Anti-Semitic propaganda in U.S. went up by 27% in 2021, advocacy group says

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – Incidents of anti-Semitic propaganda in the United States rose by 27% in 2021, the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based advocacy group, said in a report on Thursday.

It said the 352 incidents were up from 277 in 2020.

The advocacy group’s tracking of incidents of anti-Semitic and white supremacist propaganda included fliers, stickers, banners, posters and stenciled graffiti.

White supremacist propaganda, including racist and anti-LGBTQ messages, dropped to 4,851 cases in 2021 from 5,125 cases in 2020 while still remaining at high levels, the report said.

White supremacist propaganda in the United States nearly doubled in 2020 to a record level, it said last year.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security said the United States faced heightened threats from extremist groups domestic and foreign, underscored by January’s hostage standoff in a Texas synagogue and bomb threats at many historically Black colleges and universities.

U.S. Justice Department officials have pointed to an increase in domestic threats stemming from white supremacists and anti-government militias.

In January, the Justice Department announced the formation of a new domestic terrorism unit, underscoring the threat extremists within the country pose on a par with that posed by militant groups abroad such as Islamic State.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Howard Goller)