Scale
According to figures released by the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism, a body affiliated with the Jewish Agency, the number of antisemitic attacks around the world during Israel's three-week military operation against Hamas in Gaza was up more than 300% compared to the same period the preceding year, reaching a two-decade high. More than 250 incidents were reported during Israel's 22-day assault, compared to 80 during the same period the previous year. The bulk of the incidents were carried out in Western Europe and were led by local Muslims. The violent assaults included attacks against both synagogues and Jewish communities, as well as vandalism of privately owned Jewish property. The Community Security Trust confirmed that January 2009 was the worst month ever in Britain for antisemitic incidents, in the wake of Israel's action in Gaza.
A spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) stated that "We have always seen a link between violence in the Middle East to antisemitism but we have never seen anything like what we are seeing now.... Not on this scale, not in this intensity." "It has been the worst we’ve ever seen."
In Greece a sharp rise of reported antisemitic violent incidents was reported with 13 physical attacks on Jewish targets within a one month timeframe, while the Mass Media and political establishment maintaining a heavily pro-Palestinian orientation and ignoring antisemitic attacks with "Antisemitic references, drawing parallels with the Holocaust and the Nazis, cartoons with Nazi comparison, have been common place during this period".
Turkey's Jewish community stated that it has never seen anything like the antisemitism which emerged as a result of the public's fury over the situation in Gaza. The head of Oslo's Jewish community spoke of an "explosion of violence" in anti-Jewish protests, the likes of which had never occurred in the past. Silvyo Ovadya, head of the Jewish community of Turkey, noted that "every speech criticizing Israel has a tendency to turn into cries of 'Damn Jews.' I don't recall such an atmosphere previously." In the United Kingdom, the Jewish Chronicle called the outbreak the "worst wave of hate for quarter of a century". The BBC quoted an east London community activist who said that "the level of anger is so great over Gaza - nothing I have ever seen before, much higher than over Afghanistan."
Read more about this topic: Antisemitic Incidents During The Gaza War
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