Number of anti-Semitic incidents in the US continues to fall

The number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in the United States has declined for the fourth consecutive year, according to an annual audit. A total of 1,352 incidents of vandalism, harassment and physical assaults against Jewish individuals, property or community institutions were reported in 2008, down 7% in relation to 2007. There were 37 physical assaults on Jewish individuals, 702 incidences of anti-Semitic vandalism and 613 cases of harassment in 2008. They included acts against high-profile Jewish community institutions and communal properties, such as the repeated vandalism of the San Francisco Holocaust Memorial, and the desecration of dozens of graves at a Jewish cemetery in Chicago with swastikas and hate group symbols. Five states with large Jewish populations, California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania accounted for 59 % of anti-Semitic incidents.