Anti-Semitic attacks rise in France, UK and worldwide

Anti-Semitic acts continue to increase in France, according to a new report by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF). The annual document reports that violence and threats against French Jews increased dramatically in 2006 over a year earlier, with a 45% rise in physical attacks (112) and a 24% increase in alll registered anti-Semitic acts (371). (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 27) Anti-Semitic attacks also reached record levels in the UK last year, according to a study Britain's Community Security Trust. "These are the worst figures we have had in the 23 years since we have been monitoring it," said the Trust's Mark Gardner. (Reuters, Feb. 1) 2006 saw a rise in anti-Semitism around the world, according to the Jewish Agency's Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism. According to the figures, 2006 saw a 66% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Austria, a 60% rise in Germany, and a 20% rise in Russia. As an explicitly Zionist organization, the Jewish Agency may have an interest in overstating the problem, but the statistics were based on law enforcement records. The report especially noted two murders—that of Ilan Halimi, beaten to death in France last January, and Pamela Wechter, shot dead in the Jewish Federation Building in Seattle in July. Images of a bullet-ridden Oslo synagogue, and worshippers at a Moscow synagogue coming under attack were included in the report. (YNet, Jan. 28) All the reports noted that anti-Semitic violence peaked during the Lebanon crisis.

See our last posts on France, the UK, and the anti-Semitism that everyone seems to either want to deny or exploit. The surreal case of a Jew being denied the right to run for the presidency of Bosnia may not be indicative of anti-Semitism per se, but certainly points to the absurdities of ethnic nationalism, ultimately a closely related phenomenon.

Israel disputes British figures

11 February 2007
The Jerusalem Post

LONDON - The International Conference of the Global Forum on Anti-Semitism, begins in Jerusalem on Sunday amid a disagreement between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the British Jewish community over anti-Semitism statistics in the UK.

Last week, the Israel-based Global Forum against Anti- Semitism, chaired by the Foreign Ministry, reported that anti-Semitic incidents in the UK had fallen by three percent, from 321 in 2005 to 312 in 2006.

However in the same week, the Community Security Trust (CST), a registered UK charity that advises and represents the Jewish community on matters of anti-Semitism, terrorism, policing and security, published a report showing that anti-Semitic incidents in 2006 had risen and are at record levels in Britain.

This week's Jewish Chronicle reported that CST has "rebuked" Livni for "grossly" underestimating the level of anti-Semitism in the UK. In a letter sent to Livni, CST said the Israeli figures "are wrong" and the reported fall is "also a grossly inaccurate portrayal of the situation in the UK."

The letter continued: "We are once again left in a situation whereby serious doubts have been cast upon the ability of the UK Jewish community to develop a serious relationship based on confidence and trust with the Global Forum."