EURO-ASIAN JEWISH CONGRESS ANTISEMITISM IN EURASIA AND AUSTRALIA 2008/2009 Annual Report on Antisemitism by Euro-Asian Jewish CongressIssue # 7Edited by Vyacheslav LikhachevKYIV2009 CONTENTS SPECIAL REPORT: ANTI-ISRAELI ACTIONS AND STATEMENTS IN POST-SOVIET TERRITORY DURING THE CAST LEAD OPERATION by Vyacheslav Likhachev and Semen Charny 3AUSTRALIAby Jeremy Jones 13BELARUSby Yakov Basin 24MOLDOVA 26POLAND 28 ROMANIA 29RUSSIA 32by Semen CharnyTURKEY 50UKRAINE by Vyacheslav Likhachev 52APPENDIX. ANTISEMITISM: PROPOSITIONS ON BUILDING THE CONCEPT by Viktor Dashevsky, Semen Charny 58^ SPECIAL REPORT: ANTI-ISRAELI ACTIONS AND STATEMENTS IN POST-SOVIET SPACE DURING THE CAST LEAD OPERATION Vyacheslav Likhachev and Semen CharnyThe anti-terroristic operation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza Strip in December, 2008 – January, 2009, the Cast Lead, caused an outburst of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic actions in the world, including in the post-Soviet territory. In comparison with the outburst of anti-Semitic manifestations, even criminal ones, that swept through Western Europe, Latin America and some Asian counties, the situation in the post-Soviet countries was quite calm. But the outburst of anti-Israeli emotions in the post-Soviet territory was followed by anti-Semitic statements and incidents. Besides, serious attention should be drawn to anti-Israeli manifestation dynamics in CIS, which is related to the situation in the Middle East in the last ten years. The negative dynamics becomes obvious when we remember the beginning of the Second Intifada, the Protective Wall Operation or the so-called Second Lebanon War with its reaction to the Cast Lead Operation. We can say that the anti-Israeli manifestations in the context of the recent Gaza operation were as noticeable as those in the context of the Second Lebanon War. It was seen exceptionally clearly in the Muslim countries and regions, but the tendency was also noted in all the post-Soviet countries. This dynamic is quite worrying. The post-Soviet ummah (the Muslim community), including their official spiritual leaders, is becoming more and more involved with the processes in the entire Islamic world, which includes the extension of the influence of anti-Israeli discourse. This leads to a rather dangerous trend. Radical Islamic groups are most active with anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric; they use the Gaza operation as a convenient reason, easily understood by the Islamic masses, to promote their ideas and summon up supporters. Such campaigns win sympathy among the Muslim “grassroots” since their elder generation still remembers the Soviet “anti-Zionist” propaganda, which included some anti-Semitic messages, while the youth have a black-and-white vision of the world values. Official spiritual leaders have to react by embracing anti-Israeli statements simply in order not to leave the initiative in the radicals’ hands. In this way, the radicalization of the whole discourse is forming under the influence of the marginal and extremist groups, which do not have serious community support in any other sociopolitical questions. Unprecedented occurrences were the threats to the CIS Jews in the context of Israel’s actions in Gaza – such occurrences had never been documented before. In the post-Soviet territory, an anti-Israeli sociopolitical bloc is forming, though slowly and not linearly, to unite not only Muslim groups, but also the left-wring intelligentsia; and these are not only those who share the orthodox Soviet-Communist opinions (this is understandable because “anti-Zionism” was part of the ideological baggage for all the KPSU succeeding parties), but also those of the “new generation” representatives of liberal human rights organizations. It is especially clear in Ukraine. As for Russia, the situation is aggravated by the position of the government, which despite its experience in struggling against Islam terrorism, for domestic affair reasons, is not going to line up with Israel’s actions. It is interesting to note that the government’s position is particularly conditioned with pro-Israeli position of liberal-democratic human-right bloc of Russian intelligentsia, which stays in opposition to Putin and Medvedev. We did not include the reaction of the post-Soviet countries’ foreign affair ministries into this review. In spite of the fact that in our opinion, the official position of some countries was biased and inequitable to Israel (in particular, we want to point out some unbalance in the statements made by the Ukrainian and especially the Azerbaijani foreign affairs ministers), we still cannot call even the tartest ones of them “anti-Israeli”, as they were just “unbalanced.” But this review is not about the reaction (negative, but in the acceptable limits of legitimate discussion) to Operation Cast Lead and the Gaza situation in general, but about the reaction that we can describe as “anti-Israeli.” At the very beginning of the Operation, some public anti-Israeli actions took place in Russia, organized mostly by representatives of Muslim organizations, among them some belonging to the Muslim establishment. On January 1, there was an unsanctioned rally near the Israeli Embassy in the Russian Federation, attended by around 50 people. The assembly called out to the Israeli government to stop hostilities in the Gaza Strip1. On January 2, representatives of the Palestinian Association tried to hold a picket. There were 50 people in the picket, 37 of them got detained and brought to the Department of Internal Affairs in Yakimanka and Zamoskvorechie2. Among those detained was member of the Russian Federation Public Chamber, First TV Channel host, Maxim Shevchenko; State Duma deputy of the 4th convocation, head of the Russia – Islamic World Analytical Center, Shamil Sultanov; chairman of the Sobranie Association, Mukhamed Salyakhetdinov3.On January 16, a mass protest took place in the territory of the central mosque in Makhachkala, Dagestan. The participants in the protest spoke against Israel’s actions and united, according to different estimations, from 1,000 to 15,000 people. Even before the protest had started, the mosque imam and representative of the Makhachkala Imam Board, Magomed-Rasul Saaduev, said to his parishioners, “The planet has Israel as an enemy of the Lord and mankind, because only such an enemy can shoot at the unarmed and defenseless children, women and old people.” Saaduev called all the Dagestani people to gather rallies and to “support our Palestinian brothers financially.” Vice-chairman of the Dagestani Muslim Spiritual Administration, Magomedvakil Sultanmagomedov, noted that Israel's actions are unprecedented: “Thousands of civilians have been shot, even more wounded, Israel attacks civilian objects; mosques and institutions of learning get destroyed. Yesterday the TV showed unarmed frightened children being walked away by Israeli soldiers, blindfolded. The main terrorist is Israel herself. Nobody can escape her. The Palestinians are left with no help: neither the UN nor other countries [are willing to lend them a hand], but they have another patron and he will destroy the present-day Israel, because he is God”. Student of the International Department of the North-Caucasian Theology and Religious Studies Institute, Magomed Abakarov, said that the Dagestanis treat the Jews fine, while “Israeli Jews kill our brothers”. “Jews in the whole world support Israel; they are responsible for the Palestinian genocide as well. They should not try the patience of the Dagestani people or else they might get what they deserve,” he warned. Head of the Juridical Department of the Dagestani State University, Magomed Magomedov, noted, “The courageous Palestinian people are going to win.” Slogans seen during the rally included such mottos as “Israel is