Report: Violent anti-Semitic attacks in US doubled in 2018

Violent attacks against the Jewish community in the United States doubled last year, while overall attacks that also include vandalism and harassment remained near record-high levels, the Anti-Defamation League reported Tuesday.

The Jewish civil rights group released its annual census of anti-Semitic incidents three days after a gunman opened fire at a Southern California synagogue, killing a woman and wounding a rabbi and two others.

The New York-based group counted 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents — either harassment, vandalism or physical assault — in 2018. That is a 5% decrease from the 1,986 incidents reported in 2017, but the third-highest total since ADL began tracking the data in the 1970s. The 2017 number marked a 57% increase over 2016 and was the highest tally ADL had counted in more than two decades.

ADL counted 39 cases of physical assaults involving 59 victims in 2018, up from 19 assaults and 21 victims in 2017. The 2018 tally includes the 11 people who were killed and two congregants wounded when a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October. It was the deadliest attack on Jews in the nation's history.

Israel Dahan, whose 8-year-old daughter and brother-in-law were both wounded in Saturday's shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue near San Diego, said he doesn't understand why there's so much hate.

"We welcome everybody. We love everybody," said Dahan, 32, who is originally from Israel. "I don't even know why people like that (are) coming up against Judaism and against Jewish people."

Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL's CEO and national director, said he spent much of the weekend in California meeting and praying with the families of the shooting victims and other synagogue congregants. Greenblatt said it's "hard to find much...