Anti-Semitic attacks in Russia have remained rare in 2011 and 2012, even as anti-Muslim vitriol spread, according to a new report by a Russian-Jewish group.
“During the reviewed period, the number of attacks of anti-Semitic character in Russia has remained relatively low,” according to the report published last week by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.
The report lists five physical assaults and 38 instances of anti-Semitic vandalism. The report’s authors wrote that the low level of anti-Semitic attacks correlates with an increase in anti-Muslim vitriol, connected to religious tensions in the country’s south.
RIA Novosti, the Russian news service, quotes the report’s authors as saying that “anti-Muslim sentiments have fuelled a renewed interest in Israel as a country combating aggressive Islam.”