Anti-Semitism is rising sharply across Europe, experts have said, as France reported a 74 per cent increase in the number of offences against Jews last year and Germany said the number of violent anti-Semitic attacks had surged by more than 60 per cent. “Decades after the Holocaust, shocking and mounting levels of anti-Semitism continue to plague the EU,” the FRA director, Michael O’Flaherty, said. In the past two decades, anti-Semitic attacks in Europe have generally peaked in line with tensions in the Middle East. “Militant rightwing extremists are now openly calling for the desecration of Jewish institutions and attacks against Jewish people,” Pau said. Some governments, particularly in eastern Europe, stand accused of at best tolerating racism and anti-Semitism, and at worst encouraging it.

Source: The Irish Times February 15, 2019 07:30 UTC