According to a report
by the Elie Wiesel National Holocaust Research Institute, antisemitic and anti-minority
manifestations have increased on the Internet during the coronavirus epidemic,
the institution said in a statement on Thursday.
The institution,
founded by the Romanian state, took stock of antisemitic manifestations between
January 2019 and April 2020, which violate the memory of the victims of the
Holocaust.
The authors
of the report noted with concern that antisemitic manifestations, the hate
speech that is creating real "hate communities" in the virtual world,
have proliferated on Romanian-language websites, especially social media. They
added that their discourse is generally directed against all minority
communities, but mainly against national and sexual minorities.
It was
noted that in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, articles have appeared
that the Jews and the state of Israel are behind the health care crisis.
"The
acceptance of Jews in Romanian society is higher than that of Hungarians or
Roma, but the report also confirms that latent antisemitism can be observed in
certain sections of society," the report states.
Attacks on
Jewish monuments and symbols are believed to be rare, but the way authorities
conduct investigations does not contribute to the Jewish community’s sense of
security, as they often identify natural causes or identify juvenile offenders
who cannot be held accountable.
