x
Breaking News
More () »

A rise in antisemitic incidents predicts an uncomfortable future for Jewish people in Texas

In Texas, the number of incidents totaled 112 in 2021, making it one of the top five highest incidence rates in the U.S. by state.

TYLER, Texas — **EDITOR'S NOTE -- the video attached was pulled from CBS19's sister station, KVUE.

The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism released their audit of antisemitic attacks and incidents in 2021, noting Texas as one of the largest hotspots of Jewish attacks.

The ADL is an anti-hate organization actively trying to "stop the defamation of the Jewish population and tries to secure justice and fair treatment to all" races and religions. ADL's Center on Extremism is a branch of their operations that helps keep "tabs on and researches extremist trends, ideologies and groups that pose as a threat across the ideological spectrum" and helps curate this audit.

Last year's audit shows highest incident rate in its recorded history, with a total of 2,717 incidents occurring throughout the United States. This is a 34% increase from the 2,026 incidents that were recorded in 2020, and the incidents are predicted to surpass the already record-high incidents in 2022.

In Texas, the number of incidents totaled 112 in 2021, making it one of the top five highest incidence rates in the U.S. by state. This was a 167% increase from the number of incidents in 2020, which were totaled to only 42. 

With this stark rise in antisemitic attacks in Texas, it has raised a question of why and how the amount of attacks on the Jewish community has increased so quickly in the span of a year.

During a recent visit to Congregation Beth El in Tyler, Leah White, associate regional director for the ADL, said in addition to the large increase in population density Texas has seen over the last two years, there has also been a lot of extremist groups originate in different parts of the state.

"[They] treat Texas as a starting ground before heading out to the larger nation - this is their backyard," White said. "We see a lot of extremist work before it hits lots of other places, so that's a huge factor to it."

With the first audit published in 1979, the ADL and Center on Extremism releases these reports to keep a record of the increases and trends of antisemitism across the country. 

Although the majority of the cases reported in Texas are harassment-based, the numbers for the 2022 year are set out to be not only larger, but starting to branch out into more violent attacks. 

A recent example of this is the hostage situation that occurred at a synagogue in Colleyville. On Jan. 15, at Congregation Beth Israel, three congregants and their rabbi were held at gunpoint for 11 hours until the assailant was killed. 

"I'm not a fortune teller, but I don't see a decline [in attacks] happening," White said. "We started 2022 with the hostage situation [in Colleyville] happening - the year is halfway over and our numbers are on track to be much higher than 2021 already." 

In addition to the rising number of gun violence incidents in the U.S., the concept of safety for the Jewish populous, both nationally and state-wide, has reared its head. The main form of prevention against this rising wave of hate that White sees is within education to society as a whole. 

By educating those who aren't familiar with Jewish culture or hold negative predispositions to the religion, White said it acts as a way to buffer and prevent an attack from potentially causing irreputable harm.

"We go into every anti-Semitic incident with the belief of good intent - perhaps it didn't happen with bad intent," White said. "Maybe it was a lack of knowledge, understanding, or misinformation … but we can teach why a lot of these things are happening and why're they're hurtful or wrong."

RELATED: Giving back through hamantaschen brings unity, support from East Texas

RELATED: North Texas-based hate group's arrests in Idaho show wide reach of white supremacy, researchers say

Before You Leave, Check This Out