The coronavirus crisis is stirring anti-Semitism around the world, fueled by centuries-old lies that Jews are spreading infection, researchers in Israel said on Monday.
The findings, in the annual report on Anti-Semitism Worldwide by the Kantor Center at Tel Aviv University, showed an 18% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in 2019 over the previous year.
In the first few months of 2020, far-right politicians in the United States and Europe and ultra-conservative pastors have seized upon the health crisis and its resulting economic hardship to foster hatred against Jews, the researchers said.
Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said, “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant rise in accusations that Jews, as individuals and as a collective, are behind the spread of the virus or are directly profiting from it.”
Source:
Coronavirus crisis stoking anti-Semitism worldwide: report by Reuters. April 20, 2020