A new survey released on Holocaust Remembrance Day found that more than half of America’s Jews have either experienced or witnessed what they perceived to be an anti-Semitic incident over the past five years. The survey was conducted in January, before the U.S. outbreak of the coronavirus, by the data analytics firm YouGov on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League.

It found that nearly two-thirds of Jews (63%) believe that they are less safe than they were a decade ago. Half are worried that a person wearing a yarmulke or other public display of Judaism will be physically assaulted (47%) or verbally harassed (50%) “on the street or in a public place,” according to the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Among other findings:

  • 1 in 5 (21%) have been the target of anti-Semitic comments, slurs or threats.
  • 1 in 5 (22%) are affiliated with a Jewish institution that has been vandalized, damaged    or defaced because of anti-Semitism.
  • 1 in 7 (14%) know someone who has been physically attacked because he or she is    Jewish.
  • 1 in 20 have been physically attacked (5%) or have had “their home, car or property    deliberately vandalized or defaced” because of anti-Semitism (6%).

[According to a newly released report from Tel Aviv University, the number of major anti-Semitic incidents worldwide rose by 18% in 2019 over the previous year, to 456 from 387.]