Antisemitiska incidenter ökar med 31 %

Australien uppfattar vi kanske inte

som något centrum för judehat, men

likväl har antalet antisemitiska incidenter

där ökat med 31 % i år, rapporterar Your

Jewish News.

**

JEWS in Australia faced 517 incidents of

harassment or intimidation in the year to

September 30, a 31 per cent rise from the

year before, according to the Jewish community's

annual report on anti-Semitism.
"Put bluntly, in Australia this year, 10 times a

week, every week, Jewish Australians were

attacked or threatened," report author Jeremy

Jones said yesterday.
It is the 22nd year that Mr Jones, community

affairs director for the Australia/Israel & Jewish

Affairs Council, has produced the report, which

showed a 38 per cent increase over the average

of the previous 21 years but an 80 per cent drop

on the record tally (2009).

**

Between October 1, 2010, and September 30 this

year, there were 17 physical assaults or property

damage, 128 incidents of direct harassment and

intimidation, five threatening phone calls, 301

emails, 48 incidents of anti-Jewish graffiti, and 18

other incidents.

**
Mr Jones said the total did not include anti-Israel

incidents or those where motivation was in doubt.

While anti-Jewish violence had little public support,

anti-Semitic comments "find comfortable hosts on

the online sites of mainstream media outlets,

including government-owned", he said.

He said Australians needed to treat hate crimes

seriously. The property damage or injury might

be slight, but the impact on the victim and the

community might be significant.

**
The media should not allow comments online

that they would not print or broadcast.

"It is time mainstream media and others grew up.

The online world can no longer be regarded as

some sort of alternative reality," Mr Jones said.
"Just as most church groups have managed to

psychologically distance themselves from pseudo-

Christian racists, mainstream Muslims, leftists,

rightists and others need to identify racists as just

that — bigots undeserving of a place."