Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein at the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday 16 Shevat 5773, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, review the findings of the 2012 report on trends in anti-Semitism.

The report indicates an increase in the number of terrorist attacks and attempted terrorist attacks against Jewish targets, mainly by elements identified with extremist Islamic movements or the radical right, and a sharp increase in the harassment of Jews, including verbal and physical violence, mainly in Western Europe, in proximity to Jewish community centers. The most severe incident was the deadly 19 March 2012 shooting attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse, in which a teacher and three children were murdered.

Regarding online media, the report notes the continuing trend of expressions of hatred and anti-Semitism on various Internet sites, social media and smartphone applications. In this regard, the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs announces that following its appeal to Google, the company has removed an anti-Semitic application in Arabic from its online applications store. This was the so-called ‘Hitler application’ that, inter alia, offered quotes by the Nazi dictator.

Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Edelstein said, “The report clearly shows that the oft-used premise that this or that policy of the State of Israel leads to an increase or decrease in anti-Semitic incidents is absolutely without foundation. As evidence, one may note that during and after Operation Pillar of Defense, there was no sharp increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents. There is no doubt that against the background of anti-Semitic phenomena, there are also anti-Zionist approaches and the delegitimization of the State of Israel. However, to our regret, no policy by the State of Israel affects or reduces these manifestations of racist hatred towards Jews.”

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(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)