Israel Hayom has learned that Kirk confirmed his attendance after Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli invited him through a mutual acquaintance, Kirk's pastor, Rob McCoy. The Annual International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, which gathers many of Israel's most passionate supporters from around the world, was set to include Kirk this year, who frequently fought for Israel's reputation on campuses and in media interviews.

In a discussion between Chikli and Pastor Rob McCoy, the latter mentioned that Kirk seldom leaves the US. Nevertheless, his team would arrange the visit and his address at the conference. All of this, as noted, is now impossible.

Minister Chikli wrote a eulogy for Kirk on Wednesday, noting among other things that "Charlie was a man of faith who lived the value of liberty, breathed it, and radiated it in every word and every deed. He understood that liberty is not an empty slogan, but the foundation of human existence – the condition for any free and just society. He naturally represented the unique, deep, and unbreakable bond between Israel and the United States. He knew that liberty is the shared value that stands at the core of the connection between the ancient nation of liberty and the new nation of liberty."

Chikli also wrote that "at the time he was shot and murdered, while seeking to promote those same values through discourse and persuasion, he wore a white shirt on which was written a single word – liberty – a word that has become his legacy and a call to action – to continue the fight and to stand together, Jews and Christians, Americans and Israelis, to ensure that liberty will prevail over the sword of Islamist fanaticism and over neo-Marxist tyranny, which dons a liberal mask."

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The report reveals extremely disconcerting trends of increased and intensifying anti-Semitic incidents across the globe in general, and in Western Europe and the United States in particular.

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In 2019, according to the report, seven Jews and non-Jews were murdered in a series of anti-Semitic attacks, and many others were wounded. The report also states that anti-Semitic violence came from different directions and was inspired by various ideologies, by the far-right, white supremacists, the extreme left, radical Islam and even escalating street violence perpetrated by African-American youths.

The epicenters of anti-Semitism: Western democracies

The report reveals that anti-Semitism mainly poses a threat to Jews living in Western democracies with large Jewish communities – the US, France, Great Britain and Germany. The US saw a rise in the number of violent anti-Semitic incidents, with over 100 violent street attacks in Brooklyn alone in the past year.

In France, too, there was a drastic increase in the number of reported anti-Semitic attacks in the first half of 2019. And for the second consecutive year, online anti-Semitic abuse intensified, with many anti-Semitic commenters no longer searching for an excuse, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to spew classic anti-Semitic rhetoric.

In Germany, there was a 20% increase in anti-Semitic incidents, among them the Halle synagogue shooting on October 9, in which two bystanders lost their lives. Additionally, throughout 2019 Jews were assaulted in the streets, targeted with insults and threats, and neo-Nazi groups and political parties openly disseminated neo-Nazi propaganda and called for the release of Holocaust deniers from prison.

In Great Britain, meanwhile, where an ant-Semitic candidate, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, vied for the premiership in 2019, the Jewish community sensed an existential threat to its future in the country.

Success in combatting anti-Semitism on social media

A positive trend noted in the report was the drastic drop, about 25%, in anti-Semitic discourse on monitored online sites and forums, primarily the result of new policies – mainly on Facebook and Twitter. However, anti-Semitic activists have been moving to alternative social media sites and to the dark web.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Tzipi Hotovely addressed the report's findings at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.

"To our great regret, the trend of rising anti-Semitism is continuing, and it seems the lessons of history are not erasing the deep hatred toward the Jewish people," she said. "Our duty is to turn the impressive show of international solidarity here on Thursday [at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum] into an actionable work plan to effectively fight hatred of Israel."

Hotovely added: "2019 was a watershed period for US Jewry. Half of the hate crimes reported to the FBI targeted Jews; there were terrible anti-Semitic attacks, such as the attack at the synagogue in San Diego, the attack at the kosher grocery in Jersey City and the Hanukkah attack in Monsey (New York); all these represent a dangerous and worrying escalation. In France and Britain the concerning trend is continuing at unprecedented levels. The Corbyn case proves that the problem of anti-Semitism reaches the highest levels of politics."

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