anti-Semitism is hitting record new highs in New Jersey and across the U.S a new report released by the Anti-Defamation League finds incidents like harassment vandalism and assault against Jews are at the highest levels ever recorded since 1979.

New Jersey saw a 10 percent increase in those hate crimes for 2022 just earlier this month at an elementary school in Westwood Bergen County officials say a swastika made out of Twigs was found on school grounds it's just one of hundreds of incidents that have communities and Advocates on high alert senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports as part of our ongoing exploring hate series looking at anti-Semitism racism and extremism we are doing well um there's there are some great nerves of course Rabbi Mark cat says after the recent firebomb attack on bloomfield's Temple near tamid some in his congregation can still Panic if they Glimpse an unguarded door and he's not surprised by the new Anti-Defamation League report showing anti-semitic incidents spiked across the U.S last year the heat map reveals clusters in New York and New Jersey I have seen it with my own eyes and so I have to imagine that if anti-semitic incidents are on the rise locally they also have to be on the rise National cats believe social media is fueling hate that people fall into websites fomenting anti-Semitism he says in our deeply polarized nation that can radicalize and embolden people to act the ADL reports anti-semitic incidents in the U.S soared 36 percent just last year to almost 3 700.

New Jersey saw a 10 percent jump to to a record 408 anti-semitic incidents in 2022 pushing it to rank third among states after California and New York it's a big jump from the year before which was a big jump from the year before that including many many bias incidents in the schools the ADL Scott Richman says incidents can include vandalism and bomb threats he also points to the attack on four Orthodox Jews in the Lakewood area last April allegedly by Manchester resident Dion Marsh now charged with Federal hate crimes the terrible rise in assaults a record number of assaults physical violence against Jews including nine such incidents in New Jersey this is typically against the Orthodox Community people who are visibly identifiable as as Jewish but discussing hate speech can often get Complicated by divisions over opposition to Israeli politics a frequent topic on college campuses says an associate editor for Jewish currents magazine she claims ADL statistics can sometimes blur the line people expressing opposition to Israel adaptions of the country it's completely different than you know expressing anti-semitic activists towards Jewish people especially the Jewish people in the United States and so I think to complete those two things is very problematic there are moments when criticism of Israel Rises to the level of anti-Semitism Rickman says the ADL uses an internationally accepted standard as its guideline when compiling statistics regardless of definitions no one disputes how anti-semitisms frightened people I had a young man who said to me he goes out with a baseball cap instead of a keeper because if somebody sees the keeper they know he's Jewish and he's concerned with that Rabbi David Levy says an American Jewish committee survey shows one in four American Jews reports changing clothing and jewelry that identifies them as Jewish out of fear for their safety and online our young people are avoiding identifying themselves online as Jews because of what's happening in that toxic social media culture New Jersey's battling anti-Semitism these risings to statistics could reflect more people stepping up to report bias incidents says the Attorney General we have gone to Great Strides to encourage trust with our reporting system and know that if you report something we're going to look at it we're going to look at it criminally we'll look at it as a civil enforcement matter and it will inform our policy work we have several Active cases and we have not hesitated to act when the evidence has been presented U.S attorney Philip salinger's office charged the Bloomfield firebombing in Lakewood attack suspects and we've also charged when there are threats of violence an individual last year who was alleged to have published the manifesto threatening to blow up synagogues prosecutions are deterrent but Katz wants more to build stronger alliances with local police departments and school boards and educate kids about the dangers of radicalization I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news leadership support for exploring hate is provided by the Sylvia a and Simon B Poitier programming endowment to fight anti-Semitism with additional major funding from Sue and Edgar wachenheim III Charlotte and David ackert the Peter G Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney fund and Patty ask with Kenner additional support is provided by the tiger Baron Foundation Nancy and Morris W Offutt and Josh Weston