AGAIN - a Jewish cemetery

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The latest: Lille, northern France..

PARIS: Vandals smashed dozens of gravestones in the Jewish section of a cemetery in northern France before the start of the Passover holiday this week, prompting a stern government response Sunday.

President Jacques Chirac condemned "this unacceptable damage" and expressed condolences and support for France's Jewish population in a letter sent to the head of the Jewish community in Lille, where the vandalism occurred.

The police opened an inquiry and called on any witnesses to the incident, which occurred in the Jewish section of the Lille-South cemetery, to come forward, a spokeswoman for the local prefecture said.

"Fifty-one tombstones were damaged, of which two were broken," she said. "The vertical part was separated from the horizontal part or broken." She said none of the tombs had been broken into.

It is unclear whether the vandalism was linked to Passover, which starts Monday.

Do you have any idea how many times I have done this? How many times I have blogged these cemeteries, this "vandalism," the reports that "police are investigating" and officials of one sort or another are "condemning" these acts? Do you have any idea how sick of this I have become? I am ready to consider everyone in the world an antisemite unless they prove themselves otherwise. It's just easier that way.

I was going to answer my own question, and make a list of the desecrated Jewish cemeteries I've blogged, but since I'm into "easier" tonight, it's just easier to cut and paste "selected incidents" from the ADL's website. These don't even include the Arab/Muslim worlds... or the United States. And this is just since I started blogging... 4 years ago.

Argentina

September 20 - 21, 2003 - Santa Fe - Vandals desecrated 19 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery of Santa Fe. Local representatives of the Argentinean Jewish umbrella organization DAIA said the incident was clearly anti-Semitic.

November 14, 2004 –- Buenos Aires –- The walls of a Jewish cemetery outside Buenos Aires were desecrated with anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas. It is one of the oldest Jewish cemetery in Argentina.

November 15, 2004 – Buenos Aires – A school bus belonging to a Jewish school was defaced with a picture of Hitler and Nazi-related graffiti.

August 17, 2005 – Belgrano – A Jewish teenager wearing a kippah was cornered and verbally attacked with anti-Semitic slurs by three skinheads. The perpetrators, three 16- and 17-year old males, were apprehended shortly afterwards.

January 31, 2005 – Buenos Aires – The home of a local Jewish artist, Mariana Schapiro, in the primarily Jewish neighborhood Villa Crespo was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti. The artist’s front door was painted with the words “Here lives a Jewess. We don’t want her in this neighborhood".

January 29, 2005 – Ramos Mejia – Swastikas and references to the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz were painted on the Ramos Mejia Jewish Center, in the western outskirts of Buenos Aires. The vandals left pamphlets denying the Holocaust at the site of the attack. The authorities detained, but later released, two suspects in the case. Jewish community leaders called for Argentina's anti-discrimination laws to be applied against the alleged perpetrators.

September 29, 2006 – Buenos Aires –Graffiti was found in nearly all of the men’s bathrooms of the Faculty of the Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires that read, “Out of the country Zionist assassin Jews, you only encourage hate and resentment. Get out Marxists of Argentine faculties.”

September 21, 2006 – Buenos Aires – Swastikas were painted on the walls of buildings in the Belgrano district, near Jewish institutions. The vandalism, which occurred just prior to the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days, included the spray-painted slogans: “long live Hitler,” “long live the Fuhrer,” and “Jews murderers.”

August 13, 2006 – Buenos Aires – Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on the walls of buildings featuring a Star of David and a swastika separated by an equal sign and the accompanying text, “or demonstrate us the contrary.” 3 of the reported 6 people involved in the incident have been apprehended and the authorities also found the spray paint templates used in the graffiti and in 15 other similar paintings found in the area. The incidents were reported to authorities by the Argentine Jewish Associations Delegations (DAIA).

Australia

August 4, 2003 - Sydney – The walls of the Liverpool Regional Museum were sprayed with anti-Semitic and racist slogans and covered with swastikas, posters and stickers. Fliers from two extremist groups left at the scene – the White Power Coalition and the National Salvation Front of Australia – made reference to “the white resistance” and carried a skull and crossbones with the message, “Death to Israel.” The museum was hosting “Courage to Care,” an exhibition about Australian survivors of the Holocaust.

July 18, 2004 -- Perth -- The largest synagogue in the west coast city Perth was defaced with anti-Semitic signs and graffiti, including "6 million more please with fries." Police made two arrests related to this incident.

January 5, 2004 -- Hobart -- Vandals used poison to create anti-Semitic slogans on the lawns of Tasmania's Parliament House. The words "Kill the Jews" and several swastikas were burned into the lawns

April 20, 2005 -- Newcastle – A synagogue was spray-painted with swastikas and Holocaust references such as "Hitler was 'ere", "Jews must die" and "Six million more." Nine windows were smashed and eggs were thrown at the building. The attack took place in the eve of the anniversary of Hitler's birthday. Stickers advertising the extremist group White Pride Coalition Australia were found at the scene.

October 14, 2006 – Melbourne – About 20 football players attacked a Jewish man in front of his family, yelling racial epithets and punching him in the face. The players yelled “F*** off Jews” and “Go the Nazis,” motioned as if firing a machine gun at the family, and then grabbed his yarmulke before striking him in the face. The man, an Orthodox Jew, was walking with his family past the Ocean Grove Football Club’s bus when the incident occurred. Witnesses stopped the team’s bus until police arrived on the scene. The club has since issued an apology and agreed to visit Melbourne’s Holocaust Museum.

August 14, 2006 – Sydney – The Parramatta synagogue on the outskirts of Sydney was attacked for the second time in two weeks. At night vandals threw concrete blocks at the building’s door. Two weeks ago, similar blocks were used to damage the Rabbi’s car and residence next door.

August 2, 2006 – Sydney – A Jewish youth community center in the Bondi neighborhood, adjacent to the Mizrachi Synagogue, was attacked when gasoline-soaked logs were thrown at the building in an apparent arson attempt. It was the second time in a week that a Jewish building in Sydney was the target of an anti-Semitic attack.

July 30, 2006 – Sydney – Parramatta Synagogue was attacked. Objects were thrown onto the building’s roof and concrete blocks were used to break the windows of two nearby cars. Witnesses reported a group of ten men of apparent Middle Eastern origin laughing and running on a nearby street. The synagogue’s rabbi and his family were inside the building during the attack.

July 21, 2006 – Melbourne – Bentleigh Progressive Synagogue was vandalized; anti-Semitic slogans, including “F--- Jews” and “Die Jews,” and swastikas were found in the exterior walls. The Leo Baeck Centre, a Jewish community center, was also vandalized when bricks were thrown through a number of windows.

June 24, 2006 – Sydney – Coogee Synagogue was broken into by intruders who damaged the handle on a Torah scroll and stole the ark curtain. New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said, “They specifically went for the Holy Ark, which is the holiest place in the synagogue, where the Torah scrolls are held. Those were specifically smashed.”

Austria

May 10, 2003 – Vienna – A rabbi was physically assaulted by two youths as he was walking home from prayer in eastern Vienna. After shouting anti-Semitic slurs, the youths kicked the victim and struck his head with a beer bottle. According to the Austrian Anti-Terrorism Bureau for Protection of the Constitution, the suspects were in custody with charges pending.

June 1, 2004 - Villach - A memorial honoring Holocaust victims in southern Austria, consisting of 17 glass plates engraved with the names of 108 local Holocaust victims, was smashed. The memorial, which was created in 1999, was previously damaged by vandals in March 2003.

January 18, 2004 – Hinterbruehl – A Holocaust memorial was desecrated, with the word "lie" spray painted over a historical plaque. The memorial near Vienna is at the site of a former concentration camp.

November 26, 2006 – Vienna – A vandal broke into the Lauder Chabad School at night, smashing windows and breaking other objects with a metal crowbar on three floors of the building. The school was not in use at the time. After responding to a noise complaint, authorities arrested a suspect in the attack.

Belarus

October 14, 2003 – Lida – Vandals desecrated a Holocaust memorial in the town of Lida, 95 miles to the west of the capital Minsk. Cans of paint were smashed and several anti-Jewish slogans were scrawled on the monument that was built a month and half earlier in memory of several dozen Jews who were slain at the site during World War II.

August 27, 2003 – Minsk – A synagogue in the Belarusian capital was set on fire by unidentified assailants who doused the building’s main entrance with kerosene. Firefighters managed to save the edifice, but its façade was damaged, according to Yuri Dorn, President of the Jewish Religious Union of Belarus. The attack was the fifth attempt to burn the synagogue over the last two years.

