Jerusalem, April 17. Last year there was a “sharp increase” in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, particularly among ultra-Orthodox Jews, but it has declined in several European countries, the Annual Report on the anti-Semitism in the world, published this Monday a day in memory of the Holocaust.
“It is alarming to see the significant increase in anti-Semitic incidents and trends in the United States and other countries,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization that collected figures for the study.
A total of 3,697 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the United States last year, up from 2,717 in 2021, according to the report released today by the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jews at Tel Aviv University.
The New York Police Department – the city with the most assaults in this country – recorded 261 hate crimes against Jews compared to 214 in 2021.
Although anti-Semitism has generally declined in Europe, there are countries where such incidents have also increased, such as Belgium, Hungary, Italy and Australia.
According to the report, physical attacks against Jews, mostly unpremeditated, tend to occur on the streets or on public transport, near or in synagogues in urban centers.
“Haredi Jews are the main victims, not only because they are easily identifiable as Jews, but because they are perceived as vulnerable and unlikely to fight back,” the report explains.
“It was very disturbing to discover during fieldwork in London (which has seen the highest number of attacks in Europe) that some Haredis see anti-Semitism as the inescapable fate of Diaspora Jews, sometimes even blaming members of their own communities because of the situation,” said Carl Yonker, who led the survey.
In addition to the social tensions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the negative reactions to Israel’s military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States can be explained by the spread of propaganda anti-Semitism by a portion of white supremacists, which tripled to 852 incidents.
Other factors may be the rise of radicalism, both right and left, and the proliferation of conspiracy theories on social media.
JEWISH SUPREMACISM
For its part, the State of Israel has not been exempt from hate crimes but vice versa, notably by Jewish supremacist MPs against other ethnic groups, notably Arabs, an aspect that this report includes for the first time.
“In recent months, several Jewish lawmakers have made chilling racist comments that in any other Western country would have ended their careers. Sad to say this on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. , but Jewish racism is no better than other types of ‘racism.’ It must be condemned, banned and eradicated,” said Uriya Shavit, director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jews.
Unlike the United States, anti-Semitism has declined in other countries, including Germany, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Argentina. A total of 2,649 “political crimes with an anti-Semitic background” were recorded in Germany, less than the record of 3,028 reached in 2021, according to the study.
In Russia, there are disturbing anti-Semitic remarks by officials and intellectuals close to President Vladimir Putin, as well as a “cynical distortion of the memory of the Holocaust by the regime”, according to the analysis published on Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023.
This day, “Yom HaShoah” in Hebrew, is celebrated in Israel on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, between the months of March and April of the Gregorian calendar, which in 2023 falls between the sunsets of April 17 and 18, when it aura The official ceremony took place in Israel.
The event will take place tonight at the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attendance, as well as several Holocaust survivors who will recite and light torches. ECE
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