Evil!”, “Zionists, get out from Palestine!”, “Say 'No' to Israel, Say 'Yes' to Palestine!”4 The rally’s resolution read that the war in Gaza had been initiated by Israel, and Israel was called “the base of forceful entrenchment of earthliness, immorality and permissiveness in the Middle-Eastern countries.” The resolution consisted of a lot of clichés, such as “The Israelis kill women, children and old people,” and the obtrusive comparison with Nazism, in which the Nazis take second place to Israel. The Israeli actions were compared to the Nazi actions while Gaza was compared to Leningrad during its blockade5. The rally asked the United Nations Security Council “to apply the strictest sanctions possible against the Jewish state, and to put the matter of Israel State leaders’ aggression and crimes against the Palestinian people before the international tribunal”6. On January 17, a picket took place in St. Petersburg, uniting several hundred people (different numbers are quoted: from 250 to 1,000 people). After the picket was over, the Head of the St. Petersburg’s regional public organization Islam Culture Center, Mohamed Khenni, repeated the standard accusations against Israel, lashing against her alleged genocide of the Palestinians7 and comparing Israel’s actions to the Holocaust8. On January 18, an organized picket took place in Kazan’, uniting about 200-350 people. The assembly posted photos of the Palestinian war victims and mottos such as “Say ‘No’ to War!”; “Say 'No' to Zionism!”; “Zionism = Fascism”; “Israel repeats Hitler’s story”; “Say ‘No’ to terror in Palestine!”. Many people brought Palestinian flags with them9. On January 18, the Russian University of Friendship of Nations held an evening meeting under the slogan of “Gaza, We Stand with You!” organized by Islamic organizations. At the meeting, Maxim Shevchenko said: “Today, Israel embodies the Evil Forces. The land of Palestine is holy, and everything that happens there is the reflection of what happens on our planet. The Palestinians are the embodiment of spirituality that holds the fort against the animal scowl of materialism, which in its turn has clawed its way into the holy land.” One of the Russian Islam ideologists, Head of the Russian Islam Committee, Geidar Jemal, said, «Zionist Israel has revealed her inhuman nature and with these actions has discredited the myth of the year 1945 about being repressed and hurt by the Holocaust”10. In St. Petersburg, Kazan’ and Makhachkala, local Islam activists tried to organize a boycott of Israel-made products (though among the “Israel-made” products were listed products of some trademarks that are merely operating in Israel such as Colgate, Palmolive, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonalds, Nescafe, IBM, L’Оreal, Danone, and Nokia). A total of 15,000 flyers were distributed, in which people were encouraged to join the boycott (5,000 flyers in Kazan’ and 10,000 flyers in Makhachkala). However, such calls have a rather low effect in Russia, and there are no signs of an expectation that it might change this time11. On February 3, a photo exhibition was organized by the Islamic Cultural-Educational Center Jerusalem in the Central House of Journalists. The exhibition was called "Where the Cast Lead Goes” and the basic materials for the exhibition were photos from the Palestinian Information Center. Journalist S. Markus opened the exposition with accusations that the Israelis “delegate to themselves the Lord’s powers”. Prior to him, Jemal’ drew the attention of the assembled to the support Israel gave the Georgian Army, making it sound like an “approach of the Israeli war machine to the Russian Federation borders”. Palestinian Ambassador to Russia, Afif Safia, said, “The Gaza war became Israel’s loss and Palestine’s tragedy”12. Some Muslim leaders have made some anti-Israeli statements. On December 31, Head of the Religious Board of Muslims in the Asian Region of Russia, Co-Chairman of the Russian Mufti Board, Nafigulla Ashirov, compared Gaza events to the “genocide that the Fascist Germany exercised in the occupied territories of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War,” comparing the Gaza blockade with events in Leningrad13. On January 8, member of the Russian Mufti Board, Head of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Karelia Republic, Visam Ali Bardvil, urged President of the Russian Federation, Dmitryi Medvedev, to “do his best to ease the lot of innocent Palestinians and to stop Israel’s aggression.”14 On January 14, in an interview to the Nakanune.ru website, G. Jemal said that the Cast Lead Operation is “genocide in itself”, an attempt to “take from them [Palestinian people] the democratically elected HAMAS”. He also talked about the “ominous racist nature of the Israeli state” and gloatingly pointed, “Israel had exposed a huge number of the Jews in the world. Today, because of the Gaza events, Judophobia is on a rise in comparison to which the 30-ies of the 20th century look like a child’s play… The international public will consolidate on the basis of the Zionist reprobation and the reprobation of the politically correct myth that in memory of the Holocaust, people should support the Jews at any cost.” In order to set the interview readers against Israel in an as hostile manner as possible, G. Jemal’ underlined that Operation Cast Lead was supposedly created by General G. Girsh who had prior trained the Georgian Army. He claimed it was the General who had planned the South-Ossetia attack in the August of 2008 and who had put the foundation for the “Tbilisi-Tel-Aviv axis of evil” authorized by the USA and “given orders to take care of the dirty work.”15 On January 23, Vice-Imam of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Volga Region, Rasim Kusyakhmetov, in his letter to Vladimir Stepanov, Saratov region attorney, asked for initiation of criminal proceedings against the distributors of the article “10 Reasons Why I support Israel in the Arabic-Israeli Conflict” on the basis of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The article appeared on January 13 at the City News Agency website. Zufar Khakimov, Head of the Saratov region Tatar-Bashkir Diaspora Executive Committee, described this text as “anti-Islamic”. Rustam Mansurov, Head of the Saratov region public organization, the Sogdiana Uzbek Cultural Center, described the article “10 Reasons Why I support Israel in the Arabic-Israeli Conflict” as a “direct assault on the Muslim religion”16. In fact, it is all about an attempt “to shut their opponents’ mouths” by a pseudo human right rhetoric (the text itself is not about the Muslims, but about the HAMAS practices). On February 4, in his interview to the VIP-Version internet project, G. Jemal’ said, “Israel has ruined the once methodically created Zionistic myth about the Jewish people who had been haunted and thus should be entitled to everything. An anti-Semitic wave floods the world. The Jews have been exposed; the political situation in Israel has become worse. This means that the authorities will turn away from their Zionist partner. They will distance themselves from it and make the Jews guilty for everyone's economic crisis. Political correctness, which made us take for granted everything that Israel had been doing to the Palestinians, has finally been breached. And we can speak openly about the need for a new international trial – a new Nuremberg process – the trial against the war criminals of Israel”17. Nevertheless, it was not the entire Islamic establishment that took part in these actions. For example, the Muslim Spiritual Boards of St. Petersburg and Tatarstan decided not to take any part in the anti-Israeli rallies. Talgat Tagudin, Head of the Central Spiritual Board of the Muslims of Russia, even wrote a letter, in which he described HAMAS as “terrorists,” saying that “the State of