September Sees Increase in Physical Attacks Targeting Jews, CAM Monthly Antisemitism Report Finds

The Combat Antisemitism Movement Information Hub tracked a total of 163 media reports of antisemitic incidents worldwide in September 2021, a 4.1% decrease from August.

CAM’s Monthly Antisemitism Report classifies incidents of Jew-hatred (including physical assault, verbal harassment, vandalism, and hate speech) by the ideologies of the perpetrators.

Of September’s incidents, 45.4% had far-right motives, while 19.6% had far-left motives, and 16.6% had radical Islamist motives. The remainder — 18.4% — had unidentifiable motives.

During September, CAM monitored an increasing frequency of physical attacks against Jewish individuals. In total, 15 acts of violence were recorded across the world, in cities including Los Angeles, Hamburg, Hagen, Toronto, Pisa, Lyon, and London, among others.

September also saw a disturbing spate of antisemitic vandalism incidents, including many in which synagogues and other Jewish institutions were targeted during the High Holiday season. CAM tracked a total of 55 incidents of antisemitic vandalism globally in September — in Minnesota, Illinois, New Mexico, Massachusetts, New York, Argentina, Greece, Australia, Ukraine, Germany, and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, 38 nations did not participate in the UN’s Durban IV meeting in New York on September 22nd, more than double the number of countries that opted out of the Durban III gathering in 2011. Most withdrawing countries cited concerns about the poisonous legacy of the original Durban “World Conference Against Racism,” held 20 years ago in South Africa, which infamously turned into an antisemitic hatefest that marked a disturbing turning point in the mainstreaming of the delegitimization of Israel under the guise of human rights advocacy.

In September, there were four adoptions of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism — most notably by the Spanish capital of Madrid.

The full monthly report can be viewed here.

For more information on CAM’s antisemitism incidents data, which is collected on a weekly basis, visit: combatantisemitism.org/newsletters