Mayor Muriel Bowser and MPD Chief Peter Newsham announced an uptick in hate crimes earlier this year at the 6th and I Synagogue. (Photo by Rachel Sadon)

Anti-Semitic incidents increased by 46 percent in the District of Columbia in the first nine months of 2017 as compared to the same period the year prior, according to an annual report compiled by the Anti-Defamation League.

Around the country, the ADL saw anti-Semitic incidents surge 67 percent, from 779 in the first nine months of 2016 to 1,299 in 2017. In the D.C. region, they increased from 22 to 82 reported incidents—an 82 percent jump (the ADL’s regional office includes North Carolina along with Maryland, Virginia, and the District). And in D.C. proper, the ADL catalogued 22 incidents of harassment or vandalism in 2017, in comparison to 15 last year.

“The increase in anti-Semitic incidents in our region is concerning,” said Doron Ezickson, the regional director of ADL Washington, in a statement. “The violence in Charlottesville and the increasingly aggressive efforts by white supremacists to recruit on college campuses demonstrate that these groups not only feel empowered, but also are no longer limiting their activities to the Internet.”

A number of the reported incidents in D.C. have occurred on or near college campuses, including swastikas reported in several incidents in dorms at Georgetown University and Jewish slur on a building near the university. A Jewish family in Ward 3, near American University, also recently found an anti-Semitic flyer on their doorstep.

According to MPD statistics, all bias-crimes rose 62 percent across the city in 2016, for a total of 107, and the District is on track to surpass that figure this year.