May 26, 2003 – Minsk – Vandals desecrated a memorial to the thousands of Jews slain in Minsk during the Holocaust. The vandals scrawled swastikas, Nazi slogans and anti-Jewish threats on plaques at the Yama memorial, which marks the site of the ghetto where more than 100,000 Jews were exterminated by Nazi troops during World War II.

August 16, 2005 – Minsk -- Vandals attacked and defaced the Minsk memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust. This marks the third time that the memorial known as 'Yama' has been targeted.

May 3, 2005 – Mikashevich -- Vandals destroyed 20 gravestones in the Jewish cemetery of the Belarussian town of Mikashevich in the Brest region.

November 30, 2006 – Brest – An apparently homemade explosive device damaged a Holocaust memorial, covering it with black soot. The local Jewish community says it was the sixth time the Brest memorial has been vandalized since its dedication 14 years ago.

November 12, 2006 – Minsk – Vandals defaced the Yama Holocaust memorial in Minsk with a swastika. Anti-Semitic leaflets found at the scene threatening revenge on the “enemies and traitors of our Fatherland” were signed by the White Russian Front for Aryan Resistance, a previously unknown group.

March 1, 2007 - Minsk - Vandals damaged a monument to the Jews from the German city of Bremen who died in the Minsk ghetto during World War II. Unidentified perpetrators broke off part of a metal tablet fixed on the granite monument, which is part of a larger Holocaust memorial.

Belgium

June 13, 2003 – Charleroi – A 32-year-old man of Moroccan descent attempted to explode a vehicle loaded with gas canisters in front of a synagogue. He was arrested by police shortly after the incident. The man reportedly set his own car on fire, but it did not explode. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt condemned the attempted attack but said he saw no need to raise security around Jewish buildings and institutions. In April 2002, the same synagogue, situated on the edge of the city, was hit by gunfire from unknown assailants

July 1, 2004 – Antwerp – In separate incidents, two Jewish men were attacked in the Antwerp area. A Jewish cyclist in Berchem had stones and bottles thrown at him by a group of 15 youths. He escaped injury. In the second attack, a young Jewish man was found bleeding on the street. His attacker was described as “Eastern European origin.” No arrests have been made.

June 24, 2004 – Antwerp – Four Jewish teen-agers, all students from the same school in an Antwerp suburb, were attacked by a group of 15 men described by authorities as “youth of Arab origin.” One of the Jewish students, who was stabbed in the back, was seriously injured with a punctured lung.

November 30, 2006 – Beringen – Ten teenagers of Turkish descent attacked a group of orthodox Jewish students on a school trip. The attackers, who threw stones and hurled anti-Semitic slogans at the students, were detained by police and ordered to serve 30 hours of community service.

July 24, 2006 – Brussels – A Holocaust memorial was desecrated in what Jewish officials described as a “clearly anti-Semitic” event. Documents, windows, and the memorial’s crypt were destroyed. The crypt included an urn carrying ashes from Auschwitz, which was emptied and vandalized. The memorial, in the Anderlecht quarter of Brussels, has been a target of desecration before.

Bolivia

July 1, 2005 – Cochobamba – Vandals inscribed swastikas and slogans like “Juden Raus” on the walls of the town’s Jewish cemetery. The city is home to 20 percent of Bolivia’s Jews, numbering 600.

August 5, 2006 – Campinas – Vandals threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at a synagogue. The three or four attackers, who have not been identified, also painted “Lebanon, the true Holocaust” on the sidewalk outside. The projectiles broke some windows and started a small fire that was quickly put out by pedestrians. No injuries were reported.

Canada

August 22/23, 2004 - Calgary – Vandals sprayed swastikas and anti-Semitic messages on a condominium complex a block from the Calgary Jewish Center.

June 27, 2004 – Toronto - Vandals spray painted anti-Semitic graffiti on bus shelters, sidewalks, private vehicles and fences in a Toronto suburb.

June 19/20, 2004 – Nepean – A synagogue was vandalized in an Ottawa suburb. Congregation Beth Shalom West was defaced with graffiti, swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans.

June 2/3, 2004 -- Quebec City -- Twenty gravestones were toppled by vandals in the historic Beth Israel cemetery. The cemetery is designated a national historic site by the Canadian government.

April 14, 2004 – Toronto - A Jewish cemetery was vandalized during Passover. Ten tombstones were overturned at The Pape Avenue Cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery in Ontario.

April 4, 2004 – Montreal – A Jewish school in the St. Laurent neighborhood of Montreal was set on fire by an arsonist. No one was hurt in the attack, but the blaze heavily damaged the library of the United Talmud Torah School. Police found a note with anti-Semitic comments on the exterior wall of the library. Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin strongly condemned the attack declaring: "This is not my Canada. This is not our Canada.” In May, three were arrested, including two 18-year-old youths who were charged with arson and conspiracy. One of the teen-agers' mothers was charged as an accessory. The three are reportedly of Lebanese Christian origin.

March 19-21, 2004 – Toronto – A weekend-long rash of anti-Semitic vandalism was perpetrated on a Jewish cemetery, a Jewish school and a number of area synagogues. Twenty-two gravestones were overturned in the cemetery and other structures, such as benches and plaques, were destroyed. Swastikas were painted on the walls and on outside signs of the synagogues, along with slogans calling for death to Jews, and a number of windows were broken. The previous weekend, swastikas and anti-Semitic messages were sprayed on doors, cars and garages of over a dozen homes in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood not far from the cemetery and synagogues.

December 24, 2005 – Edmonton – Anti-Semitic graffiti was spray painted on the wall of Beth Shalom, Edmonton’s largest synagogue. Vandals painted a swastika and anti-Jewish slogans.

August 19, 2005 – Val Morin – Vandals broke into the synagogue of a Chasidic community's summer camp 40 miles northwest of Montreal and threw about 300 sacred books into toilets and a nearby lake. Police are investigating. The camp had been targeted before in incidents that included damaged property and swastikas drawn on buildings.

September 1, 2006 – Montreal – The Skver-Toldos Orthodox Jewish Boys School in the Outremont neighborhood was firebombed when a masked assailant tossed a Molotov cocktail through a glass pane in the building’s main entrance. The act was caught on security cameras which showed the man arriving just 20 minutes after 12 students left the building following Friday night Shabbat festivities. The attacker initially aimed the Molotov cocktail at a classroom window but seemed to hesitate when he noticed a screen in the window and instead threw the lit bottle at the main entrance. Damage from the attack has been estimated between $50,000 and $150,000 including new security measures. Police have released a description of the assailant but no arrests have been made.

March 25, 2006 – Montreal – Two synagogues in an area that is home to many Orthodox Jews were vandalized with a series of spray-painted swastikas and Nazi SS symbols.

March 15, 2007 - Toronto - A 20-year-old man was arrested after throwing an object at the Chabad of Midtown - Toronto community center, breaking a window. The man was reportedly wearing clothing and items believed to be representative of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. Police were treating the incident as a hate crime.

Chile

Julyl 15, 2005 – Valparaíso -- Members of a neo-Nazi group vandalized the office of Chilean National Television the day after it aired a special exposé on the increasing phenomenon of neo-Nazi incidents in the country. The vandals scrawled swastikas and other anti-Semitic slogans as well as threats targeted at the station and the reporters involved in the production of the special.

August 6, 2006 – Bogotá – Anti-Semitic and anti-Israel graffiti was found in the area around the Israeli Embassy. The spray-painted vandalism included a Star of David intertwined with a swastika and the slogans, “F***ing Jews,” “Jews Nazis,” “Put an end to the Nazi/Imperialist occupation – Free Palestine,” and “No more Israel.”

Czech Republic

November 9, 2003 - Krupka - Vandals damaged a monument in honor of Nazi death march victims in Krupka, North Bohemia, and defaced the memorial with painted Nazi symbols. Police detained two young men in connection with the incident.

November 9, 2003 - Trutnov - Unknown perpetrators overturned 15 tombstones of Jewish girls who perished in a Nazi concentration camp in Trutnov. The police are investigating the incident as a racially motivated crime.

September 21/22, 2004 – Ostrava – Anti-Semitic graffiti was spray painted on a Holocaust memorial. Vandals sprayed Nazi symbols and anti-Jewish slogans on the memorial. The same memorial was defaced in 2003.

August 10, 2004 – Hranice - Some 80 tombstones were overturned at the Jewish cemetery in Hranice in the east of the Czech Republic.

April 12, 2005 – Hroznetin -- Vandals destroyed several tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in Hroznetin, near Karlovy Vary.

February 6, 2007 – Ceska Lipa – A memorial to the Jewish victims of a 1945 death march in the northern Czech town of Ceska Lipa was vandalized. Police reported that the memorial’s menorah, Stars of David, and a plaque with the victim's names were stolen.

