Switzerland Sees 73% Increase in Anti-Semitic Incidents
The number of anti-Semitic incidents documented in Swiss French-speaking cantons more than doubled in 2013, a local watchdog said.
The Inter-Communitary Coordination Against Anti-Semitism and Defamation, or CICAD, documented 151 anti-Semitic incidents in 2013 compared to 87 in 2012, an increase of 73.5 percent, the group wrote in its annual report, published Thursday.
The vast majority of incidents happened online. CICAD included anti-Semitic threats and incitement to hatred or violence only in mainstream media with wide readerships, the report said.
In one of the incidents reported, a Jewish family from Pully near Lausanne found a milk carton in front of their home on April 24, with a label that read: “Jews, get out” glued to it.
On Sept. 6, a man approached a Jewish Orthodox family in Geneva and shouted “Heil Hitler” at them before walking away.
On December 13, the user of an email account registered to “Alfred Rosenberg” sent an email to CICAD which read: “The People of thieves and murderers, soon we will fire up the ovens to save the planet from your degenerated breed. Bunch of shits.”
With 33 recorded acts, December was the month with the most anti-Semitic incidents. CICAD attributed the increase to the banning in France of shows by the anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala.
CICAD said perpetrators could be categorized into four groups: Extreme rightists; Christian religious fanatics; casual online anti-Semitism and people who are moved to anti-Semitic acts by events connected to Israel.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
