WASHINGTON, July 27 (UPI) -- The Anti-Defamation League said Tuesday it tallied 1,211 incidents of assaults, harassment and vandalism against Jews in the United States last year.
The rights group, headquartered in New York City, said in a written statement that the incidents, which included 29 reports of physical violence and bomb threats, indicated a "sustained and troubling" level of anti-Semitism.
"The fact that Jews continue to be singled out for acts of hate on an average of three times per day in this country is a disturbing reality that we have to confront," said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman.
The incidents included the shooting of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and a foiled plot by Muslim extremists to bomb New York-area synagogues.
Lesser-known incidents included a brick hurled at a Jewish man and aggressive picketing of community centers by members of a Kansas church.
The ADL said the number of incidents in 2009 was 10-percent lower than 2008; however the decline was attributed to a new reporting methodology rather than an actual decrease in incidents.
