” Abrams said. He urged social media companies and “every lever of government” to do their part in combating antisemitism.

Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison and FBI Los Angeles Field Office Assistant Director Kristi Johnson then spoke, touting their respective offices’ partnership with the ADL and efforts to counteract hate crimes, such as the establishment of a Hate Crimes Task Force that includes the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), FBI and prosecutors. Wilkison pointed to the recent conviction of a man who attempted to bomb a 2019 white nationalist rally in Long Beach and also intended to target members of the Jewish community as an example of her office’s recent actions in “responding to [a] hate-motivated trend across the country.” “Antisemitic and hate crimes are unacceptable to me and we will fight them with every tool that we have,” she said.

Emily Kaufman, an investigative researcher for the ADL, later presented an overview of antisemitic incidents since 2020. California has one of the highest incident rates of antisemitism in the country; while the number of incidents have declined slightly since 2020, it’s still part of an “increasing trend,” Kaufman said. As examples, she pointed to the May antisemitic attack at the Sushi Fumi restaurant in the Beverly Grove by individuals in a Palestinian caravan, as well as an incident at a synagogue in Redondo Beach, where a note that read, “Die f—ing Jew” was received later that month.

Since May, 60% of American Jews have personally witnessed antisemitism online or in-person; by comparison 63% said that they had seen antisemitism online or in-person over the past five years. “This is particularly striking given that the timeline was three weeks,” Kaufman said. 

She also referenced instances of antisemitism from white nationalists, pointing to the man at the January 6 riot who wore a hoodie sweatshirt that read “Camp Auschwitz” and the white supremacists who blamed “Jewish mercenaries” for the deaths that occurred that day.

‘[The] pain, frustration and fear that the Jewish community has been feeling is real.’
— Emily Kaufman

“[The] pain, frustration and fear that the Jewish community has been feeling is real,” Kaufman said. “If Jews don’t feel safe then it’s not possible for anyone to feel safe.”

Orlando Martinez, the LAPD Hate Crimes Coordinator, said that they have recorded 59 antisemitic crimes thus far in 2021, an uptick from 39 the year prior, and pointed to Miracle Mile and West Los Angeles as “hotspots” for antisemitic hate crimes.  He also argued that hate crimes are being underreported because some crimes are simply considered to be “aggravated assaults” instead of hate crimes. FBI Special Agent Matt Grimes concurred that hate crimes are being underreported to the FBI because “there are a lot of communities out there that just don’t trust law enforcement” and have concerns about “language barriers” while others may be concerned about their immigration status.

Prosecutor Mack Jenkins said that successfully prosecuting hate crimes as civil rights cases are “exceedingly difficult” because prosecutors have to prove the “but for” motive, meaning that absent a defendant’s prejudice, the crime wouldn’t have occurred. Assistant United States Attorney Veronica Dragalin said that out of the 271 hate crime cases in 2015-2020, 79% resulted in a guilty plea while 21% went to trial. She argued that it was important for people to report on incidents so the FBI can stop escalating behavior, pointing to how the Chabad of Poway shooter committed arson against a mosque in 2019, a month before the shooting.

Other speakers during the webinar included Chief of the Civil Rights Section, Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Karen Ruckert and LAPD Deputy Chief Blake Chow.

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