League Says Anti-Semitic Incidents Increase Sharply in County in 1987

Orange County was one of several areas across the nation to see a major increase in incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism last year, according to a study released Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

The civil rights group reported a 121% increase in anti-Semitic vandalism in California, where 137 incidents were reported in 1987, up from 62 in 1986.

In Orange County, 25 incidents were reported last year, up from 12 in 1986, said Steve Edelman, executive director of the league’s Orange County regional office.

The league gathers reports from temples and other Jewish institutions for the study, Edelman said.

The anti-Semitic incidents included deliberately set fires at synagogues, such as the Jan. 8 blaze at Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton, as well as graffiti of swastikas and the distribution of white supremacist literature at Jewish institutions.

The league estimates that many other incidents occurred in the county that were not reported, Edelman said.

Of 694 anti-Semitic incidents reported nationwide, the most occurred in New York, with 207, followed by California, Florida with 64, New Jersey with 43 and Illinois with 36, the league said.

Edelman attributed the rise in vandalism and harassment of Jews and Jewish institutions in Orange County to the growth of so-called “skinhead” gangs among the county’s youth.

“They represent a very small proportion of the high school community, but they account for an inordinately large number of racial incidents, not only involving the Jewish community but also blacks, Latinos and other minorities,” Edelman said.

The Orange County Probation Department’s white gang specialist has identified eight to 10 skinhead groups in the county, with names such as the La Habra Skins and the Huntington Beach Hard Core. He estimated the gangs’ membership at 12 to 50 members each.

However, the specialist, Deputy Probation Officer Mike Fleager, had not seen the league’s report Wednesday and declined comment.

Distinguished by shaved heads, leather attire and black work boots, skinheads often adhere to racist and neo-Nazi ideologies, law enforcement officials say.

Skinheads have been especially active in Huntington Beach and in the county’s northern cities of Fullerton, Placentia and Yorba Linda, Edelman said.

It was in these areas, he said, that the number of anti-Semitic incidents grew most markedly.

Skinheads, Edelman said, are alienated youths who often do not fully understand the ideologies they mouth. They receive literature from adults active in white supremacist groups, he added.

Nationwide, most of those arrested in connection with anti-Semitic acts were under the age of 21, the league reported.

In a separate tally of 327 incidents of harassment of Jews and Jewish institutions, the league said 16 involved physical assaults on Jews that “were clearly motivated by bigotry.”

The report noted several specific acts of violence against Jews, including an episode in Chicago last November when 11 separate Jewish targets were vandalized. The event marked the 49th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “Night of the Broken Glass,” when synagogues and Jewish businesses were attacked across Nazi Germany.