The EU’s new coordinator on the combat of anti-Semitism has a formidable challenge to face in curbing the mounting wave of vicious Jew hatred in Europe.
The new European Union (EU) coordinator to combat anti-Semitism says among her top priorities will be to tackle the spike of hate speech on the Internet and to make sure European states properly enforce legislation on hate crime.
Katharina von Schnurbein presented her goals in Prague on Tuesday to her counterparts from member states, the US and Israel.
Von Schnurbein was appointed recently after Jewish groups and some others were urging the EU to create such a position to help stop the rising hatred of Jews on the continent. She says she will also hold consultations with Jewish communities across Europe on the current situation.
US envoy Ira Forman called Von Schnurbein’s appointment and the Prague meeting “an extremely good sign.”
They last annual report by the Kantor Center at Tel Aviv University for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the European Jewish Congress (EJC) on anti-Semitism found that 2014 was one of the worst years in the past decade for anti-Semitic incidents.
The report recorded 766 anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated with or without weapons, including arson, vandalism and direct threats against Jewish persons or institutions, mostly in Western Europe. Compared with the 554 recorded anti-Semitic incidents in 2013, this consists of a sharp 38-percent increase.
By: AP and United with Israel Staff