Antisemitic incidents in the United States were on the increase last year for the first time since 2004.

According to hate monitor the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there was a slight rise in the number of reported assaults, vandalisms and cases of harassment against Jews last year, from 1,211 incidents in 2009 up to 1,239 incidents.

It was the first increase in the figures since 2004, when antisemitic incidents reached a record high of 1,821 incidents.

The ADL's annual survey showed that there were 22 cases of physical assaults and 900 cases of antisemitic threats and events. Incidents included a teenager whose jaw was broken by an attacker who shouted "you kike" and paintballs fired at "two identifiably Jewish individuals" by the side of a road, as well as numerous slurs about Hitler and the Nazis directed at Jews.

California reported the highest number of problems, followed by other states with large Jewish communities including New Jersey and Florida.

The data did not cover antisemitic incidents online.

Abraham Foxman, the organisations's national director, said that the results showed that America was still not immune to antisemitism and bigotry.

"The good news is that we have continued to enjoy a period of relative calm, where the overall numbers are mostly unchanged and the incidents isolated," he said. "But for all our efforts to educate, to raise awareness and to legislate, anti-Jewish incidents remain a disturbing part of the American Jewish experience."