Israel fights against terror.”18 Pickets against Israel however were set up not just by Islamists but also by representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The biggest picket was held January 15 near the Israeli Embassy in Moscow. Russian Federation. But in spite of the involvement of the Palestinian Diaspora (represented by 100 people), the communists were able to gather not more than 200 people. The assembly chanted: “Israel is terrorist!”, “Israel is fascist!”, “Fascism won’t win!”, “Death to Israel!”, “Free Palestine!”, “Gaza, stand with you!”, “People are dying, children are dying! Gaza, we’re here for you!”, “Israel is fascist and terrorist! Israel murders children!”, holding such slogans as “Say “No” to Zionists’ slaughter of Gaza!”, “Capitalism is the reason for all the wars!”, “Stop the vandals in the Holy Land!”, “Save Palestinian children!”, “Olmert, Livny, and Barak are war criminals!” In his interview to the KPRF.TV, Alexei Kornienko, member of the Communist Party fraction of State Duma, called the Gaza situation “Holocaust in Palestine.”19 When the rally was over, its initiator was summoned to the police department due to the fact that his permit was for gathering no more than 70 people, while the crowd turned out to be 2.5 times more. A protocol was signed on the infringement of the rules for mass events and the initiator was made to pay a fine20. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation held a picket downtown Murmansk on January 17. The assembly blamed Israel for genocide and demanded that the Russian Federation “intrude and influence Israel.”21 That was the last of the Communist Party actions to this effect in Russia. The minimal attendance of the events organized by the Islamists and communists can be explained by the fact that Operation Cast Lead took place during the period of long holidays starting right after the Catholic Christmas (December 25) and lasting up to the New Year celebration according to the old Russian calendar (January 13). These long celebrations and official holidays were the reason why many activists were on vacation. Mobilization of a greater number of people was complicated because the TV, being the main source of information, gave no direct push towards discussing Israel’s “fault.” Interestingly enough, most nationalist leaders preferred to keep silence about the Gaza events. K. Krylov, one of the ideologists of radical nationalism (and anti-Semitism), described their common position on December 31, putting the following an entry headlined, “Israeli Apologetics from Anti-Semitic Point of View” on his blog. In it, he states that for the nationalists, the failure of Israel (even more so – her disappearance) is very dangerous because the Jews will leave Israel and “get themselves not only the best (as it happens now) but every kind of profitable position both in the western world and in the well known parts of the eastern world,” while Russia will become a new target for the radical Islamists22. Besides, how can nationalists wish Hamas to win, when they consider them enemies along with the “Jewish Freemasons”? It is impossible for ideological reasons – their supporters would not understand this (including those who attack the mosques and kill the immigrants, who are mostly Muslims). In fact, from the Russian nationalists’ viewpoint, the current position is “both are worse.” E. Valyaev of the Russkiy Obraz (the “Russian Image”) organization was most cynical saying on January 24, “Let them kill each other, their war is convenient for us Russians. By us, I mean Russia. This war helps reduce the number of strangers and those of false faith. So, this cynicism will be forgiven of the [Russian] Orthodox… It is good for us that they have a war raging there.”23 Russkiy Obraz organized actions in support of this worldview on January 23 in front of the Embassies of Israel and of the Palestinian Autonomy in Moscow. Meanwhile, the Pskov department of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia, which used to statement its anti-Israel sentiments, held the picket entitled “Israel Has the Right to Defend Herself” on January 16. During the picket, they stated that world and the Russian mass media are too subjective in reporting all the battles between Israel and the Palestinian HAMAS movement. The assembled had posts saying, “Russia, be objective, support Israel!”, “Israel is Russia’s best friend!”, “Say “No” to terrorism!”, “IDF, set order in Gaza Strip”, “Israel has the right to defend her interests!”24. The only famous non-Islamist and non-communist figure who supported HAMAS was Maxim Shevchenko. In his speech to the Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station, he compared the development in Gaza to the blockade of Leningrad, HAMAS - to the anti-Nazi partisans, and demagogically called the Kassam-class missiles “pipe wrecks,” able to bring no damage at all, “except probably scratch the pavement.”25 Russian authorities were also reserved in their response to the conflict. The authority-oriented mass media (first of all, the federal channels), reported rather objectively on the conflict (maybe because during this time of the gas conflict, Ukraine took place of “enemy number one”). The fact that the Russian mass media was pretty objective in covering the Gaza conflict can be seen from rude words of Afif Safia, Palestinian Autonomy Ambassador to Russian Federation. He said that the “mass media are not very objective in how they cover the picture of Palestinian events,” and that the mass media took Israel's side in the conflict26. The only exception (not mentioning Islam Internet websites) was made by the pro-communist mass media and the Segodnya.ru Internet portal, which on December 30 copied HAMAS’ propaganda leaflets almost word for word, emphasizing that Gaza was attacked not by Israelis but by the “Jews”27. Some signs showed this reticence was just a mask that covered the irritation. On January 14, Vitalyi Churkin, post-chairman of the Russian Federation to the UN, accused Israel at the New-York meeting that her actions (when the UN officers were killed by accident) “are totally inadequate and infringe on international laws”28. Meanwhile, Moscow City Hall refused the representatives of Jewish organizations to hold a rally in front of the Israeli Embassy in the Russian Federation in support of IDF on the pretext that the territory of the Embassy is too small for such a rally (which did not appear to be a problem when giving a permit to the Communist Party to hold a rally in the same place). As a result, the rally was organized at a different place which had no association with the Jews or the State of Israel29. In fact, even though the Russian population is used to being shown black-and-white reality, the mass media gave no direct indication of who is “good” and who is “evil” in the Israel-HAMAS confrontation. The mess this created in the minds of the Russian population could be gleamed from the public opinion poll on Operation Cast Lead carried out by Yuryi Levada’s Analytical Centre on January 16-19. On the one hand, most of the respondents (45%) answered that the so-called “West” is mostly responsible for the war (26% blamed the USA, 12% blamed Israel, 5% blamed the UN and “the West” in general, and 2% blamed oil companies), 17% of the respondents blamed the Arabic side (10% decided that the “Islamic fundamentalists” are to blame, 5% blamed the “Palestinians”, and 1% claimed the responsibility to be that of Iran and Usama Bin Laden). 