Anti-Semitic hate crimes rise in Los Angeles

On Jan. 7, 2015, a rabbi found a black swastika painted on the fence of his home. 

Less than a month later, on Feb. 1, a man entered a Fairfax District synagogue and shouted, “I’m going to kill all Jews,” then attempted to use a stun gun on one of the members. 

That July, somebody scrawled “Kill Jewish Boys,” along with a swastika, at the entrance to a Hollywood school.

These were three of the hate crimes highlighted in the 2015 Hate Crime Report, an annual study released Sept. 29 by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.

Countywide, hate crimes rose 24 percent from 2014 to 2015, from 390 to a reported 483. That’s the highest number since 2011 and the first increase in seven years, according to the report.

Shimon Peres and President Barack Obama meeting in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2014. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The number of hate crimes motivated by religion rose 38 percent to 99, with the majority, 71 percent, targeted at Jews. Anti-Semitic crimes increased 27 percent, from 55 to 70.

Of the religiously motivated hate crimes, 31 percent were violent. Sixty-nine percent took place in the city of Los Angeles, home to most of the county’s Jews.

The year before, 2014, the county reported a 31 percent increase in anti-Semitic crimes, despite an overall dip in the number of hate crimes.

“It is disturbing to see this two-year trend of increased anti-Jewish hate crimes, both in L.A. County and in the state of California,” Amanda Susskind, director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for the Pacific Southwest region, said in a statement.

The ADL statement made note of a 2015 report from the California Department of Justice showing a 21 percent increase in what it called “anti-Jewish bias events” that year.

The majority of the hate crimes in the county report, though, targeted African-Americans, despite their making up only 8.3 percent of L.A. County residents.

“This is troubling news that confirms the need to protect our residents of this county who deserve to live free of prejudice, discrimination, harassment and violence,” L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said in a statement.