Denver, CO, August 4, 2017… Responding to reports of a swastika and other anti-Semitic graffiti found on the property of Temple Beit Torah in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Scott L. Levin, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, issued the following statement:

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemns the hateful graffiti found at Temple Beit Torah. We commend neighbors of the synagogue for immediately alerting law enforcement to the situation and applaud the quick response of the Colorado Springs Police Department to the incident and investigating the vandalism as a potential bias-motivated hate crime.

This incident supports our grave concern about the increased number of bias-motivated incidents, including acts of anti-Semitism, which are occurring in Colorado and across the country. In Colorado alone, ADL monitored 18 acts of anti-Semitism in 2015, 45 in 2016, and if the trend thus far for 2017 continues, we are worried that there will be over 60 incidents by the end of the year.

For a graphic and further information about increased acts of anti-Semitism in the Mountain States Region, please see ADL’s recent annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents.

 

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

 

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