The recent terror attacks in Paris and Copenhagen have brought the need to understand the phenomenon of rising anti-Semitism in Europe just seventy years after the Holocaust into sharper focus.
Two reports published this month covering anti-Semitism in Britain during the past year note the contribution of media coverage of events in the Middle East to encouraging anti-Semitic activity.
The Report of the All-Party Parliamentary inquiry into Antisemitism (.pdf) in Britain during July and August 2014 notes that:
“…there was an overwhelming consensus amongst those that submitted evidence or gave personal testimony at the regional meetings we held, that the media, and in particular the BBC, had a role to play in whipping up anger through emotive content in the news and analysis that was broadcast.”
The Community Security Trust (CST) reveals a direct link between media reporting and antisemitic incidents in its annual report for 2014 (.pdf):
“For example, CST recorded 16 antisemitic incidents on 21 July, the day after intense fighting in the Gaza district of Shuja’iyya and also a day when media reported that a hospital in Gaza had been shelled. On 28 July, a day when media reported an explosion at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, CST recorded 22 antisemitic incidents in the UK. The following day, when a power station in Gaza was reported to have been hit, CST recorded 18 antisemitic incidents.”
Read the rest of the op-ed here.
Related articles
- Letter from London: In the UK, anti-Semitism is just hiding in plain sight (blogs.timesofisrael.com)