47% of the respondents didn’t approve of Israel’s Cast Lead Operation (17% of approved and 36% found it difficult to answer). On the other hand, 56% of the respondents said they shared the viewpoint that “the problem of terrorism can be solved only by killing the terrorists,” and only 24% of the respondents decided that the terrorists should be listened to and it would be better to find a way to satisfy everybody. In addition, 57% did not have sympathy for any side in the conflict (12% sympathize with the HAMAS supporters and 10% prefer Israel). However, 34% of the respondents said that Russia must stay away and not interfere with the conflict, 38% suggested that Russia should make every effort to help regulate the conflict peacefully, 4% suggested Russia should support HAMAS, and 6% said Russia should side with Israel30. It is also possible that the calm in the mass media was caused by the holidays, because no printed publications were issued before January, 11–12th. This version is supported by the fact that the Zavtra (Tomorrow) newspaper, issued right after the end of the holidays, published the article of Israel Shamir, a Jewish anti-Semite, who said in the very first lines of his article that “the Gaza attack ended up with the same failure for the Jews as their Lebanon campaign before.” Then the same “Jews” were accused of a standard set of war crimes, such as bombing of civil objects, including mosques, war crimes, civilian killings, etc. Several hundreds of HAMAS militants were killed during the first bombing and this bombing was described “as sneaky as the Beslan strike” (I. Shamil seems to have failed to catch the parody of this analogy – radical Islam supporters, similar to HAMAS supporters, were the ones who inflicted the Beslan strike). Again, there was a comparison of Gaza with the blockade of Leningrad, while the HAMAS regime was called “the only democratically elected government in the Arabic world.” Kassam-class missiles were called “self-made firecrackers” in order to emphasize their supposed harmlessness. Shamil claimed that the purpose of their firing was the removal of the Gaza blockade, but conveniently “forgot” to mention that this fire started before any blockade was put into place. What Shamil did not forget is to urge the Russian authorities to “pay attention and isolate all the potential collaborators who are ready to support the American-Israeli occupation of Russia.” He also added some slanderous accusations that the “Jews love themselves so much that are not able to see other people as equals.”31 The same issue contained a statement by a “Coordination Council in Support of the Fight of Palestinian People”. This document stated that the Palestinians “have been struggling with the Zionist occupation for more than 60 years,” the Gaza Strip was called “the greatest concentration camp in human history,” and the myth of thousands of Palestinian children, women and old people was repeated once again. Israel’s actions were compared to those of fascism, while Gaza was presented as a “heroic land of struggle against fascism in the 21st century.” The statement was signed by L. Ivashov, ex-leader of the Union of the People of Russia, M. Shevchenko, editor-in-chief of Zavtra, A. Prokhanov, N. Ashirov, V. Munirov, vice-chairman of the Military Islamist Union, journalist V. Shurygin, Geidar Jemal and Muhammed Salahetdinov, chairmen of small Islamist organizations, as well as two representatives of the Spravedlivaya Russia (Righteous Russia) movement, S. Sultanov, who used to be member of the Rodina (Homeland) Party, and O. Denisov32. However, if Zavtra has rather special readers, who are mostly nationalists, two other cases of anti-Israeli propaganda that became widely spread belong to the “mainstream” mass media. On February 23, the popular ^ Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, published an article by famous journalist Daria Aslamova “Can holocaust Victims Initiate Genocide? (Sic! – “holocaust” was written with a small “h”). The article was full of clichés: “the three-day long slaughter of Palestine,” “Gaza is the greatest jail in the world,” “the surreal concentration camp for Palestinians was ironically created by the descendants of those Jews whose grandfathers died in concentration camps,” “a Kassam-class missile is a flying can: if it lands on your head, only then you are in trouble. And with all this self-made products Palestinians try to fight against half a million strong (!) Israeli Army, armed according to up-to-date standards,” Arabic Christians are supposedly treated as “second-class people.” The Jews (note that all the Jews, not just the State of Israeli(!)) are described in black tones only: they are “people who forget mercy, who value the spilling of only Israeli blood,” “a million-strong band of loud, boisterous and impertinent former Soviet people – a gathering of occupants,” people, who swim in basins of mineral water while “Palestinians have water once a week.” It also included the impertinent lies about the 40-year long Gaza blockade and the fact that Israel shoots people swimming in the sea. There were also traditional anti-Semitic accusations of the world plot, American policy control and the world dominance plan (the first stage of which is control of the Middle East). Meanwhile, Aslamova’s sources among the Israelis were either people of the ultra-left viewpoint, preferring to deny any guilt of HAMAS in initiating the conflict and (just like publicist Israel Shamir) suggesting to “eradicate the Jews component in themselves,” or people of the marginal type, such as “hyper-Zionist” Avrom Shmulevich. Talks with such people are needed to show the “animal scowl” of the Israel because the quotes of Shmulevich are conveniently presented as proofs of “what Jewish people are made of.”33 The article of Aslamova has drawn a wide response and was posted on many nationalist forums, websites, and blogs. The publishing of this material does not surprise us though because ^ Komsomolskaya Pravda published xenophobic materials before, but it does cause us concern. Another example of radical anti-Semitic propaganda in the “mainstream” mass media was the At Night Only talk show aired on the TVC channel. The show itself was aired on February 5 but active discussions on the subject started on the Internet after the shootings of January 27. The topic of the show was provocative: “Did Israel Have Any Right to Intrude into Gaza Strip?” The anti-Israel side was represented by Geidar Jemal and Shamil Sultanov; their opponents were Anton Nosik and Julia Latynina. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Jemal and Sultanov used their standard clichés about “Gaza as a concentration camp,” the “democratic HAMAS regime,” “harmless Kassams,” “Israeli killing children and women,” and comparisons of the HAMAS militants with partisans in the Second World War, neither Nosik, nor Latynina were able to withstand such rhetoric. As a result, most of the audience expressed support to Jemal and Sultanov. Second place in anti-Israel statements belongs to Azerbaijan. The initiators of rallies and public speeches were Islamists, cooperating with the Embassy of Iran. On December 29, Iranian diplomats held a ceremony of solidarity with Palestinians in one of the Baku mosques. Representatives of the Azerbaijani Islamic Party and the Persian Colony were involved as well. The Iranian Embassy sent an official statement to the Azerbaijani mass media stating that “the death of a great number of civilians as a result of the Gaza bombing became another black page the Zionist regime added to its file.” “What happened in Palestine was a crime against the humanity. Israel is eradicating an entire nation… Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey must unite their efforts and stop this fascism,” Gadji Gadjiaga Nuriev, IAP ex-chairman, said that very day, December 2934. On December 30 and 31 and then on January 1, 2 and 7, the Islamists tried to post pickets in front of the Israeli Embassy in Baku. All the pickets were disrupted by the police. About 50 people were detained for taking part in the picket. Half of them were fined and released; the other half was arrested for 10 days35. However, the most successful demonstration was held in the suburb of Baku – the town of Nardaran, which is considered to be Islamist stronghold. The first demonstration there took place on January 5. About 100 people gathered together to chant anti-Israeli and anti-American mottos “Death to USA and Israel!”, “Death to American Zionism!”