Anti-Jewish attacks soaring

2004-04-01 11:54

Strasbourg - The number of anti-Semitic attacks in Europe has soared in recent years, according to a report by the EU's racism watchdog on Wednesday which singled out five countries for particular concern.

Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Britain have seen a notable rise in anti-Jewish attacks over the last two or three years, said the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) report.

Most countries also saw worrying trends, it said, although few problems were recorded in four countries: Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Finland.

"Europe has a problem with anti-Semitism, manifestations of which have been getting more frequent in some parts of the EU over the last two or three years," said the EUMC in a report presented to the European Parliament.

The report comes after the EU held a high-level conference in February to clamp down on anti-Semitism --a "monster" that Jewish leaders warned had returned with a vengeance to the continent six decades after the Holocaust.

That conference was hastily organised after a shock opinion poll in November which found that Europeans believe Israel is the biggest threat to world peace.

The 344-page report by the Vienna-based EUMC was the first time that data have been collected systematically across the European Union, which expands from 15 to 25 members on May 1.

Areas of concern highlighted by the study, focussed on 2002 and 2003, include:

in Belgium "a catalogue of incidents of varying extremity ... including the firebombing of Jewish property and some serious physical assaults."

in Germany most acts were verbal rather than physical. Jewish groups reported increasing numbers of letters, emails and phone calls from 2002.

in the Netherlands anti-Semitic acts increased "significantly" in particular in Amsterdam which has a relative large Jewish community.

in Britain there were violent attacks on two synagogues, two cases of suspected arson and several attacks on Jewish cemeteries.

in France there was a six-fold increase in anti-Semitic incidents in 2002. "There were many incidents of Jewish people assaulted and insulted, attacks against synagogues, cemeteries and other Jewish property," it said.

- AFP