Anti-Semitic incidents rose sharply in 2006 and were at the highest level since 2000, according to a study compiled by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism in conjunction with the World Jewish Congress. A total of 590 incidents of violence or vandalism were reported in 2006 against Jews, Jewish property and Jewish institutions. The number of physical assaults on Jews was twice as high as in 2005, the report found.
In 2006, incidents of harassment at schools and Jewish community centers doubled compared with the previous year. The number of synagogues desecrated rose by a third. The countries with the greatest rise in anti-Semitism were the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Canada. In the UK, the number of violent anti-Semitic incidents was the highest of the past 20 years, with more than 100 cases of assaults on Jews reported. The number of violent incidents in France rose by 45 per cent and in Canada by 50 per cent.
The director of the Stephen Roth Institute, Prof. Dina Porat, said that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated attempts to deny the Holocaust and Israel’s war against Hezbollah were the two main factors for the strong rise in anti-Semitic incidents. During the war, "even the world's mainstream journalism portrayed the figure of the Jew as characterized by brutality," Porat pointed out.
The Stephen Roth Institute is a resource for information, provides a forum for academic discussion, and fosters continuing research on issues relating to anti-Semitic and racist theories and manifestations. The social and political exploitation of these phenomena in the period since the end of World War II, and the influence of their historical background, are the principal focus of the institute. Together with Jewish communities, the World Jewish Congress works in partnership with the institute to monitor anti-Semitic acts and trends throughout the world.