. They burned American and Israeli flags and dummies of Ehud Olmert and George Bush. The assembly threatened death to S. Rustamhanly, deputy of Milli Mejlis. Another demonstration, on January 17, followed a similar scenario36. The newly founded Peoples’ Socialist Party of Azerbaijan used this war to remind the population of itself. Their statement claimed that the Israeli authorities bear all the responsibility for the mass murders and civilian deaths in Palestine and that the “war operation, initiated by Israel, hides imperialistic forces.”37 Azerbaijan was also noted for the roughest anti-Israeli statements from representatives of the elite of the post-Soviet republics. On December 29, 2008, Ali Gasanov, Chief of the Sociopolitical Department of the Presidential Administration said, "Azerbaijan condemns the war actions in the Gaza Strip."38 On January 5, the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan manifested its support of “Palestinian efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region. Azerbaijan will support the formation of a Palestinian State”39. On January 7,a statement appeared by the Communist Party of Azerbaijan accusing Israel of terrorism40. On January 8, the pseudo-oppositional Greens Party of Azerbaijan called Israeli actions “Palestinian genocide”41. On January 12, Elmira Suleimanova, Human Rights Commissioner and Ombudswoman of Azerbaijan, talked about a mass breach of human rights by Israel in Gaza42. On February 4, Lala Abbasova, Mejlis deputy, claimed that she had left the Azerbaijan-Israel friendship group because she believed “the innocent children, women and old people died in Palestine because of the war policy of Israel”43. Such clams were made not exactly because of the “Muslim solidarity” but (judging from some interviews) because of the dissatisfaction of the Azerbaijani authorities with “not quite active” Israeli and Jewish Diaspora support of the Azerbaijani claims on the “Karabach” issue44. Several public anti-Israeli actions took place in Central Asia. In Tajikistan, the main anti-Israeli generator was the opposing Party of Islamic Revival. On January 5, they published a statement, in which they called the military operation of Israel “an animal crime and an inhumane act”. The party demanded that Israel should hold fire and invite the UN together with other international and regional organizations "to look into the crimes of the Israeli regime and take those responsible for this attack to court," so that they could control the situation. The party supporters also urged the Tajik authorities to "judge" Israel’s actions and pay respect to the Palestinians45. This very day the party leaders started fundraising in "support of the Palestinians." On January 6, the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Gaza population was in danger of а humanitarian catastrophe46. But the State Committee for National Security prohibited the demonstration they planned for January 23. Rumors were circulating that a highly ranked SCNS official said this about the prohibition, "Let them go to Gaza and to Israel, and hold their demonstrations there, but not here around us!"47. On January 5, the unregistered Muslim Union of Kyrgyzstan, founded on November 2008, distributed a statement calling the “international community to intrude into the conflict over the Gaza Strip and hold up Israel’s aggression against the Palestinians”. The Union demanded “the withdrawal of the Israeli military and cessation of hostilities to the civilians”; otherwise the Union threatened to hold mass protest actions in support of the Palestinians”48. These demands of the Union were not satisfied and the leaders had to start their large-scale action. On January 14, Nurlan Motuev (who spent 2006-2008 in jail on charges of criminal offences) and Tursunbai Bakir uulu (former human rights commissioner), both co-chairmen of the Union, were detained in downtown Bishkek where they tried to set Israeli and American flags on fire 49. However, on January 15, Almazbek Moldobaev, judge of the Bishkek Pervomaisk district, did not find their actions of criminal nature and cleared them of the charge of holding an unsanctioned meeting. They both were only fined for disobedience to the police50. On January14, Bakir uluu organized a photo exhibition in the State History Museum headlined “Victims of Israel in Gaza,” which supposedly showed "the Zionist atrocities against civilians in the Gaza Strip" and included many different anti-Israeli caricatures, reprinted from Islamic websites. This exhibition also functioned in Bishkek mosques for a few days. Official Muslim spiritual leaders of Kyrgyzstan hurried to agree with the radicals and show their indignation with Israel’s actions. On January 9, azhi Zhumanov, 35-year-old main mufti of Kyrgyzstan, who took this office in 2002, held a press conference, where on behalf of the Muslim Spiritual Board of Kyrgyzstan he demanded that Israel “should stop the killings of civilians”51. On January 16, an anti-Israeli rally took place near the Sochnut Agency office in the former capital of Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata. Several dozens of people came to hold slogans with mottos about "Israel’ aggression against civil Palestinians."52 On December 27, several Muslim organizations of Ukraine, members of the ar-Raid inter-regional association (or al’-Raid after its re-registration in 2007; the association was founded in 1997 by students of Arab countries in an attempt to meet their religious needs; today, it became one of the notorious “centers of attraction” including some communities of “native” Ukrainian Muslims, mostly of the salafit type, and those ethnic Slavs who accepted Islam), made an appeal calling Israel actions “Barbarian bombing”. They also mentioned hundreds of killed children, women and old people, the alleged genocide of the Palestinians and called for “moral and material support for half and a million population of the Gaza Strip”53. On January 2, during his Friday sermon, Imad Abu Ar-rub, imam of the Kiev Islamic Cultural Center mosque of an-Nur, which also belongs to the ar-Raid association, talked of the Gaza events and blamed Israel and the “Zionists” for the “everyday killing of dozens of innocent children, women and old people”, claiming they had picked civil objects as targets on purpose54. The Ukrainian Ministry of the Foreign Affairs stated at the beginning of the conflict that they doubted “the rightness of the proportion of the military forces in Israel”55, which invoked a protest from the local Jewish organizations56. On January 8, the Mejlis of the biggest Muslim community of Ukraine – the community of the Crimea-Tatars – issued a statement, claiming, “This cruel bloodshed, leading Palestinians to a humanitarian catastrophe, must be stopped. The death of hundreds of innocents, the sufferings and torture of civilians in one of the most heavily populated territories in the Middle East should draw the attention of the whole international community. Different people of different nationalities and different believes have united to defend peace, standing together against violence. […] The presidium of the Mejlis of the Crimea-Tatars stands in support of the efforts of the international community and the UN in their attempt to stop the violence and killings in the Middle East, urging their opponents to stop this warfare and initiate negotiations”57. On January 10, Arab communities and Ar-Raid, with the support of a few left-wing activists in Kiev and radically-oriented Tatar Muslim groups