Violent anti-Semitic incidents increased by 18% worldwide in 2019

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – According to a study released Monday, there was an 18% increase in violent anti-Semitic incidents worldwide last year, Israel Hayom reports. Conducted by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, the study found there were 456 such incidents in 2019, compared to 387 in 2018.

The study reported a rise in violent anti-Semitic cases in most countries. It records that seven people were killed and at least 53 synagogues and 28 Jewish community centers and schools were attacked. There was also a 47% increase in life-endangering threats and a 24% increase in attacks on private properties.

It was found that major anti-Semitic conduct presented among both right-wing and left-wing perpetrators. In the US, the study found, right-wing ideology had driven an increase in anti-Semitic expression that had resulted in mass shootings with casualties. Left-wing activists had displayed flagrant anti-Zionism expressed in unrestrainedly anti-Semitic terms and had presented Israel and Jews as manipulators of American policies and leaders. Violent attacks had also been carried out by Islamic and Black Hebrew Israelite groups.

Perpetrators of severe violent anti-Semitism in 2019 had made extensive use of the internet to spread anti-Semitic propaganda and connect with other activists internationally, the study found.

The study authors noted: “The return of traditional, classic anti-Semitic stereotypes as well as the intensification of anti-Israeli and Islamist anti-Semitism, have contributed to the growing role of the anti-Semitic discourse that moved from the fringes of society into the mainstream public discourse.”

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