Last year saw an 18% increase in severe incidents around the world, a study by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, said Monday.
The study noted that coronavirus-inspired expressions "constitute forms of traditional Jew-hatred and of conspiracy theories. So far, these accusations appear to be promoted mainly by extreme rightists, ultra-conservative Christian circles, Islamists, and to a minor extent by the far-left, each group according to its narrative and beliefs - such as different conspiracy theories as well as the image of the Jew as a producer of diseases."
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Still, 2019 witnessed a rise of 18% in major violent cases compared to 2018 – 456 cases in 2019 compared to 387 in 2018. Seven Jews and non-Jews were killed during anti-Semitic attacks, and a rise in most other manifestations, in most countries. At least 53 synagogues (12%) and 28 community centers and schools (6 percent) were attacked. An increase in life-endangering threats (47%) and in attacks on private properties (24 %).
"The return of traditional, classic anti-Semitic stereotypes as well as the intensification of anti-Israeli and Islamist anti-Semitism, have contributed to the growing role of the anti-Semitic discourse that moved from the fringes of society into the mainstream public discourse," the study said.
According to a 2019 report by the Fundamental Rights Agency, 41% of Jews aged 16-34 have considered emigrating from Europe because of anti-Semitism over the last five years.
Anti-Semitism as the main factor pushing for emigration might be enhanced by the perceptions regarding governments' responses and efforts to anti-Semitism, which are overwhelmingly considered inadequate.
In Germany, the shooting at the Halle synagogue, on Oct. 9, 2019 has become a landmark in the anti-Semitic activity in Germany that embodies all the present problems.
The police recorded 1,839 anti-Semitic incidents nationwide, making for an average of five cases a day, mostly perpetrated by neo-Nazis and extreme right-wingers.
The role of radical Muslims in everyday harassment is yet to be fully formally assessed. Additionally, surveys have shown that the knowledge about the Holocaust is diminishing in Germany, and that Jewish pupils are increasingly harassed by their Muslim classmates.
The study further noted that in the US, a new phenomenon is emerging, one with increased violent anti-Semitic manifestations, with shooting sprees and numerous casualties, inspired mainly by right-wing ideologies as well as by certain groups within the Black Hebrew Israelites and the Nation of Islam.
Perpetrators of major anti-Semitic violent attacks in 2019 were active in disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda online, through international networks of likeminded activists. Anti-Zionism expressed in anti-Semitic terms was rampant among left-wing activists as well, especially in reaction to warm Israeli-American administration relations, depicted as Israeli-Jewish deliberate attempts to dominate and manipulate American policies and leaders.
But 2019 was not without significant achievements in the fight against anti-Semitism.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief presented a report to the UN General Assembly titled "Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance," warning against growing anti-Semitism inspired by Nazi and Islamist ideologies.
The European Union established a working group consisting of national special envoys to guide member states in implementing steps against anti-Semitism.
Both the German and Austrian parliaments defined the BDS as a movement that uses anti-Semitic tactics, and reached a resolution according to which "the pattern of argument and methods of the BDS movement are."
And the World Holocaust Forum, supported by Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, to convene its fifth forum in Israel under the auspices of President Reuven Rivlin. World leaders from over 40 states participated in the event and declared their commitment to "Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting anti-Semitism.:
