A new report published by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has found that anti-Semitic incidents in Australia have increased 10 per cent over the past year. The incidents involve threats or acts of violence, ECAJ research officer Julie Nathan, tells SBS Hebrew Radio. "There was a marked increase in the form of assault known as 'egging,'" Nathan says. She explains this means, "targeting and assaulting Jews by throwing eggs at them." "Eggings occurred predominantly as Jews walked to and from synagogue on Friday evenings and Saturdays." Nathan authored the annual Report, that just been published, on Anti-Semitism in Australia, published by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ). Nathan told SBS radio that the ECAJ, Jewish community roof bodies in each State, and other Jewish community groups, "logged a total of 210 anti-Semitic incidents in the past 12 months, including physical assaults, abuse and harassment, vandalism, graffiti, hate and threats communicated directly by email, letters, telephone calls, and leaflets." Asked by SBS what is known about the perpetrators she said that Of the 91 incidents of assault and abuse in Sydney and Melbourne, there were 43 incidents where the ethnicity of the perpetrator/s was identified…72 perpetrators whose ethnicity was logged, these were composed of 34 Caucasian, 31 Middle Eastern, 5 Maori/Polynesian, and 2 African." She also compared Anti-Semitic incidents to the rest of the Western World, noting a huge increase in incidents in the UK.
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