France

December 2, 2003 - Paris - An 11-year-old Jewish student was subject to repeated verbal and physical assaults at a secondary school by two Muslim pupils in his class. The students reportedly yelled, "We'll finish Hitler's job" during one of the episodes.

November 24, 2003 -- Marseille -- Swastikas and racist slogans were scrawled on about a dozen tombs in the Jewish cemetery of Trois Lucs. The cemetery was the scene of similar anti-Semitic attacks in 2001, when graffiti demanding the liberation of convinced Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon were scrawled on several tombs.

October 17, 2003 -- Paris -- A rabbi was verbally attacked and physically assaulted in a Paris suburb. On the way to the synagogue, several men pushed the rabbi and punched him in the face. Police have arrested two men in connection with the incident, which was described as anti-Semitic in nature.

July 25, 2003 – Paris – A synagogue in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis was ransacked and desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti. Prayer books were scattered on the floor, the Torah scrolls opened and money was stolen. “Juif=mort” (Jew = death) was scrawled on an outside wall.

July 20, 2003 – Venissieux – Two plaques at a Holocaust memorial were defaced and broken. The plaques mark the site of a transit camp where hundreds of Jews from the Lyon region were rounded up before being sent to Nazi death camps in August 1942.

March 22, 2003 – Paris – A number of Jews, including teenagers, were chased and attacked by anti-war protesters outside the headquarters of a Jewish youth organization. The protesters were described by witnesses as “wearing kaffiyahs.” One teenage boy was hospitalized for injuries he sustained while being beaten by demonstrators.

October 29/30, 2004 - Brumath - Close to 100 gravestones were desecrated at a Jewish cemetery in Brumath, just outside Strasbourg. The vandals painted swastikas and "SS" symbols on 92 Jewish gravestones. French President Jacques Chirac called the desecrations "intolerable."

August 26, 2004 – Paris – The director of the main public library, the Bibliotheque Publique d’Information, announced that anti-Semitic inscriptions were found stamped into a dozen books about the Dreyfus case and legal issues. The vandals stamped the edge of the books with the words “Against the Jewish Mafia and Jewish Racism” with the addresses of a Holocaust denial and Islamic propaganda Web sites.

August 14, 2004 - Paris – Anti-Semitic graffiti, including a sign saying "death to Jews" and a swastika, was found scrawled on a wall on the grounds of Notre Dame Cathedral. Police are investigating.

August 9, 2004 - Lyon – Some 60 gravestones were vandalized with swastikas in a Jewish cemetery in Lyon in southeastern France. On August 15, a 24 year-old man turned himself in to Paris police and admitted to desecrating the graves in Lyon. He did not appear to have links to far-right groups and told investigators that he was inspired by inspired by a television documentary about American racist groups. A state prosecutor said that the man was inspired by a hatred of Arabs. More >>

July 28, 2004 – Saverne – Thirty-two tombstones were vandalized with swastikas, Stars of David and satanic “666” symbols in a Jewish cemetery in the Alsatian town of Saverne, north of Strasbourg. The vandalism was discovered by a family member visiting the cemetery.

June 11, 2004 – Rivesaltes – A Holocaust-era mural painted by Jewish children in a transit camp who were being held before being sent to Nazi death camps, was discovered vandalized in southwestern France. A historian visiting the site, where 4,500 Jews and Gypsies were held, found that the mural had been chiseled off the wall. According to The Independent, in 1942, a Swiss nurse at the camp asked the children to paint a Swiss landscape on the infirmary wall. The painting was discovered in 1999 and was to become the central exhibition of a Holocaust museum at the Rivesaltes transit camp. Half of the inmates of the transit camp, including 400 children, were later killed in Auschwitz. French government officials condemned the incident, and the Interior Minister promised that the mural would be restored.

June 4, 2004 – Epinay-sur-Seine – A 17-year-old Jewish student was stabbed with by a man with a knife shouting “Allahu Aqbar” (G-d is great in Arabic). The student was leaving a Jewish school in the northern Parisian suburbs. The attacker tried to hurt two other students with a screwdriver. The student was in serious, but not critical condition. President Jacques Chirac condemned the attack and the French Interior Minister, Dominque de Villepin, visited the scene.

May 30, 2004 – Boulogne-Billancourt – A 17-year-old Jewish youth was attacked outside his home in a Paris suburb by a group of young men yelling anti-Semitic slogans. The youth is the son of a local rabbi. President Jacques Chirac condemned the attack.

May 7, 2004 -- Villier-le-Bel – A small explosive device was discovered outside a synagogue north of Paris. According to media reports, the bomb was in a bag with the writing “Boom anti-Jews” and a swastika. On May 14, an 18-year-old man was found guilty of putting the fake bombs on the grounds of the synagogue and was sentenced to two months in prison.

May 6/7, 2004 - Verdun - A memorial to Jewish soldiers who died in the Battle of Verdun was vandalized. Nazi slogans and symbols were scrawled on the memorial. The Battle of Verdun was fought between French and German armies near the northern French city in 1916. In November 2004, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to a year in prison for perpetrating the attack.

May 4, 2004 – Paris – In the suburb of Cretiel, a rabbi and his young son were attacked on their way home from Friday night services.

April 29/30, 2004 – Colmar - A Jewish cemetery in the Alsace region in eastern France was vandalized. At least 127 headstones were spray painted with swastikas and anti-Semitic statements. The cemetery dates back to the 18th century. The attack was condemned by numerous French officials, including President Jacques Chirac.

April 4, 2004 -- Valenciennes – A synagogue in northern France was defaced with neo-Nazi slogans, including swastikas, and "One people, one empire, one leader, 59 years, sieg heil.” The 59 is believed to be a reference to the 59 years since the death of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

March 23, 2004 – Toulon – A Jewish synagogue and community center was set on fire. According to media reports, the arsonist broke a window and threw a Molotov cocktail into the building. There was minor damage and no injuries.

January 23, 2004 - Villiers-au-Bois - Two gravestones marked with Stars of David were damaged in the World War I cemetery of Villiers-au-Bois near the English Channel coast.

January 20, 2004 - Strasbourg - A parked minibus used to transport children to a Jewish school in the eastern French city of Strasbourg was burned. Police are investigating the attack as an arson.

January 20, 2004 - Strasbourg - Police reported that a group of assailants hurled stones at the door of a Strasbourg synagogue.

January 20, 2004 - Paris - A Jewish teenager was injured in an attack by Muslim youths at an ice-skating rink. The youths shouted anti-Semitic insults at the 15-year old boy before kicking him in the head and jaw with ice skates.

July 20, 2005 -- Paris -- A Jewish man was walking home from synagogue with his three children when the family was backed into a corner and verbally harassed by a group of men. Police were investigating the possibility that the assault was linked to an incident in Sarcelles the day before.

July 19, 2005 -- Sarcelles -- A young Jewish man was assaulted and then called a “dirty Jew” by an unidentified group of men.

July 14, 2005 -- Stains -- A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the entrance of a synagogue in Stains, near Paris. The attack coincided with other disturbances in the Paris area on July 14th, the French national holiday.

May 9, 2005 – Sarreguemines -- Vandals toppled and smashed dozens of tombstones at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France. About 64 of the Sarreguemines cemetery's 500 tombstones were damaged. After being arrested, two boys, 14 and 12 years old, admitted to toppling the tombstones “for fun.”

April 16, 2005 – Avignon -- A Jewish cemetery in Avignon, Southern France was vandalized. The Star of David that hung on a pillar at the cemetery's entrance was partially wrenched off and racist slogans were scrawled on the window of the information desk, among other damage discovered by a rabbi.

March 29, 2005 -- Paris – Two homemade bombs were thrown at a Jewish-owned pastry shop in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles. The explosion, in proximity to the local synagogue, caused little damage.

February 20, 2005 – Paris - Firefighters extinguished a blaze that lightly charred a wooden rail car at a memorial in the Paris suburb of Drancy, the site of a World War II transit camp used to transport most of the 76,000 Jews deported from France to Auschwitz. A handwritten note found at the site referred to the "Islamic group for Palestine" and carried the name "Bin Laden" on it next to an inverted swastika. French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin, while referring to both this attack and another recent attack in which vandals scrawled a dozen swastikas, the SS initials of Adolf Hitler's guard and the words "Get out!" on the outer walls of the Grand Mosque of Paris said the attacks were "completely unspeakable, completely ignominious."

November 8, 2006 – Gagny – Unknown arsonists set fire to the ground floor of the Merkaz Hatorah Jewish school in a northern suburb of Paris. The fire was quickly extinguished. The school was similarly attacked in 2003. No injuries were reported, and police have initiated an investigation.

September 13, 2006 - Paris – After identifying him as Jewish, four students attacked a 13-year-old boy in his suburban middle school, sending him to the hospital. Legal action was being taken against the assailants.

