Anti-Semitism on the rise in Britain, says EU

Anti-Semitic violence is on the rise in several EU countries, including Britain, with “young white men” the main perpetrators, the EU’s anti-racism office said today.

A report, released at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, cited Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany as among the EU countries where anti-Semitic incidents are the rise.

The report found that during the first three months of last year Britain saw a 75% increase in incidents over the same period in 2002. The report said there were two cases of suspected arson and several attacks on Jewish cemeteries.

The report by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia found that attacks on Jews were being mainly carried out by “young white men influenced by extreme right ideas.”

Other perpetrators were young Muslims and “people of North African origin,” the report said.

“The old cancer is back,” said Cobi Benatoff, president of the European Jewish Congress, who has been critical of the EU’s handling of anti-Semitism. “Jews in Europe cannot lead a normal life … and this is unacceptable and must change.”

Beate Winkler, director of the monitoring centre, acknowledged that the EU has a problem “to be confronted.”

Winkler said the report’s conclusions “are enough to cause fear and great distress” among Europe’s 1.2 million Jews.

She said Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany saw a “noticeable rise” in attacks on Jews over the last three years.

“Incidents range from graffiti and vandalism through incites on the street and hate speech on the Internet to serious physical assaults and arson,” Winkler said.

European Parliament President Pat Cox said the results of the report showed Europe had a lot of work to do in eliminating anti-Semitism.

“The documented rise in anti-Semitic attacks flies the face of the fundamental principles on which the EU is founded,” he said.

The report pointed to France as being the most affected by anti-Jewish attacks and hatred. It pointed to a ”significant rise in anti-Semitic violent incidents and threats in 2002 … six times more than in 2001.”

The report said that of the 313 racist or anti-foreigner incidents reported in 2002, 193 were directed at the Jewish community.

“There were many incidents of Jewish people assaulted and insulted, attacks against synagogues, cemeteries and other Jewish property, and arson against a Jewish school,” the report said.

In Germany, anti-Semitic acts increased by 69% from 1999 to 2000 but has started to decline recently and involve lesser incidents like anti-Jewish websites and mailings.

Incidents in the Netherlands and Belgium both ”significantly increased” in 2002, and involved the spread of hate literature on the Internet, arson against Jewish properties and physical assaults.

The report found that Sweden too had reported several incidents, while Ireland and Portugal had only a few.

Anti-Semitic incidents were found to be “relatively rare” in Greece, Italy, Spain and Austria, the report concluded, but added that there existed a “popular anti-Semitism” in everyday language including “conspiracy theories of Jewish world domination.”

The report recommended the EU adopt new criminal sanctions against anti-Semitism to address the problem and better education.

The EU monitoring centre refused to release a report on anti-Semitism last year, a move that led to widespread condemnation from the Jewish groups.

Jewish organisations maintained the EU was trying to cover up the rise of anti-Semitism, especially among Muslim immigrant youth. The European Jewish Congress obtained a copy of the report and published on its website.

However, the monitoring centre said it had withheld the report, compiled by Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism at Berlin’s Technical University, because it was of “poor quality and lacking in empirical evidence.”