‘Hate is a real danger.’ Florida sees surge in antisemitic attacks on people, buildings

Four men in an SUV hurled garbage and insults including “die jew” and at a Jewish family vacationing as they walked in Bal Harbour last May.

Swastikas and antisemitic messages were scrawled on synagogues, a school and a memorial statue across Florida.

And a Jewish middle school student in Palm Beach County was told by his teammates to “burn in the gas chamber.”

These were some of the 190 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism that happened in Florida in 2021, according the AntiDefamation League’s annual audit of antisemitic incidents released Tuesday. Antisemitic incidents were up 50% in Florida over last year’s 127 incidents.

The statistic is part of a troubling trend seen nationwide, according to the audit. In 2021, there were 2,717 incidents — up 34% from the previous year — the highest number the ADL has seen since it began tracking incidents in 1979.

“The rise in antisemitic incidents in the United States and Florida is a warning that antisemitism and hate in our communities is a real danger to our safety and security,” ADL Florida Regional Director Sarah Emmons said in a statement.

The release of the audit comes in the week of Yom HaShoah, the annual Holocaust Remembrance

Day. This year, the remembrance began at sundown Wednesday through Thursday.

In 2021, there were 142 harassment incidents, compared to 97 in 2020 — a 46% increase. Harassment incidents included the distribution of antisemitic fliers, a bomb threat, Zoom-bombings of religious services, antisemitic slurs received on social media or via text.

Vandalism incidents — which include property being defaced with swastikas and other hate symbols — increased by 57 percent. There were 47 incidents in 2021, compared to 30 in 2020.

According to the ADL, almost half of the incidents occurred in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade

counties.

One assault was reported in 2021 in which students at a Florida university were shot at with BB guns.