August 2, 2006 – Saint-Quentin – A synagogue was vandalized. Panes of glass were broken, chairs were overturned, a silver item of worship was stolen, and a Star of David was covered in black ink.

May 28, 2006 – Paris – Members of a black extremist group marched through a Jewish quarter in central Paris shouting anti-Semitic slogans. Police broke up the march. Security was increased in the area.

March 12, 2006 – Paris – Vandals broke into a synagogue in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles and threw religious objects to the ground. Police were investigating.

March 6, 2006 – Lyon – A Jewish pupil was attacked and kicked in the face by four youths. Police placed the youths in custody for violence and injury “with anti-Semitic character.”

March 4, 2006 – Sarcelles – A 28-year-old Jewish man was beaten by youths who made anti-Semitic remarks during the assault. The man suffered a dislocated shoulder. The police have arrested four suspects.

March 3, 2006 – Sarcelles – A 17-year-old Jewish man, the son of a local rabbi, was attacked by two men. The victim suffered a broken nose. The incident occurred near the synagogue of Sarcelles in a district known as “Little Jerusalem,” where there is a sizable Jewish community.

March 3, 2006 – Sarcelles – An 18-year-old Jewish man was attacked by a group of five men, who threw him to the ground while shouting insults and anti-Semitic threats. They escaped with the victim’s cellular phone.

February 13, 2006 – Bagneux – Police believe the kidnapping and murder of a young Jewish man in Paris was motivated by anti-Semitism. Ilan Halimi, 23, was found naked, tortured and burned south of Paris after being held for three weeks by a gang demanding a large ransom. He died of his injuries shortly afterwards. On February 23, French police arrested 12 of the members of the gang. Another suspect was arrested in Belgium. During the investigation police reportedly found literature linking some suspects to Muslim causes and there are indications that the torture and killing was an anti-Semitic crime. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on February 21 described the crime as anti-Semitic in nature.

January 9, 2006 – Créteil – Two Jewish boys wearing yarmulkes were attacked in front of a train station in Créteil, a Paris suburb. The 11- and 12-year-olds were approached by four men of African and Arab origin, who hurled anti-Semitic epithets at them before striking one of the boys to the ground and holding the other forcefully. One of the victims suffered a broken nose. Police arrested four suspects in the assault.

January 7, 2006 – Sarcelles – A synagogue was vandalized, with the words “Juden raus” (“Jews get out”) and “Death to Sharon” etched into the roof. A man later confessed to using an ice-pick to vandalize the building.

Germany

November 17, 2003 -- Berlin -- Vandals defaced wreaths laid at a Holocaust memorial to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Four wreaths were thrown over the side of a bridge and others defaced, with flowers torn out and ribbons cut.

October 15, 2003 -- Beeskow -- A Jewish cemetery in the city of Beeskow, east of Berlin, was desecrated by vandals who painted swastikas and anti-Semitic statements such as "you got what you deserved," "Heil Hitler" and "crap on the six million lie" on gravestones.

October 11 - 12, 2003 -- Gundesberg -- Vandals desecrated a Jewish cemetery in the central German city. Police said Nazi slogans and other graffiti was spray painted on 42 headstones and the cemetery gate.

October 11 - 12, 2003 -- Ravensbrueck -- A memorial to the victims of the World War II concentration camp near the northeastern city was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.

August 15, 2003 – Kassel – More than 50 graves were vandalized at a historic Jewish cemetery in the central German city of Kassel. Some gravestones were overturned, while others had headstones weighing up to 2,000 pounds toppled on them. Police were investigating.

July 28, 2003 – Saxony-Anhalt – Vandals defaced a memorial to Nazi victims of a Buchenwald subcamp, plastering the buildings with anti-Semitic newspapers. Visitors to the Langenstein-Zwieberge memorial reported the damage to the police, who said that the perpetrators had used copies of anti-Jewish newspapers from 1933 to 1945, the years the Nazis ruled Germany.

July 8, 2003 – Berlin – A Jewish memorial in Berlin was vandalized. The vandals apparently threw small paving stones, gouging the surface of a memorial dedicated to the former Levetzowstrasse synagogue, which was used by the Nazis as detention center to deport Jews. According to the police, the incident took place in broad daylight, but the perpetrators escaped before they could be arrested.

June 27, 2003 – Berlin – A 14-year-old girl wearing a Star of David necklace was attacked by a group of teenage girls on a bus in the German capital. According to reports, the group first insulted the girl because of her religion and her Ukrainian nationality and subsequently hit and kicked her, injuring her slightly. Police were investigating.

May 14, 2003 – Berlin – A 19-year-old Orthodox Jew from the U.S. was beaten by a group of youths believed to be Arabs. The youths followed the victim, a student whose faith was easily recognizable due to his hat and beard, out of the subway throwing fruit at him and demanding to know if he was a Jew. When the victim refused to answer, they beat him with their fists.

May 11, 2003 – Berlin -- A man wearing a Star of David pendant was attacked by a group of teenagers who spat at him, kicked him in the face and shouted anti-Semitic slurs. The 56-year old man, who told police he was not Jewish, was riding a bus when the assault occurred. The attackers, identified as foreign youths, fled the scene.

April 29, 2003 – Ravensbrueck – Vandals smeared paint on the tablet at the former Ravensbrueck concentration camp in northern Germany. The tablet, erected last year by camp survivors, commemorates female inmates who were forced to build an access road using primitive equipment and their bare hands during World War II. Police were investigating the incident.

March 23, 2003 - Berlin - A 21-year-old American rabbinical student, in traditional Orthodox dress, was assaulted on Berlin's main shopping boulevard in an attack described by police as anti-Semitic. The student was struck in the face and an object was thrown at him, but he was otherwise unhurt. The assailants were described as Middle Eastern in appearance.

August 15, 2004 – Berlin – A Jewish monument was smeared with a swastika. Police are investigating.

July 22, 2004 – Hagen – A fifteen-year old boy, along with two others, threatened visitors to a synagogue with a knife, and made anti-Semitic remarks. The visitors were leaving the synagogue at around 7 p.m. when they were confronted by the boys.

June 25, 2004 – Dusseldorf – Vandals sprayed swastikas and SS symbols on at least 40 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery.

November 17, 2005 – Berlin -- The new memorial to Jewish Holocaust victims in Berlin was defaced with Stars of David painted on six of the 2,711 concrete panels. On the same day, Stars of David were also discovered on the German Parliament building, a bridge and a sidewalk nearby.

November 7, 2005 – Dessau -- Vandals defaced a memorial to Holocaust victims in Dessau in eastern Germany with neo-Nazi slogans. According to police, graffiti saying "60 years later and are we still guilty?? No!!!," was painted in big letters over a large section of the memorial, which includes abstract models of Zyklon B containers. It is believed that the attack was carried out in the run-up to November 9, the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

April 27, 2005 – Ebersburg -- Vandals desecrated the Jewish cemetery of the town of Ebersburg, near Fulda, by spraying swastikas and other Nazi symbols on gravestones. In addition to the fourteen defaced gravestones two more were toppled over. Police are investigating.

April 14, 2005 – Babenhausen -- Vandals overturned 13 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Babenhausen, a city south of Frankfurt. According to the police, the vandals, who appear to have climbed over a wall into the cemetery, caused an estimated $10,000 (U.S.) in damages.

March 9, 2005 – Berlin – A huge swastika was scraped out of snow on a frozen lake near the runway of Berlin’s Tegel Airport, making it visible to passengers on incoming planes. Authorities erased the Nazi symbol shortly after its discovery.

January 10, 2005 – Kehl – Thirteen Jewish graves were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti. The gravestones were covered with swastikas and the words "Hitler lives" written on them, with candle holders taken from other graves. City prosecutors offered a reward for information leading to the capture of the vandals.

December 10, 2006 – Langenstein-Zwieberge – Vandals etched swastikas into part of the structure of a memorial to the victims of the Nazi forced labor camp at Langenstein-Zwieberge, which was a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

November 22, 2006 - Forst - A memorial at the site of a destroyed synagogue outside of Berlin was vandalized with anti-Jewish graffiti.

November 9, 2006 – Frankfurt an der Oder – Neo-Nazis vandalized a Kristallnacht monument just hours after the town’s annual memorial ceremony. The vandals destroyed candles and wreaths, yelled “Sieg Heil,” and attempted to damage the memorial stone itself. Police arrested 16 men in their late teens and early twenties.

October 12, 2006 – Parey, Saxony-Anhalt – A group of teenagers forced a classmate to walk around their schoolyard wearing a placard hanging from his neck reading, “I’m the biggest pig in town, only with Jews do I hang around.” The anti-Semitic slogan was used during Nazi regime to shame Germans who were sympathetic to Jews. Displaying Nazi symbols and slogans is illegal in modern Germany.

