Through May, CAM Tracks Average of 5.8 Antisemitic Incidents Daily in 2022

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Information Hub tracked a total of 153 antisemitic incidents reported in the media worldwide in May 2022, marking a daily average of 4.9 incidents.

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.

Year-to-date, CAM has recorded a total of 876 incidents, or an average of 5.8 incidents per day.

Of May’s incidents, 45.1% (69) had far-right motives (compared to 44.2% of 2021’s total), while 20.3% (31) had Islamist motives (compared to 19.1% of 2021’s total), and 15.0% (23) had far-left motives (compared to 19.1% of 2021’s total). The remainder — 19.6% (30) — had unidentifiable motives (compared to 17.7 % of 2021’s total).

Also in May, CAM monitored 21 physical threats against Jews, as well as 63 incidents of antisemitic vandalism.

Overall, CAM has tracked 876 antisemitic incidents in the media in the first five months of 2022, marking a daily average of 5.8 antisemitic incidents, compared to 921 incidents during the same period in 2021 (an average of 6.1 per day). In all of 2021, CAM tracked an average of 6.1 antisemitic incidents reported in the media daily.

In May, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Dr. Ahmed Shaheed published a new eight-point action plan for governments and other stakeholders worldwide to combat rising antisemitism.

“Antisemitism remains a persistent and serious global problem, with a range, scale and depth that has continued to expand since 2019,” Shaheed wrote.

“While a substantial proportion of antisemitic incidents are committed by individuals who are affiliated with or influenced by extremist movements, antisemitic attitudes have also seemingly grown more prevalent among people who do not hold extremist views, and antisemitic discourse of several varieties has become increasingly normalized,” he noted.

Meanwhile, a French prosecutor said 89-year-old Jewish man René Hadjaj, who was pushed out of his 17th-story apartment window in Lyon by a neighbor on May 16th, may have been killed because he was Jewish.

The assessment is based on past antisemitic social media posts published by the suspect, 51-year-old Rachid Kheniche.

The case is disturbingly reminiscent of the murder of 65-year-old French Jewish woman Sarah Halimi at her Paris home in April 2017.

There were five adoptions of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism in May — by the state of Victoria, Australia; U.S. state of Nebraska; Bundesliga Club VfL Wolfsburg; region of Campania, Italy; and region of Tuscany, Italy.

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