An Israel Radio report that three Bratslaver Hasidim were stabbed in the Ukraine over Rosh Hashanah seemed to confirm a government warning issued here Sunday that popular anti-Semitism is sweeping Eastern Europe and many other parts of the world.
Israel Radio said Sunday that the Hasidim were stabbed by local assailants in the village of Uman, where the Hasidic movement’s founder, Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav is buried.
According to the report, four people were arrested by the local authorities. There were no further details.
About 2,000 Bratslaver Hasidim from Israel and another thousand, mainly from the United States, had gone to the grave site to celebrate Rosh Hashanah.
The Israel Radio report coincided with release of the periodic survey of global anti-Semitism by an interministerial committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Elyakim Rubinstein.
It said the Arab campaign against mass immigration to Israel by Soviet Jews in many instances has triggered anti-Semitism.
Rubinstein said in an interview that glasnost and perestroika have unleashed dark forces in Soviet society. The report noted that while anti-Semitism has escalated, the Soviet authorities have failed to take appropriate measures.
President Mikhail Gorbachev himself has yet to speak out categorically on the subject.
Rubinstein said hoary myths and allegations also are being revived against Jews in Eastern European countries. According to the Cabinet report, religious and nationalistic elements in Eastern Europe are spreading anti-Semitism on a popular level.
Elsewhere in Europe, the report noted the spread of anti-Semitic literature and a rising incidence of violence against Jews and Jewish property.
Rubinstein said the widespread desecration of Jewish cemeteries has become “almost a plague,” triggered by the May 9 assault on the cemetery in Carpentras, France.
But he also sees a bright side. According to Rubinstein, there is a virtual absence of government-inspired anti-Semitism today and a willingness by many governments to discuss the question of anti-Semitism frankly and to regard Israel as a legitimate partner in this dialogue.
Rubinstein also found a greater readiness by Jewish organizations to recognize and act against the phenomenon. In the short term, every opportunity must be taken to speak out and act against anti-Semitism, he said.
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