September 26, 2006 – Berlin – Jewish soccer team TuS Makkabi was taunted by Germany fans with chants of “Gas the Jews” and “Auschwitz is back” in a game against VSG Altglienicke. Sanctions were put on Altglienicke and the referee calling the game. Altglienicke was ordered to play their next two games without fans and to attend anti-racism seminars.

July 29, 2006 – Berlin – A swastika was found etched into the German capital’s Holocaust memorial. Also, a man was arrested after he was discovered painting a swastika on the Swiss Embassy in the city.

February 25, 2007 – Diespeck – Vandals overturned 60 headstones in an historic 18th-century Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of the Bavarian village of Diespeck, near Nuremberg. As part of the attack, the perpetrators overturned 11 headstones at a war memorial dedicated to German soldiers of the Jewish faith who were killed in action in World War I.

February 25, 2007 – Berlin – Vandals defaced a Jewish kindergarten with Nazi symbols and slogans including "Sieg Heil" and "Auschwitz." A smoke bomb was thrown through a window ,but failed to ignite.

Greece

October 10, 2003 – Ioannina - Vandals desecrated a memorial dedicated to the thousands of Greek Jews who perished during the Holocaust, located in a 13th century Jewish cemetery, with slogans such as "Death to Jews" and "Jews Out." ADL called on the Greek government to condemn the attacks and prosecute the perpetrators.

August 4, 2003 – Ioannina – Vandals sprayed swastikas and Greek nationalistic slogans on the outer walls of a synagogue. The town’s Jewish community condemned the attack and urged the police to investigate.

February 1, 2003 -- Thessaloniki (Salonica) – Two swastikas were spray painted on a Holocaust memorial. The memorial honoring the tens of thousands of Salonican Jews killed by the Nazis has been vandalized before.

August 1, 2006 – Thesaloniki – Anti-Israel demonstrators attempted to put posters of wounded Lebanese civilians on a Holocaust memorial. Police fired tear gas at the protestors, members of a Communist-backed trade union.

Hungary

July 21, 2004 – Debrecen – Vandals defaced a Holocaust memorial with swastikas in the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen. Police are investigating.

July 1, 2004 – Gyongyos – A Jewish cemetery in northern Hungary was vandalized. More than 90 gravestones were smashed just weeks after the cemetery had been renovated by the local town council to mark the 60th anniversary of the Holocaust.

June 15, 2005 – Budapest -- Vandals knocked down some 130 tombstones and broke many of them at the Kozma Street Jewish cemetery in Budapest. Police and the Budapest Mayor's Office offered rewards totaling 1.5 million forint (about $7,300) for information leading to the identification of the perpetrators.

November 6, 2006 – Vac – A synagogue, Holocaust memorial, and Jewish school were attacked in the wake of right-wing, anti-government protests around the country. Vandals splashed black paint on the fence of the synagogue and school, wrote graffiti that included “Heil Hitler” and “Viva Palesztina,” and broke into the school, stealing a marble tablet presented to the school by the city to remember the Holocaust.

July 28, 2006 – Budapest – Two members of the Left-Wing Front-Communist Youth Alliance, participating in an anti-Israel protest, carried Israeli flags defaced with swastikas.

Ireland

November 11/12, 2004 – Dublin – Three Jewish sites were vandalized. Swastikas were spray-painted on a synagogue, on tombstones in a Jewish cemetery, and a Jewish museum.

May 10, 2005 -- Dublin – Jewish communal properties were vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti at five locations around the city in apparently coordinated attacks. In one of the attacks, a swastika was painted on the wall of the Irish Jewish Museum.

Italy

March 9, 2003 – Milan – Anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on the office of the RAI, the Italian state-owned radio and television network, after a journalist of Jewish origin was named director. The graffiti read "RAI for Italians, no to Jews." The messages were condemned by political and popular figures.

January 27, 2005 - Rome - Hours after world leaders gathered to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, anti-Semitic graffiti reading "60 years of lies, Juden Raus" (Jews Out) was spray-painted on the outside wall of a Catholic church in central Rome.

August 1, 2006 – Rome – Twenty shops in Italy’s capital were vandalized. Shop owners reported swastikas on nearby walls, locks filled with glue, and shutters nailed shut. Fliers found at the shops were signed by the Armed Revolutionary Fascists, a neo-fascist group, and denounced “the Zionist economy” and included pro-Hezbollah statements. “There are still anti-Semites in Italy,” said Riccardo Pacifici, a spokesman for Rome’s Jewish Community.

July 28, 2006 – Livorno – Graffiti translating roughly to “Israel is an evil state” was written on the walls of Jewish-owned businesses.

July 10, 2006 – Rome – Neo-fascists celebrating Italy’s World Cup victory vandalized walls, doors and vehicles in the Jewish quarter of Rome with swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti. The neighborhood, where many in Rome's small Jewish community live or work, is within walking distance from Circus Maximus, the ancient Roman entertainment area where more than 600,000 fans held a jubilant rally for the players of the national team. Italy’s Prime Minister Romano Prodi and other politicians strongly condemned the incident as an “ignoble gesture of hate and intolerance.”

May 15, 2006 – Milan – Forty Jewish graves were desecrated, and five destroyed, at a Jewish cemetery in the outskirts of Milan. Police and Jewish community leaders are investigating if it was an act of anti-Semitism or of general vandalism.

Lithuania

June 25, 2006 – Vilnius – Nineteen gravestones and monuments were smashed in a Jewish cemetery near the capital of Vilnius. Police and Jewish community leaders are investigating if it was an act of anti-Semitism or of general vandalism

March 11, 2007 – Vilnius – Twelve tombstones in the new Jewish cemetery of Vilnius were smashed.

Malaysia

October 16, 2003 -- In a virulently anti-Semitic speech to the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad asserted that "Jews rule the world by proxy" and called on the world's 1.3 billion Muslims to achieve a "final victory" against Jews. The speech drew a standing ovation from the assembly, but was strongly condemned by Western leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush and members of the European Union.

June 21, 2003 -- Kuala Lumpur -- Copies of “The International Jew,” an anti-Semitic book originally published by the industrialist Henry Ford Sr., were distributed to delegates at a party gathering of the United Malays National Organization, where outgoing Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad delivered his final speech as party president to tens of thousands of Muslim Malays. Later, at a press conference, Mohamad claimed he was “not responsible for the distribution.” It was not the first time there has been anti-Semitism in this country that has no Jews.

Moldova/Transdniestrian Republic

May 5, 2004 – Tiraspol - Vandals threw Molotov cocktails at the synagogue in Tiraspol.

Morocco

September 11, 2003 -- Casablanca -- Albert Rebibo, a 55-year-old Jewish timber merchant, was shot dead in Casablanca's "Korea" district as he was closing his shop at noon. It is believed that the murder was an act of terrorism. Police arrested 12 Islamic activists days later. Media coverage attributed the attack to the anniversary of 9/11, while others claimed the killing was connected to the visit of Silvan Shalom, Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was received in Rabat a week prior to the attack.

New Zealand

August 6, 2004 - Wellington – A Jewish chapel was destroyed by fire and up to 90 Jewish headstones were pulled out of the ground and smashed at Makara Cemetery, on the outskirts of the nation's capital. Swastikas were cut into the cemetery lawn and etched on the chapel wall. Community officials described the desecration as the worst attack ever on the Jewish community of New Zealand.

July 15/16, 2004 - Wellington – Vandals smashed and overturned tombstones and carved a swastika into the grass in a Jewish cemetery. Some of the tombstones were over 100 years old.

August 1, 2006 - Christchurch – A Jewish synagogue was vandalized with “shower you murderous swine” and “filthy pigs” spray painted on a walkway, swastikas etched into a plaque, and also on the plaque the phrase “6 million Jews. 7 million Russians. 40 million people in total. What makes you so special,” written in felt pen.

Norway

September 17, 2006 – Oslo – During the night, shots were fired by an unidentified attacker at a synagogue. Police said that at least ten shots were fired at the front of the building and the suspect escaped capture. The owners of the site had received threats and the building itself was vandalized in early August. The attack damaged the building’s façade and windows and nobody was injured.

August 2, 2006 – Oslo – An unidentified man defecated on the steps of a synagogue and then threw rocks at the building, smashing two windows. The building was empty at the time. Neighbors called the police, but the vandal, who was caught on security cameras, fled the scene beforehand.

July 15, 2006 – Oslo – Unidentified Middle Eastern men assaulted a Jewish boy on the street who was wearing a Kippah. The Jewish community in Oslo has recommended that people not wear Kippot or speak Hebrew in public.

