BREAKING: FBI Reports Major Increase In Hate Crimes Against Jews in 2017
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s count of hate crime against Jews jumped significantly in 2017, according to an annual report released Tuesday morning.
The FBI recorded 938 single-bias hate crimes targeting Jews in 2017, a sharp increase from the 684 incidents it recorded in 2016, and the largest number of hate crimes targeting Jews since 2009. Anti-Jewish incidents made up 58.1% of hate crimes motivated by religious bias, up from 54.2% in 2016.
The number of police agencies participating in the FBI’s crime reporting program, and contributing data to the hate crime report, also increased greatly in 2017. It’s unclear how much of the higher count could be attributable to increased participation. Police departments covering 306 million Americans reported their figures to the FBI in 2017, compared to 289 million in 2016.
The report comes weeks after a synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in which 11 Jews were killed.
According to the FBI, 58% of the single-bias incidents in 2017 were motivated by race or ethnicity, while 22% were motivated by religion. Anti-Jewish bias is considered anti-religious bias for the purposes of the FBI’s work. Another 16% were motivated by sexual orientation bias.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!