Anti-Semitic incidents rise by 4 percent in Canada

Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose last year by nearly four percent, an annual review shows.

  

B'nai Brith Canada's yearly audit, released this week, shows anti-Semitic acts in the country increased from 1,297 incidents in 2011, to 1,345 cases in 2012 -- a 3.7 percent jump.

Regional differences in Canada highlight some "anomalies," the organization pointed out. The average increase for the three most western provinces combined was 25 percent, while in regional Quebec, located outside of Montreal, there was close to a four-fold increase.

   

Just over half the incidents, or 730, took place in the province of Ontario, with the next largest number in Quebec, at 337 incidents.

Overall, Canada has seen a steady increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the past decade, the report found. In 2003, there were just 584 cases. Since 2008, incidents have increased by 19 percent.

"We are particularly concerned," said Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, "about this year's findings of increased participation in these incidents by perpetrators self-identifying as Muslims who are apparently supportive of Islamist ideologies of hate and violence. But we are encouraged by the many Muslims with whom we work closely, who are prepared to expose anti-Semitism in their community."

He noted that the audit shows an overall decrease in vandalism and violence, but an increase of 10.6 percent in incidents of harassment. "Jews were targeted in their homes and at their workplaces, on their way to synagogue or returning from school," according to the report.

The study found Holocaust denial "soaring" by 77 percent, and threats "becoming more ugly, explicit and open."

JTA