Violent anti-Semitism surged 40 percent in 2014, study finds

Anti-Semitic violence rose by nearly forty percent in 2014 over the previous year, according to a report released this morning by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University.

 

Overall, 766 violent incidents were recorded worldwide, a “sharp increase” over the 554 tallied in 2013, according to the European Jewish Congress, which contributed to the report.

 

“Many streets in our European cities have become hunting grounds for Jews, and some Jews are now forced to avoid community institutions and synagogues as a result,” said EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor. “Some are choosing to leave the continent, many are afraid to walk the streets and even more are retreating behind high walls and barbed wire. This has become the new reality of Jewish life in Europe.”

 

The Kantor Center characterized European Jewish sentiment as that of a people “living in an intensifying anti-Jewish environment that has become not only insulting and threatening on a daily basis, but outright dangerous” and asserted that “there are no more taboos and restrictions when it comes to anti-Semitic manifestations.”

 

The Kantor Center defined violent incidents as acts perpetrated either with or without weapons and including such crimes as arson, vandalism and threats against Jews and their institutions.

 

Read More: Violent anti-Semitism surged 40 percent in 2014, study finds – Diaspora – Jerusalem Post