Antisemitic incidents in Colorado increased 53% in 2021, audit finds

Antisemitic incidents are on the rise in Colorado, with a new report finding a 53% increase in 2021 over the previous year.

The Anti-defamation League’s Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2021, released Tuesday, found 92 reports of antisemitic incidents in the state last year.

“It’s reflective of a very troubling trend of increasing antisemitic incidents over the past seven or eight years,” said Scott Levin, director of the Mountain States Region of the ADL. “It mirrors what is happening nationally.”

Since 1979, the ADL has published an annual audit that tracks antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assaults.

In 2021, the ADL found 2,717 antisemitic incidents reported throughout the United States, a 34% increase from the 2,026 incidents tabulated in 2020.

Of the 2,717 incidents recorded nationally in 2021, 1,776 were cases of harassment, a 43% increase over 2020; 853 incidents were cases of vandalism, a 14% increase; and 88 incidents of antisemitic assault, a 167% increase from the prior year. None of the assaults in 2021 were deadly, according to the audit. The national incident number — 2,727 — is new record high.

In 2021, Colorado ranked eighth among states for the number of reported antisemitic incidents, the audit found. Last year’s number is the highest level reported in the state in more than a decade, according to the ADL. In 2020, 60 total incidents were reported in Colorado.

Incidents in Colorado in 2021, according to audit findings, included:

•A Jewish family harassed at a cemetery burial service for a family member by a man who drove by and yelled, “Heil Hitler!”

•A synagogue’s virtual service, livestreamed to Facebook and Youtube via Zoom, was met with antisemitic and threatening messages in the live chat section on Youtube

•A Jewish person received a harassing voicemail at their business from a caller who blamed Jews for pandemic-related shutdowns

“We need to recognize that this is a whole societal problem,” Levin said. “It is not something that just the Jewish people need be aware of, it’s a bellwether for other minority groups.”

In Denver last August,a student of the Yeshiva Toras Chaim, a Torah school on West Colfax Avenue, was shot dead. Multiple suspects were arrested in the case, which includes multiple crimes allegedly committed by the same suspects across the metro area. Police at the time said the crimes, including the shooting death of Shmuel Silverberg, were random and not biasmotivated.

Earlier this year, in January, antisemitic flyers placed in plastic baggies containing rice were distributed over a weekend, left on residential properties, in parts of Denver, Arvada and Castle Rock. The hateful messages included: “Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish.”

Levin said he believes the increase can be attributed to a range of factors, including the country’s divided political climate, an emergence of hate groups, a decline in civility and a rise in online hate.

“I think it’s a mixture of a lot of things that are happening right now,” he said.

The ADL recommends that people speak out against and report all forms of hate, including antisemitism.

“While we will redouble our efforts to confront antisemitism and hate, we cannot do it alone,” Levin said. “We need all people of goodwill to recognize antisemitism for the real threat it is not only to Jews, but to all of our civil society.”