In August hundreds of protesters rallied in front of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
They carried anti-American signs and chanted, “There is no god but Allah, Zionism is the enemy of Allah and so are the Americans.”
Violent anti-Semitism is on the rise in the Middle East following the Arab Spring protests in 2011.
The Jerusalem Post reported, via Weasel Zippers:
There has been an increase in anti-Semitism in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring, according to a report set for release on Sunday.
That is the finding of the study Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein is to submit to the government.
“[While] the popular uprisings in the Arab world do not represent a general change in attitude towards Israel, Zionism and the Jews it seems the anti-Semitic discourse and incitement have become more extreme and violent,” the report, which was written by scholars at the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, says.
“Charges of an international Jewish conspiracy have been a central motif in the anti-Semitic propaganda that has accompanied the Arab Spring uprisings. This motif has been emphasized in each of the countries especially by way of pointing a blaming finger towards Israel, Zionism and Jews conspiring against Arabs and Muslims.”
The paper provides a lengthy list of anecdotal evidence. In Libya, it points at rebel claims that the mother of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was Jewish as a way of defaming the slain dictator. In Syria, it cites insults made by the embattled government of Bashar Assad calling opposition forces “an army of donkeys in the service of the Mossad.” And in Egypt it says Muslim scholars have issued edicts forbidding believers to sign agreements with “monkeys,” referring to Jews.
The study, however, does not contain numerical data. Eran Sidis, a spokesman for Edelstein, said figures supporting the thesis of the report will be released by the Kantor Center in April.
Edelstein said the report was a sad reminder that anti-Semitism is still alive and well in 2012.
