November 2013
Featured in this insight: Culture, heritage & leisure, Central government & non-department public bodies, Police, crime & community safety
European commission failing on anti-semitism: A survey of discrimination and hate crimes against Jewish people in Europe, released to mark the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, suggests that anti-semitism is on the rise, with three-quarters of those polled reporting an increase over the last five years.
Two-thirds of respondents felt that anti-semitism was a problem; three-quarters (76%) thought the situation was getting worse and that anti-semitism had increased over the last five years; and half (46%) said they worried about being verbally assaulted or harassed in public because they were Jewish.
Furthermore, a third were worried about being physically attacked, and three-fifths (57%) said they had heard or seen someone claim over the last year that the Holocaust was a myth or had been exaggerated.
John Mann, Chair Of The UK's All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism, said:
"It is extraordinary that 75 years after the terrible events of Kristallnacht, Jews are again living in fear… The inaction of the European commission in combating anti-semitism is inexcusable."
A spokesman for the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism and provides security for the UK Jewish community, said:
"In some countries, including Britain, politicians and police are trying to deal with the problem, but these efforts are sorely needed everywhere… Jews also require basic anti-racist solidarity in all of this, solidarity that has been partial, or deliberately denied, far too often since the year 2000.”
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