in Simferopol held anti-Israeli demonstrations. The Kiev demonstration was held in front of the UN Mission building and united several hundred people58. Two approaches could be seen in the reaction of the Ukrainian Muslims: for the Mejlis, it was important to emphasize the existence of a legitimate Palestinian Autonomy and of HAMAS radicals and to show that their “opposition to Israel” caused death to people. However, Ar-Raid showed open solidarity with HAMAS and even considered them the legitimate authority not only in Gaza but in the whole Palestine. The anti-Israeli rhetoric becomes an important part of the Ar-Raid activities. On January 15, Ar-Raid issued the following statement, “The latest events demonstrated that the authorities of Israel are planning to destroy the Palestinian people. That is why we believe we must appeal to the international community to make them stop the shedding of blood, call off the blockade of the Gaza Strip and admit that Israel’s actions constitute the genocide of Palestinians”59.However, the most serious anti-Semitic incidents in response to Operation Cast Lead were found in threats rather than in public actions. On January 24, leaflets were found near the entrance to the synagogue in Donetsk, starting with the words “You owe us! “Shalom”, our Jewish brother…” The text followed, “You are one of those who shoot, burn and kill Palestinian Muslims. […] We demand termination of the killings of civilians and punishment for those who are to blame for their death. And this is YOU. And YOU must answer, and YOUR children must answer, just as our children and old answered THERE”60.According to unofficial information, in the last decade of January, an Iranian man was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine. The man made telephone calls with threats to set fire to the Israeli Embassy. The Embassy officials confirmed the fact of the threats but they knew nothing about the person who made them. On January 5, the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Abkhazian Republic issued a statement to condemn Israel’s actions. This document demagogically stated that “the only guilt” of the Palestinians was that “they wanted to live in their own state, in their God-given land61.^ In summary: there were no organized mass anti-Israeli actions in the post-Soviet territory unlike those in Western Europe. This can be explained by the negative attitude of the authorities to any oppositional activities. It should also be noted that most of the leaders of the CIS countries did not consider the Gaza conflict a matter of concern. Russia leaders put priority on their “gas conflict” with Ukraine, which captured their whole attention. Russian nationalists found both sides “worthy of each other.” Ukrainian nationalists also looked at the conflict in the Middle East through the prism of the Ukrainian-Russian relations: if HAMAS recognizes the independence of South Ossetia and the Russian authorities show (or at least the Ukrainian nationalists believed so) sympathy to them, then Israel was right. The only exception was Oleg Tyagnybok, leader of All Ukraine Union, notorious for his anti-Semitism, who wrote an article headlined “Bloody Christmas in the Middle East”62 – and typically it provoked anger from almost every famous nationalist leader and publisher.On the other hand, the attempt of Azerbaijan should not be missed to pressurize Israel and get a chance to use Israeli lobbyist resources in their interests. In their anti-Israeli statements, participants in the protests and rallies appealed to the same propaganda clichés about Israel’s actions: mass murder of children, women and old people by the Israeli military, adjusted firing at mosques, schools and hospitals, and the accusation of Israel of her special genocide of the Palestinian people.The only exception was Russia, where activists of anti-Israeli actions used images that are more familiar to the Russian people: the blockade of Leningrad and the Holocaust, projecting them into reality of the Gaza Strip and the war of Israel. ^ AUSTRALIA (2008) Jeremy JonesOverviewIn Australia in 2008, to accuse any person or organisation of antisemitism is to allege that their behaviour is antisocial and unacceptable. No one with aspirations to public credibility admits to holding antisemitic views or to associating with openly antisemitic organisations. While individuals and organisations associated with the political left who promote extreme anti-Israeli racism, which sometimes included offensive and gratuitous anti-Jewish imagery, are keen to assert that they are not antisemitic, even some far-right and neo-Nazi groups publicly profess to be “anti-Zionist” rather than anti-Jewish, although the material they distribute can give the lie to any such distinction. In the Australian media, during the year in review, commentators and contributors of letters (and in other forms of public commentary) occasionally, but rarely, crossed the line between political commentary and anti-Jewish slander in discussions of the alleged strength of “Jewish lobbies” in both the USA and Australia, as well as in some discussions of Israel. Notably, this took place less often in the period in review than in any of the previous eight reporting periods. Anti-Jewish rhetoric was also invoked in other discussions such as Australia’s anti-terrorism laws and on Australian Jewish support for victims of racism. Particular concern, in the period in review, has been expressed at the negative impact of material from a variety of overseas sources which has as its thesis an eternal enmity of Muslims towards Jews. The period in review included the 2007 Federal Election, which passed without any notable change in the prevalence of antisemitic acts. Despite efforts by anti-Jewish groups and individuals, matters of specific concern to Australian Jewry, such as community security and funding support for Jewish education, were discussed publicly in a manner which was generally free of prejudice. Similarly, public discussion on the extradition request by Hungary to Australia for alleged Nazi War Criminal Charles Zentai, the Federal Court contempt hearing process under the Racial Hatred Act concerning Fredrick Toben and the Australian Parliament’s motion congratulating Israel on its 60th anniversary, was essentially reasoned and reasonable, despite efforts by some organised political and other anti-Israel groups, as well as a small number of media commentators. There was a concern that the staging of a re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross, during the 2008 Papal visit to Sydney, would reinforce or encourage anti-Jewish stereotypes and prejudice, but there were efforts made by the Catholic Church and the Jewish community to minimise this potential harm, apparently successfully. Between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008, the database assembled and maintained by the author of this report since 1989 included 652 reports of anti-Jewish violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation, the highest tally ever recorded and close to twice the average of the previous 18 years. Anti-Jewish propaganda in fringe publications and from extremist organisations remained an ongoing concern. Conspiracy theories abounded on the internet and these included a disturbing proportion which were overtly or implicitly antisemitic.