Anti-Semitic Incidents Near Doubled in France in 2014, Watchdog Says
Image by Getty Images
A French Jewish watchdog recorded a near doubling of anti-Semitic incidents in France for the first seven months of 2014 compared to the same period last year.
From Jan. 1 to July 31, SPCJ documented 527 anti-Semitic incidents compared to 276 in the same period of 2013, the security service reported in a statement Thursday. In all of last year, SPCJ documented 423 incidents.
The bulk of the 91 percent increase this year, SPCJ wrote, “is attributable to a particularly large increase of 126 percent in the ‘violent acts’ category” and “to peaks that corresponded with the anti-Israel protests” of Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza this summer.
Another peak occurred early in 2014 when authorities banned the comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala from going on tour with a show deemed anti-Semitic. Violent incidents rose to 158 from 70 in the reported time frame. This year’s acts were targeted equally against people and property.
Across Western Europe, anti-Semitic incidents rose sharply following the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, several watchdog groups reported.
Read more: http://www.jta.org/2014/09/11/news-opinion/world/anti-semitic-incidents-nearly-double-in-france-watchdog-reports#ixzz3D2QZvSg4
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
