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A street corner in Vienna, Austria. Photo: Reuters / Leonhard Foeger.
Antisemitic incidents in Austria rose by nearly ten percent in 2019, a new report issued on Thursday by the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG) disclosed.
A total of 550 outrages targeting Jews were reported. Six of these involved physical assaults, with 239 instances of abusive behavior, 18 instances of threats, 78 instances of damage and desecration of Jewish property and 209 instances of mass-produced antisemitic literature.
While there was a slight decrease in the number of physical assaults and threats, attacks on property increased by over 50 percent.
In a statement accompanying the report, IKG President Oskar Deutsch said, “Jewish life is an integral part of Austria and most of our fellow citizens know this.”
Continued Deutsch: “Unfortunately, there are an increasing number of people in Austria who stir up antisemitism and who engage in antisemitic acts.”
Describing the capital of Vienna as “a thriving city for Jews,” Deutsch praised the close cooperation between the community and law enforcement agencies in providing “a high level of security, together with the security measures put in place by the community.”
However, he added, “law enforcement cannot be everywhere at all times. Our society should strive to ensure that one day these security measures are not necessary. Unfortunately, we are very far away from this objective today.”
In terms of the ideological motivation behind 2019’s attacks, the report noted that “268 incidents were attributed to the right-wing extremists, while 31 incidents were attributed to persons affiliated with radical Islam and 25 incidents were attributed to far left extremists.”
It observed that “far-right motivated incidents featured predominantly in the categories of property damage and abusive behavior, as was the case with radical Islamist motivation regarding physical assaults and threats.”