Gee, that’s funny. I thought worldwide anti-Semitism was going down.
Actually, no, I didn’t. It’s other people who seem to believe that attacks on Jews—for being Jews—are lessening. In fact, it is the opposite: They are up sharply in many countries.
Last year saw a substantial rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, Austria and the Scandinavian countries, according to the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism.
In an annual press conference, the forum explained that 2006 was characterized by escalation in the number and violent nature of attacks on Jews, proliferation of Holocaust denial and increased comparison of Israel to the Nazi regime.
The Global Forum – a joint effort of the Jewish Agency, the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office – counted 360 anti-Semitic incidents in France in 2006, compared to 300 in 2005. In the United Kingdom, the report listed a yearly decrease from 321 incidents in 2005 to 312 incidents in 2006. Russia recorded 300 incidents in 2006 compared to 250 the preceding year, and Austria saw a jump from 50 incidents to 83 last year. The Scandinavian countries saw 53 incidents in 2006, substantially more than the previous year’s 35. The report cited a 60-percent rise in incidents in the Berlin area, although it did not include figures for all of Germany.
And here are some interesting facts:
A British parliamentary commission determined that Islamists and the radical left were responsible for increased anti-Semitism in the country. Research published in Germany indicated widespread use of anti-Semitic expressions in schools, primarily by Muslim students. Research in the Ukraine found that about a third of the country’s citizens had negative opinions of Jews.
Yeah, we’ve been calling that one here for years .