Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry released findings of an annual report that catalogued 387 anti-Semitic attacks worldwide during 2018, a rise of 13 percent from the preceding year.
According to the report, the highest number of incidents took place in major Western democracies including the United States, France, Britain and Germany. It noted that far-right, and far-left activists and Islamists were behind most of the attacks.
That said, it warned of evidence that indicates a growing trend of anti-Semitism among the mainstream population. Professor Dina Porat, Head of the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and Yad Vashem’s Chief Historian stressed that the number of cases does not reflect an increase in brutality within each case. She said: “The numbers of violence do not give the full picture because numbers of violence do not show that violence itself has become more brutal — take the case in Pittsburgh with the 11, take the Hyper Cacher with four casualties etc. — each of them is one case but cases have become more brutal.”
Professor Porat further added that not only physical violence, but also an atmosphere of ‘hate speech’ is increasingly burdening the Jewish population worldwide, which has indicated apparent trends of mass Jewish immigration for risk of personal safety. “The public arena, especially the social nets where you don’t see violence, you don’t see actual cases, but you see a lot of hate speech, of insults, of threats, of personal attacks that create an atmosphere and the atmosphere is far more burdening, far heavier on Jews than violence. And, the two put together — violence and heavy negative atmosphere against them — Jews are leaving. Are leaving France, are leaving England, you know, Jews of Scotland decided this year that they would leave. This has never happened before,” Professor Dina Porat said.
It is important to note that out of the 387 cases involving physical attacks, with or without weapons, arson, vandalism and direct threats against Jews, synagogues and other Jewish institutions were included in the overall figure of the report, with over 100 cases occurring in the United States, alone.