From the BBC:
“Anti-Semitism: Dramatic rise
in 2021, Israeli report says”
The number of anti-Semitic
incidents around the world dramatically increased last year, a study by Tel
Aviv University has found. The report identifies the US, Canada, the UK,
Germany and Australia as among countries where there was a sharp rise. This was
fuelled by radical left- and right-wing political movements and incitement on
social media, it says.
The report's release coincides
with Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on Wednesday night. Known
in Israel as Yom HaShoah, the day commemorates the six million Jews murdered by
Nazi Germany across Europe during World War Two.
The Anti-Semitism Worldwide
Report 2021, by the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel
Aviv University's Faculty of Humanities, is based on the analysis of dozens of
studies from around the world, as well as information from law enforcement
bodies, media and and Jewish organisations.
It says that in 2021 there was
"a significant increase in various types of anti-Semitic incidents in most
countries with large Jewish populations".
It found that:
In the US, which has the largest
Jewish population outside of Israel, the number of anti-Jewish hate crimes
recorded in both New York and Los Angeles were almost twice that of the
previous year
In France, the number of recorded
anti-Semitic incidents increased by almost 75% compared with 2020
In Canada, a leading Jewish group
reported a 40-year record in anti-Semitic physical violence in one month -
August
In the UK, the number of recorded
physical assaults against Jews increased by 78% compared with 2020
In Germany, anti-Semitic
incidents recorded by police were up 29% compared with 2020, and 49% compared
with 2019
Australia also experienced a
sharp rise in recorded anti-Semitic incidents, with 88 in May alone - the
highest monthly total ever
The report's authors blame in
part reactions to May 2021's fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants
in the Gaza Strip for the rise in anti-Semitic incidents. That month, Israel
and militants fought an 11-day conflict in which 261 people were killed in
Gaza, according to the United Nations, and 14 people were killed in Israel. The
report also calls out "the vast reach of social networks for spreading
lies and incitement".
Social media played "an
exceptionally alarming role" in anti-Semitic incidents, it says. "The
data raise concerns regarding the utility of legislation and agreements reached
with social media companies on banning anti-Semitic expressions from their
platforms." "The gravest concern is the dark web, which shelters
extremists and where anti-Semitic content is freely and openly spread," it
warns, referring to a part of the internet only accessible through special
browsing software.
The report also identifies the
proliferation of conspiracy theories surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic as
fuelling anti-Jewish hate crimes. "Right at the outset of the pandemic in
2020, conspiracy theories began to sprout around the world, blaming the Jews
and Israel for spreading the virus," it says. "The lockdowns, which
glued people to their screens at home, contributed significantly to
popularising toxic anti-Semitic discourse on social networks. "In 2021,
when the lockdowns were gradually eased, anti-Semites returned to the
streets."
^ In case there was anyone still
wondering “Why we have Holocaust Remembrance Days 77 years after the end of the
Holocaust – this Report is why. The ADL also recently announced 2,717
Anti-Semitic Incidents in 2021 (the highest number since Incidents were first
tracked in 1979.
To see the whole Study look at
the following link:
https://cst.tau.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Antisemitism-Worldwide-2021.pdf
^
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