Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States declined for the second consecutive year in 2006, according to newly issued statistics from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which tracks incidents against Jewish individuals, synagogues and community institutions.

The League's annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, issued today, counted a total of 1,554 anti-Semitic incidents across the United States in 2006, representing a 12 percent decline from 1,757 reported in 2005.

The decline came in a year marked by several violent attacks, including the shooting at the Greater Seattle Jewish Federation in July by an Islamic extremist, in which staffer Pamela Waechter was killed and three others were seriously wounded. That attack and others underscored the continuing threat to Jewish community institutions, particularly at a time of heightened conflict in the Middle East. Tensions from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and last summer's war in southern Lebanon simmered over on to U.S. college campuses and into anti-war protests.

"While any decline in the number of incidents is encouraging, the fact that a Jewish community institution was targeted by a gunman was a sobering reminder that anti-Semitism in America is not just history, but a current event," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.

"The Audit is just one measure of anti-Semitism in the United States. There is also an onslaught of anti-Semitism out there in blogs, e-mails and Web sites – and most significantly in conspiracy theories about alleged Jewish power which have even penetrated the mainstream – that simply cannot be quantified."...