Antisemitism
2021 was another record year for recorded antisemitic incidents in Austria: 965, a 65 percent increase on 2020
Servus!
2021 was another record year for recorded antisemitic incidents in Austria. The Jewish community’s Reporting Center for Antisemitism recorded 965 antisemitic incidents which met the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” This represents a 65 percent year-on-year increase in recorded antisemitic incidents.
A majority of incidents were classified as abusive behavior, which is to say, antisemitic insults, comments, and messages delivered verbally—face-to-face, on the telephone, etc.—or in written form in letters, emails, or similar and directed at a specific person or institution. Where the background of the assailant was ascertainable, the Reporting Center for Antisemitism’s data shows that the far-right in Austria was responsible for the majority of abusive antisemitic behavior, as well acts of damage and desecration.
The far-right continues to constitute the main source of antisemitism in Austria, but the Reporting Center for Antisemitism’s statistical evidence also shows that, although they constitute a small percentage of overall incidents (3.5 percent), Muslim assailants are responsible for the majority of acts of extreme violence, assaults, or threats. One such incident in December took place in a Viennese supermarket and saw a man of Arab background threaten a pair of Hebrew-speaking sisters by drawing his hand across his throat and saying in English: “We will kill all Jewish people.”
2021 witnessed two clear spikes in antisemitic incidents in Austria: one in May, the other in November. The first coincides with the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, which beget a wave of Israel-related antisemitism which, the Reporting Center for Antisemitism notes, was particularly prevalent at anti-Israeli demonstrations held in Vienna. Those who can be easily identified as Jewish because of their clothing, for example, were also at risk of physical or verbal assault. Not only in Austria but across Europe, Diaspora Jews became a symbol for Israel in the consciousness of antisemites.
The second spike in November came within the context of another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s announcement that it wished to introduce a vaccine mandate. The move proved a boon for the corona-denier movement in Austria, which found new life and gained momentum as 2021 drew to a close. It held regular protests throughout the fall and winter that attracted neo-Nazis and identitarians and at which banners and placards often relativized and minimized the Holocaust, comparing benign anti-COVID measures to the midnight of the twentieth century.
Today, the chancellery is hosting the European Conference on Antisemitism, bringing together European officials and Jewish organizations to discuss practical ways to enhance cooperation in combating antisemitism and encourage reporting of antisemitic incidents. Though “no party, no social force in this country, can claim to have always consistently fought antisemitism in all its forms after 1945,” as the journalist and Holocaust survivor Karl Pfeifer said Wednesday as he accepted the Simon Wiesenthal Prize, at present the mainstream of Austrian politics from left to right recognizes antisemitism and is committed to the struggle against it. The problem here is not the center but an ever-louder and more aggressive fringe—including the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), an unreconstructed force that has hitched its wagon to the corona-skeptic movement.
Bis bald!
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