Poland

December 10, 2003 - Oswiecim - Vandals overturned 16 tombstones at a historic Jewish cemetery in Oswiecim, near the site of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz. The vandals threw a large box filled with sand over the cemetery wall, and topped headstones. One of the tombstones was destroyed.

June 13, 2004 – Krakow – Police discovered the desecration of a 19th century synagogue. Vandals had painted swastikas and a Star of David hanging from gallows on the Tempel Synagogue.

May 27, 2006 – Warsaw – Poland's Chief Rabbi was shoved and attacked with mace in downtown Warsaw. The perpetrator yelled “Poland for Poles!,” an old anti-Semitic slogan. The Rabbi, en route to Sabbath lunch, challenged the man after he approached, and was attacked.

March 5, 2007 - Swidwin - Vandals desecrated a small Jewish cemetery in western Poland, knocking over about half of the 20 grave markers and smashing many of them. It was the third time since 2003 that the cemetery has been attacked.

Romania

August 20, 2004 - Cluj – The wall of a Jewish cemetery in northwestern Romania was smeared with swastikas as well as anti-Semitic and fascist slogans.

Russia

September 2, 2003 – Novgorod – An object resembling a bomb with an anti-Semitic slogan attached was found at a local synagogue in Novgorod, 400 miles northwest from Moscow. The “bomb” was determined to be a fake when no explosives were found.

June 28, 2003 – Pyatigorsk – On the last weekend in June, a Jewish cemetery in the town of Pyatigorsk, in the North Caucasus, was desecrated. Vandals smashed 10 tombstones, including those of Russian World War II soldiers. It is the only Jewish cemetery in the multi-ethnic Stavropol Region.

June 22, 2003 – Yaroslavl – Windows were shattered and anti-Semitic graffiti painted on a synagogue in Yaroslavl, a town 300 miles northeast of Moscow. No one was injured in the incident. The police were investigating.

April 2, 2003 - Makhachkala - Vandals smashed ten graves in the Jewish section of the city's Old Cemetery. According to the deputy interior minister of the republic of Dagestan, marble plaques and monuments had been shattered. There were no suspects.

December 17, 2004 – St. Petersburg – Thirty gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg were desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas. The cemetery had been vandalized in February 2004.

April 15/16, 2004 - Pyatigorsk – Fourteen tombstones were vandalized in a Jewish cemetery. The cemetery had been previously attacked in June 2003.

March 29, 2004 – St. Petersburg – The city's only kosher restaurant had its windows broken by vandals.

February 15, 2004 -- St. Petersburg -- Vandals desecrated about 50 graves in a Jewish cemetery, painting swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on headstones. Police are investigating.

January 27, 2004 - Derbent - An explosion shattered several windows in a synagogue in Derbent in the the southern region of Dagestan.

October 7, 2005: –- St. Petersburg -- Two bricks were thrown at the windows of Shalom, a kosher restaurant. The bricks pierced posters attached to the windows, but failed to shatter the windows.

October 5, 2005 -- St. Petersburg -- As many as 70 tombstones were vandalized in the Jewish cemetery in St. Petersburg. Many of the tombs were overthrown, and the railings surrounding them removed.

June 30, 2005 -- Moscow -- Two men wearing gas masks sprayed an unidentified gas and yelled anti-Semitic slogans while vandalizing Moscow's only kosher supermarket. The incident, which took place during business hours, was reported to law enforcement. The store’s staff reportedly recognized the perpetrators.

May 25, 2005 - Kazan - Vandals spray-painted swastikas on 26 tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in the city of Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, a predominantly Muslim Russian autonomous republic in the Volga region. Police described the incident as a hate crime and opened an investigation.

May 14, 2005 – Moscow - Vandals damaged 15 tombstones and left anti-Semitic graffiti on two graves in Vostryakovskoe cemetery, Moscow’s main Jewish burial ground. Prosecutors opened a criminal case, treating the incident as a hate crime.

May 10, 2005 – Moscow -- An arsonist destroyed the historic wooden synagogue of Malakhovka, near Moscow. Police arrested a man in connection with the attack.

March 8, 2005 – Samara – Two people climbed over a fence surrounding the Samara Synagogue and sprayed numerous anti-Semitic slogans on its side walls. The perpetrators also shattered the windows in an attempt to break into the prayer hall.

February 24, 2005 – Saltykovka – Swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were painted on the walls of a synagogue/Yeshiva. Similar slogans had been previously painted on the walls of some local shops and government buildings.

January 14, 2005 – Moscow – Two rabbis were viciously attacked in two separate incidents. Rabbi Eliahu Fomiuk was beaten by six men with shaved heads in a pedestrian underpass near a synagogue on the Sabbath eve. Two hours later Rabbi Alexander Lakshin was attacked by a group of youths shouting derogatory Jewish names and chanting anti-Semitic slogans. Rabbi Lakshin, a U.S. citizen, was kicked in the back and hit on the head with a bottle. Russian prosecutors said they had detained three suspects.

January 1, 2005 – Saltykovka – A synagogue/Yeshiva was set afire, fully destroying the synagogue's terrace. Nobody was injured and the fire was extinguished before it could spread to the entire building. Jewish community leaders said the synagogue had received anti-Semitic threats prior to the arson attack.

September 26, 2006 – Volgograd – Vandals attacked the Or Avner Jewish School in the Krasnooktyabrskiy district, smashing the building’s front window, drawing a swastika and writing the slogan, “For the purity of the nation.” A guard from the Interior Ministry who was on duty at the time was seriously injured.

November 5, 2006 – Surgut – Unknown assailants attacked the local Jewish community office, throwing Molotov cocktails at the building and leaving threatening leaflets behind. The building suffered minor damage—one window was broken and patches of wall were blackened by soot from a small fire that was quickly extinguished. No injuries were reported.

October 25, 2006 – Vladivostok – A synagogue was vandalized overnight when swastikas and the words, “Jews go to Israel” were painted on the exterior walls and door. The vandalism was discovered by the synagogue’s rabbi the following morning.

October 2, 2006 – Tver – During Yom Kippur, over 80 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery were vandalized in this city of 4,000 Jews, 200 kilometers from Moscow. Many stones were destroyed and others were defaced with swastikas. Chaim Ben Yaakov, the head of the local Jewish Agency also reported anti-Semitic fliers appearing around the city containing swastikas, caricatures of Jews, and nationalist slogans including, “Russia is for Russians” and “Russia must take its fate into its own hands.” Authorities are investigating the incidents.

September 27, 2006 – Volgograd – Thirty (30) gravestones at a Jewish cemetery were destroyed on the 65th anniversary of the mass-killing of Jews in Babi Yar, Ukraine, during World War II. The authorities have opened an investigation.

September 22, 2006 – Moscow – The leader of a small Jewish congregation in Fili was attacked while walking on a street near his house in broad daylight just prior to the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The unidentified assailant approached the victim, asked if he was a Jew and what his religion was, and kicked him. The victim sustained no major injuries and reported the incident to the police.

September 22, 2006 – Khabarovsk – On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the synagogue in this far eastern city was attacked when four unidentified assailants threw rocks at the building, breaking windows and glass doors. No one was injured.

September 22, 2006 – Astrakhan – A Sephardic synagogue in the Volga region was attacked in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah. A group of unknown perpetrators smashed some of the building’s windows. Only a guard was inside; he was unharmed and called the police.

August 13, 2006 – Habarovsk – Attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at the entrance of a synagogue. Wet weather prevented the fire from spreading, and only a few steps received minor burns. The incident was reported to the police who are searching for the perpetrators.

April 20, 2006 – Orenburg – A group of men suspected of being members of a local neo-Nazi skinhead gang attempted to break into a synagogue in Orenburg, about 800 miles southeast of Moscow. The group broke windows, shouted anti-Semitic slogans and painted swastikas on the building, but no one was hurt, according to a spokesman for the Federation of Jewish Communities. Police have opened a criminal investigation, and at least one of the attackers, a teenager, has been detained.

April 21, 2006 - Omsk - Swastikas were discovered on ten graves in a Jewish cemetery in the Siberian town of Omsk during the week of the Passover holiday.

March 13, 2006 – St. Petersburg – A young man shot at another man who had just dropped his daughter off at a Jewish school. The perpetrator used a rifle but missed his target, hitting the victim’s car instead and escaped. An anti-Semitic motive is suspected and police were investigating.

January 13, 2006 – Rostov-on-Don – A 19-year-old student swinging a broken bottle attempted to attack worshippers inside a synagogue. The man had entered the building and demanded a meeting with the rabbi. He appeared to be intoxicated. When synagogue security attempted to stop him, the suspect escaped and managed to strike several people with the bottle before he was subdued and handed over to police. No injuries were reported. Police described the incident as a copycat attack to stabbings inside a Moscow synagogue days earlier. UPDATE: Alexander Koptsev, convicted of the stabbing, was sentenced on September 15, 2006 to 16 years in prison after a retrial.