^ Racism in Australia and Antisemitism The Australian Jewish community has been an integral part of Australia's population since the first days of European settlement. While there have been incidents of anti-Jewish activity occurring throughout the different periods of the development of modern Australia, opposition to antisemitism has also been present and, perhaps more importantly, the question of the place of Jews within Australian society has generally not been an issue which has excited the Australian population. However, an unacceptably high number of Australian Jews can provide evidence of instances of discrimination, harassment and racial defamation. Some anti-Jewish behaviour has found apologists who portray it as culturally innate, simple ignorance, a legitimate reaction to the behaviour of Jews themselves or as the poor expression of otherwise legitimate views. In recent years, with increasing antisemitism emanating from left-wing sources there has been an additional issue of figures close to the political and social mainstream rationalising or justifying antisemitism by misrepresenting it as legitimate political expression. In a recurring pattern, the false charge that all, or most, critics of any Israeli policy or action is called antisemitic, is levelled. While there is strong anecdotal evidence that there exists in Australia an under-current of racism, it is difficult to objectively assess the place of antisemitism in Australian racism. No comprehensive statistics exist on the subject of general racist violence, vilification, harassment and intimidation, which would supplement or give context to the data-collection and analysis of the Jewish community While some clues as to the level of concern at racism can be discerned from indicators such as the volume of complaints to bodies such as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the Australian Press Council, the Australian Broadcasting Authority and State-based anti-discrimination boards and the voluntary nature of the complaints system and many other factors result in the need to treat many such statistics with caution. ^ Common themes in anti-Jewish rhetoric Sources of anti-Jewish stereotyping and vilification are quite diverse and it would be misleading to portray antisemitic organisation and individuals as acting in concert. Although some of the antisemitic organisations will present a grab-bag of stereotypes to rationalise their prejudice, it is generally possible to identify a central theme in organised anti-Jewish campaigns. Some individuals and organisations disseminating antisemitic propaganda seek to attribute particular characteristics, motives or agendas to Jewish Australians, portraying them as not only different but threatening to the well-being of Australian society. They identify behaviour which the intended audience will find abhorrent and attribute it to Jews, undermining the legitimacy of participation of Jews in Australian life. Propagation of anti-Jewish stereotypes, even when meant to be humorous, can sustain the agendas of malicious antisemites. The most common theme in contemporary Australian antisemitic rhetoric is that Jews in Australia and/or internationally, individually and/or collaboratively, exercise disproportionate power and influence against the interests of non-Jews. Anti-Jewish claims in Australia traditionally draw on a number of strands of rhetoric. For example, Holocaust Denial is often framed to include charges of anti-Christian motivation, almost supernatural Jewish power and global conspiracy. It is unfortunately common for extremists and antisemites in Australia to use the experiences of Jews as victims of Genocide, murder and assault as a means to insult Jewish people and incite or justify hatred of them. The most extreme example is the historically and logically inappropriate designation of language and symbols associated with the Nazi genocide to Jewish people, such as accusing Jews of being “Nazi-like”, committing “Holocausts” and/or Genocide, or supporting “concentration camps”. A thread common to a number of types of prejudice and vilification which are specific to Jews is the depiction of Jews as representing an existential threat to non-Jews and who have enormous power and drive to achieve their aim, generally presented as “world domination”. Stereotypes of Jews, most often as stingy or ostentatiously wealthy, reinforce prejudices which facilitate more malicious vilification. A result of behaviour of this type can be the encouragement, or rationalisation of, abuse, harassment and more serious vilification. Common to many variations of antisemitism identified in Australia in the period in review is the assertion of belief in the desire and ability of Australian Jews to dictate public policy in a way which distorts the workings of society in the interests of the local Jewish community or, occasionally, international interests. Australian Jews are blamed by extremist organisations and their followers for contentious Federal and State policies on social matters, financial programs and the weakening of establishment institutions. The high profile of a number of individual Jewish Australians, particularly in the business community, is used by those who seek to further this particular anti-Jewish propaganda line as evidence of Jewish power. Government decisions which have accorded with public positions adopted by the Jewish community are also presented as evidence of Jewish control of the levers of political power. A parallel myth which appears on a semi-regular basis in the mainstream media is that the US Government is either controlled by or in thrall to the "Jewish lobby". The way in which this is expressed not only reflects anti-Jewish prejudice but implicates Jewish Australians in the control of international interests and indirectly of Australia, given the importance of the US in world affairs. The theme of an international Jewish conspiracy is central to the world view of each of the overtly antisemitic organisations. Extreme elements within some migrant communities also promote this mythology as a means of explaining circumstances in their countries of birth. One of the sources antisemitic organisations use to support this myth is The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, which incredibly is taken seriously by most extremist groups and advertised in many antisemitic, extreme right-wing and New Age publications. Alleged Jewish power is depicted as a powerful force behind globalism in some circles, with many others depicting Jews as malevolent forces controlling Western governments. A subset of the above is the promotion of the claim that there was neither a Nazi Genocide of Jews nor an attempt at one. The thesis presented, either explicitly or implicitly, is that Jews, sometimes with the help of sympathisers and sycophants, use popular belief in the Nazi Holocaust as a means of extorting sympathy, money and political gain. At present it is fair to say that Holocaust Denial is generally understood, in Australia, to be antisemitic. In the judgements in the Federal Court cases, Jones v Toben and Jones v Bible Believers it was established it can be racist as defined in Australian law. Nevertheless, Holocaust deniers have been establishing their own historiography and have shown an ability to take advantage of media opportunities and modern communication techniques to harass and intimidate Jews as well as attempting to mislead the Australian public. In 1982, Conor Cruise O'Brien, searching for a term to describe the slur that Israel, representing the heirs of the victims of Nazism, was behaving in a “Nazi” manner, coined the term “anti-Jewism”. This slur has been directed at Israel and Australian Jews with a disturbing frequency during the past four years, with a number of fringe far Left organisations promoting this analogy as policy. When Jews are called Nazis it not only renders the unique crimes of Hitler’s regime common-place, but also uses Jews' past suffering as a means of abuse. During recent periods of high tension in the Middle East, the expression of this view was increasingly tolerated, and even promoted, by sections of the mainstream media. The slur has currency particularly in far left circles, with some members of left-wing groups alleging that civilians who are the tragic victims of conflicts involving Israel