Report: anti-Semitic incidents surge in 2012

Israeli researchers and Jewish leaders on Sunday reported a 30 percent jump in anti-Semitic violence and vandalism last year topped by a deadly school shooting in France, and expressed alarm about the rise of extreme right-wing parties in Hungary, Greece and other countries.

After a two-year decline in the figures, the annual report on worldwide anti-Semitic incidents recorded 686 attacks in 34 countries, ranging from physical violence to vandalism of synagogues and cemeteries, compared with 526 in 2011. The report is published at the University of Tel Aviv, in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress no umbrella group representing Jewish communities across Europe.

The report linked the March 2012 shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse, where an extremist Islamic gunman killed four, to a series of copycat attacks, especially in France, where the physical attacks on the Jews almost doubled.

Researchers who presented the report at the University on Sunday said they had also found a direct correlation between the strengthening of the extreme right-wing parties in some European countries and high levels of anti-Semitic incidents, as well as attacks on other minorities and immigrants.

They said that the economic crisis in Europe was fueling the success of parties like Jobbik in Hungary, Golden Dawn in Greece and Svoboda in Ukraine.

Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, called for strong action by the European Union, charging that the Governments-particularly Hungary — to reduce these parties did not enough activities and the protection of minorities.

"Neo-Nazis are once again legalized in Europe, they are openly in parliaments," said Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress.

Golden Dawn swept into the Greek Parliament for the first time in June on an anti-immigrant platform. The neo-Nazi party rejects the label but is fond of nazi literature and references. Jobbik In Hungary, has a legislature called for by Jews be screened as potential security risks. The leader of Ukraine's Svoboda denies his party is anti-Semitic but different policies has repeatedly used to refer to the Jews.

The report of the University Center for the study of contemporary European Jewry found little correlation between the increase in anti-Semitic attacks and Israel's military operation in Gaza in November. While there is a peak in the incidents at the time, it was much smaller in number and intensity than the one that followed the Toulouse attack, said Roni Stauber, the principal investigator on the project.

"This shows that the desire to harm Jews is deeply rooted among extremist Muslims and right-wingers, regardless of what is happening in the Middle East," he said.

The version of the report was timed to coincide with Israel the Holocaust Remembrance Day, which began Sunday at sunset.