Reporter Miri Michaeli Schwartz has spoken out against anti-Semitism in France after she was harassed by a group of men while filming in a Paris street.
The reporter for Channel 10 Israel had travelled to the French capital as part of her outlet’s coverage of the Germanwings disaster and was filming when a man identified the Hebrew script on her microphone.
Schwartz said she was then surrounded by four or five men, who began swearing at her and repeating “Jew”.
In the video, voices can be heard speaking at Schwartz before she calmly tells them to leave her alone.
“My hands are shaking three weeks after, when I think of the things they said,” she said.
“I stood in the street, I did not bother anyone and I got curses and threats… The street was crowded with people who paid attention to what happened, but no one came to my aid.”
Her post has already received more than 92,000 views since being posted on Thursday.
“It happens here, every day and everywhere and it happened to me,” she said.
“It was not the first time directed at me as I stood in the street comment in one of the capitals of Europe and reported.
“… That's the reality. Now we have to fight it.”
France 'the most dangerous European country for Jewish people'
Schwartz is the human face of the anti-Semitic problem in France, recently listed as the most dangerous European country for Jewish people.
There were 164 violent anti-Semitic incidents in France throughout 2014, according to the most recent report by the Kantor Centre.
Released on April 15, the report also stated that the number of anti-Semitic attacks in France was increasing, up 16 per cent from 2013.
In total, 766 violent anti-Semitic attacks were carried out across Europe in 2014, including armed attacks, arson and direct threats against institutions such as schools.
The report was issued in the wake of a fatal attack on a Jewish supermarket, which killed four Jewish people.
The attack sparked mass rallies across France, with 700,000 people walking in solidarity with the victims, including world leaders such as British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also attended the rallies, thanking the country for its form stance against anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism in Australia
Anti-Semitic incidents in Australia have also gained widespread attention in recent months, most notably the arrests of teenagers after they allegedly screamed “kill the Jews” on a Sydney school bus.
Five teenagers were arrested after the alleged attack on a group of Jewish schoolchildren in August, when they allegedly told students they were “going to cut your throats”.
Later that month, flyers calling for action from “white Australia” were distributed to residents of a predominantly Jewish street in Bondi.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane told SBS the flyers were a worrying sign that extremists were being “emboldened” to spread their messages.
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