The number of documented anti-Semitic incidents in Connecticut increased in 2013, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents. A total of 31 incidents were reported across Connecticut in 2013, which included 18 incidents of harassment, six incidents of vandalism and two incidents of physical assault. The agency recorded 17 anti-Semitic incidents in Connecticut in 2012, 43 in Connecticut in 2011 and 39 in 2010.
“Some of the incidents reported in 2013 in Connecticut included:
A Jewish student in Fairfield County was accosted by several classmates, shoved into a bathtub, sprayed with body spray to simulate the gas chambers, and forced to pretend to “go to sleep.
A young Jewish student on a social media site, unaware of the meaning of a cross, asked a friend about the significance of her “t-necklace.” Another person replied, “You’re a bitch the cross isn’t a T so take your Jewish ass somewhere else (sic).”
Hartford County
A Holocaust survivor who had recently shared her story with school children received leaflets in the mail that denied the Holocaust.
A restaurant manager stuck a post-it note with a drawing of a swastika on the water bottle of one of his waitresses. During the same shift, he made himself a fake Hitler moustache and did a heil Hitler salute. He also made swastikas out of French fries on the plates that she was serving to customers.
New Haven County:Graffiti was discovered in a university building that threatened the college’s Center for Jewish life with arson.
Approximately 30 gravestones were knocked over at a Jewish cemetery resulting in about $5,000 worth of damage.
The total number of reported anti-Semitic incidents in the United States fell by 19 percent in 2013, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents. The ADL Audit reported a total of 751 anti-Semitic incidents last year, marking a significant decline from the 927 reported in 2012.