26 April, 2006
The number of anti-Semitic attacks around the world in 2005 was significantly lower than in the previous year but still the second highest level on record, a report published Monday said. According to the report by Tel Aviv University's Stephen Roth Institute, 406 violent anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in 2005 across the world, compared to 501 in 2004. Anti-Semitism levels still remained at a significantly higher rate than at any other stage since the institute began compiling the figures in 1991. The report attributed the decrease in violence in 2005 to the relative calm in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, five years after the outbreak of the Intifada. At the same time, the fall was also due to the continued public and political action against anti-Semitism in many countries. "There has been a great improvement on the international level in the understanding of the Holocaust, mostly thanks to the United Nations' decision to mark an International Holocaust Remembrance Day" on January 27, the institute's head, Dinah Porat, told journalists. Displays of violence towards Jews tended not to be organized attempts but rather individual and spontaneous acts, committed either by members of extreme right-wing groups or by second and third generation Muslim immigrants to European countries, she said. According to the report, both Muslim immigrants and neo-Nazis continue to play a important role in violent anti-Semitism in Europe.
