European Jewish Association Director General, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, again urged EU leaders to strengthen Europe's fight against anti-Semitism following the findings of the US State Department annual International Religious Freedom Report which concludes that 2012 brought "a continued global increase in anti-Semitism."
The report specifically points to violence and desecration that has resulted from an increase in anti-Semitism "by government officials, religious leaders, and the media, particularly in Venezuela, Egypt and Iran."
"The findings of the report are staggering" said Rabbi Margolin.
He added: "Western leaders should take notice and address the surge of anti-Semitism throughout Europe and in countries like Iran and Venezuela and focus efforts not only on specific anti – Semitic incidents as horrific as they are, but rather, on the increasing legitimacy hate groups are receiving from the European public and the rise of extreme right wing parties throughout the continent."
"The world is in turmoil. Let us all not forget that the financial crisis has always has been a comfortable ground for fascist and anti-Semitic ideas to bloom. It is important that the EU leadership takes action and serves as a beacon to the world in order to prevent history from repeating itself."
According to the State Department report, anti-Semitism was subject to “a continued global rise” which was frequently conflated with “Holocaust denial and glorification” as well as opposition to Israeli policy”.
A great cause of concern was the condoning of anti-Semitic rhetoric by political leaders which “set the tone for its persistence and growth in countries around the world”, with the far-right Jobbik party in Hungary held up as an example of this worrying trend.
The threat of such marginal extremist groups achieving mainstream political representation was realised across the EU, notably in Greece, with the report invoking “a member of the Golden Dawn party in Greece (who) read from the notorious Tsarist forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, during a parliamentary session”, as well as the widely-reported shooting of three Jewish children and an adult outside a Jewish school in Toulouse last March by Islamist radical gunman Mohammed Merah.