are victims of a Nazi-like genocide and some right-wingers accusing Jews who support legal recourse for victims of racism with Nazis who murdered political opponents. It has also been used increasingly by Arab and Muslim critics of Israel in Australia. This slander is sometimes conscious antisemitism, sometimes thoughtless polemic and sometimes confused rhetoric, but regardless of its motivation it is generally recognised, after consideration, as antisemitism. In a community, such as that in contemporary Australia, which includes substantial numbers of Holocaust survivors and people who lost many family members in the Nazi Genocide, the legitimate concern that Nazism is understood for what it was is complemented by sensitivity to abuse of language. Sloppy, inappropriate invocation of terminology, including “Nazi” and “Holocaust”, is not necessarily the result of antisemitic intent, but does denigrate the reality of Genocide, persecution and suffering. Political analysts in Australia have observed the way in which consistent, inaccurate analogies involving Holocaust terminology reduce the true historic event in a way which can be summarised as “if everything is a Holocaust, then the Holocaust has no special significance.” This phenomenon is disturbing, and can have the result of furthering antisemitic agendas, even if Jews were not part of the thinking of those who are part of it. Another form of Holocaust denigration is the demand that Jews stop acting as if the experiences under Nazism have any contemporary relevance and the call for individuals and the community to “get over it.” This sentiment is often voiced by that section of the extreme right which accepts that there was a Holocaust, as well as by Holocaust Deniers who will argue that the suffering was not even particularly severe. In the recent period, it has been used increasingly by anti-Israel activists who believe that the fact of the Nazi Genocide and sympathy for those who were its actual and intended victims is the most important factor in support for the existence of Israel. References to Judaism as a religion which leads its adherents to behave in a manner which, by virtue of being un-Christian, is judged to be not in accord with Australian social values, has been invoked by individuals, and organisations, who have differed with Jewish community organisations on matters of public policy. The stereotyping of Judaism as being obsessed with the pursuit of vengeance (as against justice) in some public commentary on the issue of the challenge posed to Australian society by revelations that some Nazi War Criminals held Australian citizenship, for example, misrepresented Christianity and Judaism to further a political agenda. Beyond the concept of Judaism as un-Christian is the theme of Judaism as anti-Christian, which plays a part in the conspiracy theories of a number of extremist organisations which portray Jews as religious, racial or political opponents of Christianity. The Talmud is a subject for distortion and misrepresentation by these groups and others aiming to vilify Jews, and in the rhetoric of the far right symbolises a code of living implacably opposed to “Christian justice”. In publications of some extreme right-wing organisations, Jews are described as “Esau” and/or the “spawn of Satan”, in each case defining Jews as Christians’ existential enemies. While Australian Christianity is not, by and large, susceptible to the promotion or endorsement of these mythologies, it is disturbing that men and women educated in Christian traditions are addressed by vilifiers of Judaism in terms tailored to their perceived understanding of Jews and Judaism. It is also disturbing that debate still rages in a number of mainstream churches as to the legitimacy of Judaism in the Christian era. Out-dated and puerile as the stereotype of Jews as unethical and stingy may appear to be, it has had remarkable resilience in the repertoire of a number of humorists, including some within the mainstream media. Anti-Jewish humour in social contexts in contemporary Australia also often revolves around such stereotypes, occasionally even receiving broadcast on radio. The racist and antisemitic sub-culture which exists in the gutters of Australian society not only benefits from such negative portrayals of Jewish Australians but incorporates such imagery into propaganda designed to depict Jews as fundamentally undeserving of a role in Australian life. At various times over the past sixty years, when there has been anecdotal evidence that racism against any segment of Australian society is increasing there has been a concurrent increase in reports of crude and unthinking antisemitic comments made in the workplace, educational institutions and in public places towards individuals who were or were believed to be Jewish. This type of abuse is indistinguishable from that aimed at other minority groups such as Indigenous Australians, Asians and Muslims. There is nothing to suggest that this type of offensive and insulting behaviour represented any particular targeting of, or specific threat to, the Jewish community. It does support the thesis that, in the mind of the Australian bigot, being Jewish is sufficient to be thought of as “the other”.^ Incidents of violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation During the twelve months ending September 30, 2008, 652 reports were recorded of incidents defined by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission as “racist violence” against Jewish Australians. These incidents included physical assault, vandalism – including through arson attacks – threatening telephone calls, hate mail, graffiti, leaflets, posters and abusive and intimidatory electronic mail. This exceeded by 2% the previous highest total, recorded in the year ending September 30, 2007. It was more than twice the previous average annual total. The total for reports of all types was a fraction below twice the previous average. Many of the reports were of threats, rather than physical attacks on person or property, but the reports reveal that hundreds of Jewish individuals and organisations were targeted, some repeatedly, by persons seeking to intimidate or harass them. Incidents of assault, arson attacks, face-to-face harassment and vandalism which are broadly defined as “attacks” were recorded at the second highest rate on record set in the previous 12 month period. The total was more than double the previous average. Threats, conveyed through the telephone, mail, leaflets, posters or e-mail, were recorded at a rate just under twice the previous average and at the highest level in six years. The combined number of incidents involving physical assault, property damage and direct, face-to-face harassment was almost three times the previous average. Amongst the most disturbing incidents of assault and property vandalism (not including graffiti) reported were incidents of assault in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, rocks, bottles and eggs thrown at congregants leaving synagogues in Sydney and Melbourne, an Orthodox Jew was taunted and had his hat stolen while walking down main road in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, a Jewish day school student abused, assaulted by students from another school while on school excursion in Sydney, a rabbi in Queensland’s Gold Coast was verbally abused, then physically assaulted, by an unknown male assailant a shopfront of Jewish food outlet in Melbourne smashed in rock attack. The incidents of harassment which did not include assault were reported at a rate more than three times the previous average and at the second highest volume recorded. Most of these incidents were of motorists and passengers yelling abuse at people walking to or from synagogue or of students at Jewish schools who were wearing school uniform. During the period in re