TEL AVIV (EJP)—Jews feel less welcome and more insecure in large parts of Europe, European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor said as he released the findings of a survey on anti-Semitism worldwide in 2013.
Results from the survey show that anti-Semitic attacks are growing in their intensity and cruelty. The number and type of violent attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions is worsening.
The study was conducted by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Moshe Kantor database for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University, in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress.
During 2013, there were 554 registered violent anti-Semitic acts, perpetrated with weapons or without, by arson, vandalism and direct threats, against persons, synagogues, community centers and schools, cemeteries, monuments and private property.
The highest number of recorded incidents comes from France: 116, a rise in violent cases has also been noted in the UK, with 95 cases compared to 84 in 2012, and in Canada, 83 compared to 74; in Germany: 36 compared to 23; 23 in the Ukraine, compared to 15; 15 cases in Russia (11 in 2012), and 14 in Hungary (12 in 2012).
The survey also shows that Jews remain, in parts of Europe, the most targeted minority, especially relative to its numbers. In France, for example, Jews are around 1% of the population, while 40% of the racist violent attacks in 2013 were against Jews.
“As we see in these findings in addition to results from the EU Fundamental Rights Agency survey released in November, Jews do not feel safe or secure in certain communities in Europe,” Moshe Kantor said at a press conference Sunday.
“According to that survey, almost half of the Jewish population is afraid of being verbally or physically attacked in a public place because they are Jewish and 25% of Jews will not wear anything that identifies them as Jewish or go near a Jewish institution for fear of an attack,” he said.
He added: “Normative Jewish life in Europe is unsustainable if such huge numbers of European Jews are forced to live in fear and insecurity. European governments must be pressed to address this issue with utmost urgency.”