Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry
General Analysis 2009
The year in the wake of Operation Cast Lead was the worst since monitoring of antisemitic
manifestations began two decades ago, in terms of both major antisemitic violence and the hostile
atmosphere generated worldwide by the mass demonstrations and verbal and visual expressions
against Israel and the Jews. The flow of materials to the Institute was so great and so continuous
that the decrease in antisemitic activities in 2008 from 2007 became a thing of the past. The
intensity and nature of the wave that began in January 2009 testified to pre-planned mobilization
among radicals from the left and among Muslim immigrant communities, resulting in a wellcoordinated
onslaught which employed clear antisemitic motifs in order to de-legitimize the State
of Israel and the Jewish people as a single entity.