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Report: Pandemic Amped up Anti-Semitism, Forced it Online
posted on April 7, 2021Laurie Kellman of the Associated Press reports, “Coronavirus lockdowns last year shifted some anti-Semitic hatred online, where conspiracy theories blaming Jews for the pandemic’s medical and economic devastation abounded, Israeli researchers reported Wednesday.” The annual report was authored by researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry; it is released every year on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. Experts warn that these incidents could become physical as lockdowns come to an end, even though rates of violence against Jews decreased in the past year due to the pandemic. Kellman writes, “The trend echoed an ancient form of anti-Semitism that blamed Jews for spreading illnesses and other tragedies.”