January 11, 2006 – Moscow -- A knife-wielding assailant entered the Chabad Bronnaya synagogue in downtown Moscow and stabbed eight worshippers, several critically. The man reportedly had a shaved head and shouted Nazi and other slogans, including “I will kill Jews!” as he carried out the assaults. He was arrested after bystanders wrestled him to the floor and disarmed him.

March 18, 2007 – Voronezh – Vandals desecrated a synagogue in Southern Russia with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans.

March 6, 2007 – Voronezh – Twenty tombstones in a Jewish cemetery were overturned. Two suspects were arrested and have been charged in the attack.

March 2, 2007 – Vladivostok – Anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas were sprayed on the entry and outside walls of the main synagogue. The same synagogue was targeted by vandals in October 2006.

Serbia and Montenegro

March 22, 2005 – Belgrade – A wave of anti-Semitic graffiti appeared overnight throughout Belgrade. Anti-Semitic messages were spray-painted on the offices of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and the Humanitarian Law Centre, one day after the committee joined in a petition with other organizations to campaign against rising anti-Semitism. At the entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Belgrade, signs were left with the messages, "Resist the Zionist occupation" and "Jewish parasites, get out of Serbia." Predominantly Jewish streets were vandalized with similar anti-Semitic slogans.

August 27, 2006 – Belgrade – A group of skinheads severely beat two Israelis during a rock music festival. The male attackers were wearing Nazi symbols and chanted, “Auschwitz, Auschwitz” and “Go to Germany,” during the attack.

Slovakia

November 19, 2003 -- Humenne -- Vandals painted swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in the city of Humenne in eastern Slovakia. Police are investigating.

October 20 - 26, 2003 - Nove Mesto nad Vahom - Unidentified vandals knocked over and damaged 19 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery of Nove Mesto nad Vahom in western Slovakia. Police said the vandals broke into the cemetery on two seperate occasions.

January 21, 2003 – Banovce nad Bedravou - A 19th-century Jewish cemetery was desecrated in the western Slovak town of Banovce nad Bedravou, about 100 kilometers northeast of the capital, Bratislava. Thirty-five tombstones were toppled and vandals drew a swastika in the snow by the gate to the cemetery.

July 15, 2005 – Michalovce – The Jewish cemetery in Michalovce in eastern Slovakia was vandalized. Six gravestones were damaged, marking the third Jewish cemetery desecration in Slovakia in the past month. The same cemetery was desecrated in 2003.

July 9, 2005 – Rimavska Sobota – A recently-unveiled memorial to the Holocaust victims in southern Slovakia was vandalized with slogans such as “the Holocaust is a lie.” Simultaneously, five gravestones were destroyed in the city’s Jewish cemetery.

June 9, 2005 – Bratislava – Vandals desecrated the mausoleum of a prominent rabbi. Three glass boards of the monument for Rabbi Hatam Sofer were broken.

January 27, 2007 – Bratislava – Two Slovak men were arrested and charged with yelling Nazi slogans at the Bratislava rabbi and his son as they were leaving a synagogue. The perpetrators, who were reportedly drunk at the time of the assault, will face charges of promoting a hate group.

Spain

November 25, 2006 – Pamplona – Fans of “Deportivo La Coruna,” a soccer team, hurled anti-Semitic taunts at Israeli goalkeeper Dudu Awate, who was playing as a member of the Spanish premier league rival, “Osasuna.” The fans held Palestinian flags and yelled anti-Jewish slurs.

Sweden

April 27, 2003 – Malmö – Unknown assailants attempted to set fire to the purification room in the Jewish cemetery in Malmö. The attackers threw firebombs into the building, but the structure was still standing. It was the eighth time the purification room at the cemetery has come under attack

Switzerland

May 12, 2005 – Vevey-Montreux -- Thirteen gravestones in the Jewish cemetery of Vevey-Montreux were vandalized and damaged. Police are investigating.

March 13, 2005 - Lugano - A synagogue and a Jewish-owned shop in the southern Swiss city of Lugano were gutted by fire after a fuel-bomb attack by unknown assailants. Police said the crimes were apparently connected. The assailants threw fuel bombs at the doors of both buildings and through a window of the synagogue, sparking a blaze that destroyed the synagogue's library. An unemployed Swiss man was arrested in connection with the attacks.

March 31, 2006 – Lausanne – Vandals broke into the synagogue of Lausanne and smashed ten window panels. Police are investigating. The synagogue had been previously vandalized, with neo-Nazi graffiti daubed over the building.

Tajikistan

September 13, 2006 – Dushanbe – Vandals attacked the last remaining synagogue in the city by attempting to set it on fire, the second attack on the site this month. A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the backyard of the building and burst into flames. Two youths were chased from the scene by two elderly occupants of the building whom were unharmed. On August 18, a similar incident occurred when attackers set a fire on the premises and fled.

Tunisia

March 10, 2006 – Tunis – At a ceremony celebrating the donation of the library of a Tunisian Jewish sociologist and researcher of the Tunisian Jewish community to Manouba University, students shouted anti-Semitic slogans and hit professors protecting the deceased historian’s daughter from assault. The university apologized for the incident while members of Jewish communities in attendance asked for sanctions against the perpetrators.

Turkey

August 21, 2003 – Istanbul - Yosef Yahya, a 35-year-old dentist, was discovered dead in his clinic. The murder was apprehended in March 2004 and admitted that he had killed Yahya out of anti-Semitic motivations.

November 15, 2003 - Istanbul – Truck bombings at two synagogues killed 25 people and wounded more than 300. The near-simultaneous bombings of the Neve Shalom and Beth Israel synagogues targeted Jews during Sabbath prayers. Turkish officials are investigating claims that an obscure terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda was involved.

Ukraine

May 23, 2004 – Kiev – More than 50 gravestones were vandalized in a Jewish cemetery. According to the chief rabbi of Kiev, headstones were broken and heavy old stones were thrown about. Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesman Viktor Korchinsky denied any acts of vandalism, saying the graves were destroyed "all by themselves, because they were too old."

March 23/24 -– Odessa – Vandals broke several windows of the Osipova Street Synagogue. No one was injured.

September 11, 2005: – Kiev -- A Ukrainian rabbi and his teenage son were beaten by a group of skinheads during a beer festival in Kiev. Police arrested two people on charges of hooliganism, drawing sharp criticism from Ukraine’s Jewish community.

August 29, 2005 – Kiev -- Two Jewish students from Kiev’s main synagogue were stabbed and severely beaten by a group of skinheads. The yeshiva students, both in their 20s, were assaulted with broken glass bottles. Local police launched an investigation into the attack.

June 13, 2005 – Kiev -- A Jewish community center and a Reform Jewish Center were vandalized. Graffiti on the latter included a swastika and anti-Semitic slogans.

May 2, 2005 – Dnepropetrovsk -- A synagogue was vandalized with a swastika and the words “Death to the Kikes!” painted on the walls.

April 2, 2005 – Zhitomir -- Two young men assaulted a Ukrainian rabbi, his son and two other members of the Jewish community as they left a Passover seder. The rabbi was beaten and robbed, suffering minor injuries.

March 17, 2005 - Kiev – Vandals painted a large black swastika on the wall of the historic Brodsky Synagogue.

July 17, 2006 - Kiev- The Babi Yar memorial was brutally vandalized. The monument, which was erected in 1991, memorializes the tens of thousands of Jews killed by the Nazis in the Babi Yar massacre in 1941. An unknown group destroyed the inscription plate on the menorah-shaped memorial.

June 10, 2006 – Sevastopol – A Holocaust memorial was smeared with pink paint and swastikas. It was the second time vandals have targeted the memorial this year.

May 4, 2006 – Simferopol – Vandals threw stones and stole a security camera at a synagogue. A video recording from another surveillance camera showed two men committing the attack. Police were investigating.

April 20, 2006 – Dnepropetrovsk – A 20-year-old rabbinical student was attacked by a group of skinheads. He was stabbed in the chest and suffered head injuries.

April 20, 2006 – Odessa – A Holocaust memorial was smeared with black paint, large swastikas and an anti-Semitic slogan. Police were investigating.

March 6, 2006 – Kiev – A Yeshiva student used an air-pellet gun to fend off four men on a Kiev subway who were on a drunken rampage and who kicked him to the ground while shouting anti-Semitic insults. The student managed to shoot one of the assailants in the face with the pellet gun, which he had purchased following an August 2005 attack against another Yeshiva student in Kiev. The assailants were arrested at the scene.

February 3, 2006 – Kiev – A man stormed into the Central Brodsky Synagogue in downtown Kiev and demanded to see the rabbi. Security guards found a knife on the man and police arrested him.

