(JNi.media) A report published Wednesday by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) in Vienna finds that anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise throughout Europe, but the virtual absence of proper data collection and “gross under-reporting” make it difficult to trace the trend accurately.
“Despite the serious negative consequences of anti-Semitism for Jewish populations in particular, as the FRA’s relevant survey showed … evidence collected by FRA consistently shows that few EU Member States operate official data collection mechanisms that record antisemitic incidents in any great detail,” the report says. It points out that “this lack of systematic data collection contributes to gross underreporting of the nature and characteristics of anti-Semitic incidents that occur in the EU. It also limits the ability of policy makers and other relevant stakeholders at national and international levels to take measures and implement courses of action to combat antisemitism effectively and decisively, and to assess the effectiveness of existing policies. Incidents that are not reported are also not investigated and prosecuted, allowing offenders to think that they can carry out such attacks with relative impunity.”
But even where data do exist, according to the report, “they are generally not comparable, not least because they are collected using different methodologies and sources across EU Member States. Furthermore, while official data collection systems are generally based on police records and/or criminal justice data, authorities do not always categorize incidents motivated by anti-Semitism under that heading.”
“The attacks we have seen this year in France, Denmark and elsewhere in the EU are part of a climate of intolerance that we must fight with all the means at our disposal,” said FRA interim Director Constantinos Manolopoulos. “There are many positive initiatives around the EU, but in the current situation this is not enough. The EU and its Member States need to take immediate and decisive action to combat extremist, xenophobic and antisemitic discourse and crimes.”
The FRA website states that “existing evidence shows that antisemitism remains an issue of serious concern in the EU, demanding decisive and targeted policy responses. The effective implementation of these responses would not only protect Jewish communities, but also give a clear signal that the fundamental rights of everyone living in the EU are taken seriously and safeguarded.”
The report offers a state by state review of the recent levels of anti-Semitism in each state.
Spanish police recorded 24 incidents in 2014, compared to only three in 2013.
The Italian NGO L’Osservatorio anti-Semitismo recorded 86 incidents in 2014, compared to 49 in 2013.
In France, the Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l’Homme (CNCDH – National Consultative Commission on Human Rights), an official watchdog, recorded 851 incidents in 2014, compared to 423 in 2013. Their report says 108 incidents involved physical violence, compared to 49 in 2013.
The UK charity Community Security Trust reported 1,168 anti-Semitic incidents in 2014, compared to 535 in 2013. These included 80 violent assaults.
German police reported 1,596 “crimes with an anti-Semitic motive” in 2014, compared to 1,275 in 2013.
The Polish interior ministry recorded 39 incidents in 2014, compared to 25 in 2013.
Hungary and Sweden actually recorded a decrease in reported anti-Semitic incidents.
On the eve of the European Commission’s first Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights, FRA also published a paper discussing the ways in which “political rhetoric at local, national and European levels is currently exacerbating an aggressive tone subsequently echoed online through the press and social media, generating a sense of insecurity and fear among members of ethnic and religious minorities in the EU.”