European antisemitism

In response to an email exchange with Sydney and Pauline, here's some background on antisemitic incidents in Europe. Earlier this month, the Stephen Roth Institute at the University of Tel Aviv stated that such incidents are definitely on the rise. According to its report for 2009:

"Anti-Semitism has peaks, mostly following Israel's actions. The number of attacks usually drops after the peak, but we have seen a steady increase because the level of anti-Semitism rarely drops back to what it had been prior to the peak."

How can this happen? "The intensity and the 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 well-coordinated onslaught which employed clear antisemitic motifs in order to de-legitimize the State of Israel and the Jewish people as a single entity."

Well you may ask why I'm quoting an Israeli report and not a European one. The EU has been putting out reports on antisemitism since 2004 but is plagued by the paucity of solid, comparable data. (Remember, this is the organization which can regulate the curve of a banana.)