According to a study of the anti-Semitism, Research and Information Center RIAS e.V. in a study commissioned by the American Jewish Committee Berlin Ramer Institute, which has been cited this weekend by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, anti-Semitic conspiracy myths have been increasing since the beginning of the Corona pandemic. Increasingly, Jews are being held responsible for the spread of the virus and for government measures to contain it.
A total of 561 anti-Semitic incidents related to the pandemic were reported between March 17, 2020, and March 17, 2021. Almost 60% of these took place at gatherings and demonstrations.
According to the study, Jews also reported incidents in everyday life in which, for example, they were insulted by strangers in the supermarket and accused of having brought the virus into the world.
“The protests on the first weekend in August show that there is continuity in terms of anti-Semitic statements at gatherings against the measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic,” Daniel Poensgen of RIAS told Welt am Sonntag. You are dealing with an ideology of conspiracies and a spectrum of right-wing extremism that will not simply disappear even with the end of the pandemic.”