Economy spurring European anti-Semitism

Jewish leaders say the global economic downtown is fostering anti-Semitic behavior in Germany and elsewhere in Central Europe.

A double-digit percentage increase in anti-Semitic incidents has been recorded in Germany, up to 800 since the beginning of the year, and Israel's ambassador to Hungary says there has been a similar rise in that country, which has been particularly hard-hit by the financial crisis, the Israeli Web site Ynetnews.com reported Wednesday.

In the East German city of Goethe this week, a pig's head was hung at the entrance to a Jewish cemetery, while in Budapest, uniformed members of country's extreme right gathered around synagogues and intimidated Jews by their presence, Ynetnews.com reported.

"Such violent incidents are becoming a routine thing," Ambassador Aliza Ben-Nun said. "The members of the far right are becoming more and more confident."

It's too soon to scientifically determine if the anti-Semitism upsurge is entirely due to economic conditions, Yehuda Bauer, scientific adviser to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, told Ynetnews. "But," he said, "I can say that once there is an economic crisis, the anti-Semitic images of the greedy, exploiting Jew surface. This is a regular pattern."