(February 10, 2023 / JNS) Down Under, antisemitism is doubling down.
A Jan. 27 report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) found that antisemitism was up 41.9 percent in Australia from 2020 to 2022. Anti-Jewish incidents were up 35% from 2020 to 2021, and 6.9% from 2021 to 2022, per the 282-page report.
Physical assaults saw a “significant” decrease (eight to five) and verbal abuse went down from 147 to 138 incidents, but there were “substantial” increases in antisemitic posters and stickers (up 70%) and graffiti (up 18%), according to the report.
The antisemitism reported is but “the tip of the iceberg,” said Julie Nathan, ECAJ research director Jand author of the report. Most occurrences go unreported, she said.
A recent incident that was reported involved 10 tombstones stenciled with swastikas or slashes of paint, prompting Darren Bark, CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, to declare the hate crime “deeply distressing and concerning.”
“Vandalized Jewish gravestones were occurrences we witnessed in the Nazi era,” he told Australian broadcaster ABC. “There is no place in our society for this terrible symbol. It is our collective responsibility to speak up against and call out this hate, wherever it appears.”
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