Group: New York was No. 2 in anti-Semitic acts in 2009

More than 200 instances of anti-Semitic assaults, harassment and vandalism took place in New York State last year, making it second only to California in such bias events, the Anti-Defamation League said Tuesday in releasing its annual survey.

The ADL identified a total of 1,211 such events around the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2009, including the June 2009 shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington; May 2009 arrests of four men accused of placing what they thought were bombs outside two Bronx synagogues; and a number of acts of vandalism from around the country.

"America is not immune to anti-Semitism, and 2009 was no different in this regard than in any other year," said Abraham Foxman, ADL national director. "It is a sobering reality that as Jews have become more accepted in society, there remains a consistent hatred of Jews among too many."

The audit identified 29 assaults, 760 instances of harassment and 422 cases of vandalism nationwide. Among all occurrences, 209 were in New York State and 275 in California, the ADL said.

The audit found 79 instances of harassment, 10 reports of assaults and 120 cases of vandalism in New York State. The ADL said 132 of those cases took place in New York City and 61 on Long Island.

The ADL said it had revamped its reporting methods along with how it considered incidents for inclusion in the audit. Foxman gave the example of the swastika, which he said had become a nonspecific symbol of hate for some, rather than the main symbol of Nazism.

"So we are being more careful to include graffiti incidents that specifically target Jews or Jewish institutions as we continue the process of re-evaluating and redefining how we measure anti-Jewish incidents," he said.