February 18, 2007 - Odessa - A monument to Holocaust victims and scores of Jewish graves were vandalized in the Black Sea town of Odessa. Unknown vandals desecrated the monument, erected on a site where thousands of Jews were killed and burned by the Nazis, with red swastikas and the message, “Congratulations on the Holocaust." Swastikas were spray-painted on more than 200 graves in the Odessa Jewish cemetery. Update: (March 7, 2007) Odessa police arrested and charged three men in their 20s who allegedly confessed to the crime.

January 8, 2007 – Kharkiv – The site of a former synagogue a memorial plaque commemorating Jews tortured to death by the Nazis in 1941 was vandalized with swastikas.

United Kingdom

November 23, 2003 - London - The windows of the Orthodox Edgware Synagogue had its windows broken in an assault police described as a hate crime. The synagogue was attacked with bricks after congregants had left at the end of the Sabbath.

November 21, 2003 - Medway - All 21 headstones in the Jewish section of Chatham municipal cemetery in Medway, Kent, were vandalized. Only the Jewish section of the graveyard was targeted, authorities said.

November 7, 2003 -- Manchester -- The Hillock Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Whitefield, near Manchester, was severely damaged in an arson attack. A fire service spokesman was quoted as saying that the blaze was deliberately set.

August 5, 2003 - Manchester - Vandals smashed and toppled 20 headstones in an attack at a Jewish cemetery in Prestwich, in Greater Manchester. Police are treating the incident at Rainsough Hebrew Burial Ground as a racially motivated. The cemetery has been targeted in the past.

July 8, 2003 – Southampton -- Eleven tombstones in the Jewish section of the Hollybrook cemetery were desecrated with Nazi slogans and swastikas. Six others were toppled. A spokesman for the Community Security Trust, which provides security and defense advice for the Jewish community across Britain, said it was the second attack on Jewish graves in Southampton in seven months. Police were investigating.

May 15, 2003 – London – Police discovered the desecration of 386 Jewish graves at the Plashet Cemetery in East Ham. The gravestones had been pushed over. Police are treating the incident as a racially motivated attack. In addition to three youths, all under 17 and who were subsequently released on bail, four more youths have been arrested and were being held in custody.

November 17, 2004 – Aldershot – Police announced that a Jewish cemetery in Hampshire, in southern England, had been desecrated over the course of a month. At least 15 tombstones were vandalized with swastikas and other Nazi symbols.

August 21/22, 2004 – Birmingham – Sixty Jewish gravestones were destroyed in the Witton cemetery. Community officials reported that stickers with the logo of the neo-Nazi National Front were found on some of the stones.

June 18, 2004 – London – A "suspicious fire" damaged the synagogue and headquarters of Aish HaTorah, a Jewish educational group, in Hendon. Two Torah scrolls were torn and desecrated in the attack and the synagogue and offices suffered serious smoke damage.

June 17, 2004 – London – An arson attack on a London area synagogue destroyed religious books, including some that had been smuggled out by Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis. A burning rag was thrown into the South Tottenham United Synagogue.

June 10, 2005 – London -- Vandals desecrated more than one hundred grave markers in a Jewish cemetery. Headstones were smashed, broken, pushed over, and piled on top of each other.

June 9, 2005 – Manchester -- More than 100 headstones were knocked over and smashed at a Jewish cemetery in Prestwich, Manchester.

January 17, 2005 – Aldershot - Swastikas and SS symbols were painted on 10 gravestones in the Jewish cemetery in Aldershot. Another grave was daubed with ‘CO18’ — the mark of the far-right group Combat 18. Police were investigating whether there was a link between the incident and similar acts of desecration of the same cemetery in preceding months.

January 7, 2005 –Stamford Hill – Police were investigating a series of anti-Semitic attacks against clearly identifiable Jews. On January 5, a Jewish man was attacked in a restaurant on Oldhill Street by a man who made a Nazi salute; a 49-year-old was headbutted in Leweston Place; and a 21-year-old was knocked to the ground as a gang tried to steal his jacket. On January 7, two 18-year-old Jewish men were confronted by a gang in Stamford Hill; one was punched in the face, while the other escaped unharmed. Authorities said the attacks followed a pattern of assaults that left four other Jews injured the previous month.

November 9, 2006 – London – A synagogue in the southern part of the city was defaced on the anniversary of Kristallnacht. Large posters with photographs of dead Palestinian women and children were plastered on the exterior walls of the building.

September 13, 2006 – Manchester – The Urmston Jewish cemetery was desecrated. The vandals smashed and knocked down some gravestones and painted anti-Semitic graffiti on others, leaving at least 30 stones damaged. Urmston cemetery has been similarly attacked in the past; this was the third such anti-Semitic attack on the cemetery in recent weeks.

August 17, 2006 – Wiltshire – A man was apprehended on suspicion of the attempted fire-bombing of a mosque and the painting of anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic graffiti. The man painted a swastika and the phrase, “Pakistanis and Jews go back to Auschwitz,” on the wall of the building. The man broke a window and threw a small bomb inside the building which failed to explode. The mosque was also attacked last September when similar graffiti was found on the building and gas tanks were found burning but unexploded outside.

August 11, 2006 – London – A 12-year-old Jewish girl was beaten unconscious on a public bus in front of bystanders who did nothing to stop it. A group of four girls and three boys boarded the bus after the girl, and one member of the group asked if she was Jewish. After she replied, “I’m English,” the four girls pushed her to the floor and repeatedly kicked her while their three male companions stood by, watching and guarding the area. The girl’s friend, who helped her to safety and was carrying rosary beads, was left untouched. The gang took the girl’s bracelet, and police have categorized the incident as a racially aggravated robbery.

July 31, 2006 – Glasgow – Garnethill Synagogue was vandalized with the word “Hizbollah” written on a road leading up to the building.

March 21, 2006 – Derby – Over 30 gravestones in the Jewish section of a cemetery in Derby were uprooted and smashed. According to police, two men were arrested on “suspicion of racially motivated criminal damage.” Although only 10 Jews are believed to live in Derby, many more are buried at the gravesite.

Uruguay

June 25, 2006 – Montevideo – A Holocaust memorial was vandalized several times during the past week in the capital of Montevideo. The government swiftly repudiated the recent desecrations with the mayor, Ricardo Ehrlich, ordering city workers to erase the graffiti and organizing an anti-hate demonstration at the memorial as workers cleaned the area.

Venezuela

August 6, 2006 – Caracas – The neighborhood of Los Chorros, which houses the main Jewish Day School and the Jewish Community Center, was vandalized. Walls and signs were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti that included the slogans, “Jews Dogs” and “Zionists Get Out.” The graffiti was signed by the Venezuelan Communist Party.

June 29, 2006 – Caracas – Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on walls outside of the main Sephardic synagogue that included the slogans, “Jews assassins,” “Live Palestine,” “Israel assassin,” “Bush = Israel assassin,” and “Socialism or Death.” The local Jewish community has reported the incident to the authorities, and the graffiti has been removed. The vandalism coincided with a speech by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that condemned Israel and defended the Hamas-led Palestinian government and Israel’s incursion into Gaza after the kidnapping of IDF solider Gilad Shalit.

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You know what? I read these things, and all I can think of is how so many of my fellow Jews are writing to me with kind thoughts, wishing me a happy and kosher Pesach. What kind of people can withstand this constant abuse and worse, for generation after generation after generation, and still be the kindest, most generous and loving folks you'll ever meet? How can it be that Jews all over the world, the world described by that long list of events, have been cleaning their houses for weeks, getting ready to be free. Once again. Full of hope and love, believing in freedom, and celebrating it year after year after year, no matter what. On whatever level it is celebrated, Pesach is still the most widely observed Jewish holiday of them all.

It's not that I haven't received kind wishes from non-Jews, I have, or that every Jew believes in Gd's promises, they don't. But there is a miracle right in front of our eyes, a miracle I wish the world could see. You read that list and you would imagine that the people who are the objects of that kind of hate would have become bitter and cynical. You read their history over the last century, over the last millennium, over the last three millenia, and you would imagine that they are so hurt and so angry that they can hardly bear to exist. But this is not so.

I talked to my friend Shirl today and she talked about how terrifying it is to live in Israel, threatened as it is on all sides, and by Iran, and in the next breath, she told me how to be a Jew in Jerusalem at Pesach is exciting beyond description. Her kitchen counters and refrigerator shelves are all covered. She's ready. Once again. To move from slavery to freedom, with family and friends, part of one people. Am Yisrael.

The Jewish people lives and thrives, and we can still be happy. That is the mystery and the miracle. And I am so pleased and proud to be part of it, to be counted among the Jews. And I wish you all a happy and kosher Pesach.