Bnai Brith Releases Audit of Antisemitism

Frank DimantPic: B'nai Brith executive vice president Frank Dimant

B’nai Brith Canada released its 2009 “Audit of Antisemitic Incidents” this week. The survey reported over 1,200 incidents which represented an 11 per cent increase over the approximately 1,100 cases reported in 2008.

In total, there were 884 reports of harassment, 348 cases of vandalism and 32 cases of violence (twice as many as 2008).

Though total reports of Antisemitic incidents were down slightly in the GTA this year, numbers spiked in Montreal and were up overall across the country.

An attitudinal survey was also commissioned. Run by COMPASS, it showed that the Jewish community in Canada is very worried about the significant rise in influence of radical Islamism – “an ideology that points Jews as the enemy” – as well as threats to the safety and security of Jewish institutions and synagogues. Anti-Israel activity on university campuses, including “Israel Apartheid Week,” was also a big worry.

“We note that the highest number of incidents for the year (209) occurred in January 2009, coinciding with the war in Gaza,” said Frank Dimant, B’nai Brith executive vice president. “This is the pattern elsewhere in the world as well. However, while in France and the U.K., the rate of anti-Jewish activity slowed down somewhat in February and March, in Canada the number of Antisemitic incidents remained high. We feel that this was due in major par to strident anti-Israel campaigning on Canadian campuses, which artificially maintained an atmosphere of hostility and aggression that often led to Antisemitic outbursts.”

Dimant also noted an uptick in incidents during the 2009 High Holidays, with 10 synagogues being vandalized, four in Quebec in one evening just before Yom Kippur. “Such activity against the Jewish community’s religious institutions cannot simply be dismissed as an aberration.”

He added that the question has to be raised as to why numerous incidents happened without “wider condemnation”. For instance, the Al Ameen Post “blood libel” article that circulated in Canadian mosques that claimed Israel was harvesting organs from 25,000 Ukrainian children was not widely reported in Canadian media, he said.

There is also language such as “vermin” and “sewer rats” and “dogs” which often used to attack Jews verbally as well as online.

One of the most “vicious calumnies” of 2009 was “the claim that (Jews) created the swine flu as a way to control the world, disseminated via new social networking technologies.”

“We challenge anyone to minimize the societal effects of such vile slander,” Dimant said.

For the last 28 years, the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada has documented Antisemitic incidents in Canada. The 2009 audit examined Antisemitic attacks involving harassment, vandalism and violence against individual Jews or Jewish institutions. Incidents took place across a wide spectrum of settings, including synagogues, schools, summer camps, street rallies and university campuses.

The 1,264 incidents reported in 2009 was the highest number in this history of the B’nai Brith audit. A survey of the past decade revealed that there now are five times more incidents occurring per year than 10 years ago. Incidents falling into the categories of harassment, vandalism and violence all increased.

The majority of the incidents (672) occurred in Ontario, with 479 occurring in the GTA, 71 in Ottawa and 122 elsewhere in the province. Incidents in the GTA went down 11 per cent. However, incidents in Ottawa increased by 14.5 per cent and increased in the rest of Ontario surged by 48.8 per cent.

Almost 30 per cent of all Antisemitic incidents occurred in Quebec (373), a 52.5 per cent increase compared to 2008. The largest spike was in Montreal, where 319 incidents occurred, a 58.7 per cent increase over 2008.

Trends showed that by far the largest spike in incidents occurred in January of 2009 during Operation Cast Lead (206 incidents, a record high for one month).

“This can be linked to the war in Gaza since Middle East tensions often lead to an increase in Antisemitic activity where Jews reside,” concluded B’nai Brith.

A worrying increase in incidents took place on university campuses in 2009, with 137 reported cases as opposed to only 76 in 2008. Reports included “ugly graffiti”, classroom harassment and assaults during events on campus.