People attend a rally in solidarity with the Jewish people in Washington on July 11, 2021.Susan Walsh/The Associated Press
The coronavirus pandemic and Israel’s overwhelming force during the Gaza war helped fuel a global surge in anti-Semitism last year, Israeli researchers reported Wednesday.
The prominence of political extremism and the reach of social media may also have intensified the long-standing phenomenon of scapegoating Jews in recent years, according to the report.
Anti-Semitic events increased markedly in 2021 in many countries with significant Jewish populations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia, according to the report. The study collected data from 22 countries.
Annual report shows rising anti-Semitism in some provinces
French authorities, for example, reported a 36% increase in anti-Semitic incidents involving physical violence, from 44 to 60. The UK saw a 78% increase in incidents of aggression, from 97 to 173. The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose 54 percent, from 173 to 266, according to the report.
Extremist and violent ideas have always existed, but “it really took an effort decades ago to be exposed to them,” said Uriya Shavit, director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, which produced The report. “Today, it is very easy to access them.”
Released as much of the world emerges from a two-year pandemic, the report comes after a year of extensive change in Israel. The relatively wealthy Middle Eastern nation was among the world leaders in its vaccination program early last year. Then in May came his 11-day war against the militant Hamas rulers in Gaza, in which more than 260 Palestinians and 14 people in Israel were killed. The intense Israeli airstrikes caused serious damage in Gaza and generated international concern and condemnation.
It all fueled a rise in anti-Semitism despite years of education, new laws and money spent fighting anti-Jewish bigotry, the authors wrote.
“The fight is failing,” says the report, which analyzes studies, reports and other sources of information.
Released ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, the report says several countries with large Jewish minorities have seen a sharp rise in anti-Jewish attacks since the pandemic began in 2020.
Other nations, such as Italy and Argentina, saw declines in anti-Semitism during the pandemic, according to the report. Pandemic restrictions may have played a role when white supremacists and state sponsors like Iran and Belarus spread conspiracy theories to an audience of millions of people locked up “glued to their screens,” according to the report.
In the United States, with a Jewish population of some 6 million, reports from police departments, Jewish organizations, and the media suggest an increase in anti-Semitic activities.
The Anti-Defamation League counted 2,717 anti-Semitic incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism in 2021, an increase of 34% from the previous year. It was the highest number since the New York City-based group began tracking such incidents in 1979.
The report released by Tel Aviv University suggests that antisemitism was on the rise during that period, but showed some fluctuations by some measures. His survey of US media reports suggested 28 incidents of violent physical assaults against Jews in 2021, compared to a dozen in 2020 and 36 in 2019.
Police departments in New York and Los Angeles, home to the largest Jewish populations in the United States, showed small fluctuations. In 2021, the NYPD recorded 214 anti-Jewish hate crime reports, up from 126 the year before and 252 in 2019. Meanwhile, the LAPD recorded 79 anti-Jewish hate crime reports in 2021, up from 40 of 2020 and the 42 of the previous year. .
There are indicators that anti-Semitism spiked during the Israel-Gaza war, and social media, especially the so-called dark web, played a role in the wave.
In Canada, B’nai Brith Canada reported 61 assaults on Jews, the most since monitoring began in 1982, in May 2021. In total, 226 incidents were recorded during that month, a 54 percent increase from the previous month. same period of the previous year. report said.
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