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Diaspora Affairs: Attacks against Jews on the rise

JANUARY 28, 2013 00:19

There has been “an alarming rise in the number of attacks against Jewish targets” over the past year, according to a new report issued by the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry on Sunday.

The 2012 report on anti- Semitism, which was presented to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, indicated that the confluence of extreme rightwing political movements and Islamic radicalism have been responsible for a new wave of anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe.

The report’s release was timed to coincide with the commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday.

Based on data collected by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, Edelstein noted that “the main conclusion emerging from the document... is that compared to 2011, there was an escalation in violent incidents against Jews around the world.”

While the claimed surge in anti-Semitic incidents is connected to incitement against Israel, the report admitted, it also claimed that there was no direct correlation between any specific actions or policies taken by the State of Israel and the rising violence.

The report noted that, “contrary to expectations,” the level of anti-Semitic incidents did not spike after last year’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, as it did after 2009’s Cast Lead incursion.

Edelstein also noted that a “preliminary analysis of trends” indicates that Israeli policy “does not constitute the main incentive for anti- Semitic actions against Jews.”

Delegitimization of Israel does play a role in fueling anti-Jewish activity, he said, but “Israeli policies will not affect or reduce these effects of racial hatred against Jews.”

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