JERUSALEM (JTA) — Anti-Semitism around the world appears to be strengthening, despite fewer incidents in 2010, according to a new report.
The Annual Report of the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism released Sunday in Jerusalem showed fewer anti-Semitic incidents from a record-setting 2009. Still, the authors of the report — the Jewish Agency Task Force on Anti-Semitism and the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs — found that organized activity aimed at the delegitimization of Israel as a Jewish state increased in 2010.
The report also said that the blurring of lines between legitimate criticism of Israel and demonizing the nation has turned into the major strategic threat to the State of Israel and to Diaspora Jewish communities.
2010 saw the continued escalation of delegitimization activity led by anti-Semitic, Palestinian and extreme left organizations, according to the report.
Iran also continued to be a center for the propagation of anti-Semitism in 2010. The Islamic Republic guided various groups toward anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity, mainly in Europe and Latin America, including a marked increase in Iran’s links with organizations of the extreme right, such as neo-Nazis in Hungary, Greece, France and Chile.
2009 had set a record for anti-Semitic activity in part because of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, a monthlong war with Hamas in Gaza that began in late December 2008.
