Dina Porat This past week, the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry released its 2017 “Antisemitism Worldwide” analysis, which noted a dramatic upswing in anti-Semitism within the United States. The Kantor Center, based at Tel Aviv University, strives to “provide an academic framework for the interdisciplinary research of European Jewry from the end of World War II until the present day.” The Kantor Center is currently led by Dina Porat, a member of the Louis D. Brandeis Center’s Academic Advisory Board. The annual worldwide analysis, to which the Louis D. Brandeis Center contributed, seeks to chronicle the various trends and movements through which anti-Semitism manifests itself in countries and regions throughout the world. The report details a decrease in violent incidents by 9% in 2017. This decrease should, however, be compared to the 12% decrease in incidents from 2015 to 2016, as reported last year. The highest incident rates recorded by the Kantor Center were between 2006 and 2014, where numbers averaged between 600 to 700 violent incidents against Jews per year. It should also be taken into context that though there was a decrease in violent incidents, some of the recent violent cases have been perpetrated more brutally, causing more harm. Further, the report explains the decrease could be attributed to: Better security and intelligence, allocation of government budgets, less Jews with identifying signs on the street, the immigrants diverting right wingers’ attention. But – and this is a major point – this situation is not necessarily perceived in Jewish communities as a sufficient positive development, because the presence of security measures means that they are a necessity, and mainly because it is overshadowed by the many verbal and visual expressions, some on the verge of violence, such as direct threats, harassments, hateful expressions and insults. Regardless of the lessening of violent anti-Semitism, the Kantor Center has reported a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism in the United States. The report details a 57% rise in incidents of anti-Semitism in the U.S. as reported by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), incidents which are especially prevalent in the form of harassment and insults levied at both Jews and Israel. These incidents, of which there were almost 2000, demonstrate the “largest single-year increase on record and the second highest number reported” since 1979. The report indicates that this is the first year since 2010 where an anti-Semitic incident has been reported in every U.S. state. The report noted that this past year is also noteworthy for having incidents of anti-Semitism on both college campuses and K-12 schools increase dramatically. The number of incidents in K-12 schools surpassed the incidents that took place in public areas. Over 457 incidents of anti-Semitism were recorded at public schools, a 94% increase from 2016. Anti-Semitic incidents on college and university campuses also increased in 2017 by 89%, from 108 incidents in 2016 to 204 incidents in 2017. Excluding the bomb threats made by “a troubled Jewish teenager located in Israel,” the total number of threats made to Jewish institutions rose by 5% from 2016. The Kantor Center report included Policy Recommendations by the ADL to turn the tide against anti-Semitism in the United States, which included recommending Congress to pass legislation to expand federal protections against bomb threats to religious institutions; to advocate for strong official support for efforts to punish anti-Semitic conduct to the fullest extent of the law by public officials and law enforcement authorities; to foster an increased public awareness of anti-Semitism, and encourage the reporting of all anti-Semitic incidents; and train college and university administrators, faculty, and staff in order to better identify and deal with anti-Semitic incidents, hate crimes, hate speech, and extremism on campus. The report, however, also makes sure to note the achievements that have occurred during the last year. The first achievement that the report identifies is the “increasing number of governmental agencies and others [that] have adopted the Working Definition of Antisemitism.” This is substantially the same definition which the Senate and House of Representatives of South Carolina recently adopted to help it deal with incidents of campus anti-Semitism. The report also notes that the movement to boycott Israel, BDS, is “increasingly encountering legal and financial limitations on the grounds that it violates laws of commercial equality and laws against discrimination.” The report concludes the section on last year’s achievements by stating that even more can be achieved through the use of cooperation and the forming of coalitions between like-minded groups.