Report: "Passion" to blame for rise of anti-Semitic attacks in Canada

A report by the Jewish advocacy group B'nai B'rith has cited Mel Gibson's controversial movie "The Passion of the Christ" as the cause of a sharp rise in the number of anti-Semitic attacks in Canada last year. According to B'nai Brith's 2004 audit of anti-Semitic attacks in Canada, media coverage of Gibson's film, and its apparent suggestion that the role of Jews in the crucifixion should be emphasized over that of the Romans, led to an upsurge in attacks against the Canadian Jewish community. The audit records 32 "incidents which had religious connotations to the story of Jesus' death" in 2004, up dramatically from the nine recorded in 2003. Of the 2004 incidents, nine were recorded during the time of the film's opening in February, and a further 15 in the three months following its release. The incidents cited by the audit ranged from a phone call to a Jewish organization in which the caller said, "We don't need Mel Gibson's film to hate you!" to a minister alleging that there was a "Jewish plot for world control" on TV.