Sweden Reports 53 Percent Spike in Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes

JERUSALEM, Israel – Sweden saw a 53 percent increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes last year compared to the number of incidents recorded in 2016, according to a report from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.

The report, which totaled the number of recorded anti-Semitic crimes in 2018, reveals that Sweden is becoming more dangerous to Jews.

There were 280 anti-Semitic hate crimes in 2018, a more than 50 percent jump from the 182 crimes reported in 2016.

The report did not detail who exactly is responsible for this increase in anti-Semitism, but said the data included "cases both when the offender belongs to the majority population and when the offender belongs to another minority group."

Sweden has seen an alarming uptick in overall hate crimes in that country.

The report found that the number of racially motivated crimes rose by 69 percent over 2016.

Sweden is not the only country in Europe witnessing a rise in anti-Semitism.

According to a report from the UK-based Community Security Trust (CST), the UK saw a record number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2018

"CST recorded 1,652 antisemitic incidents in the UK in 2018, the highest total that CST has ever recorded in a single calendar year. This is an increase of 16 percent from the 1,420 antisemitic incidents recorded by CST in 2017, which was itself a record annual total," the report said.

France's Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced in February that anti-Semitic attacks increased by 74 percent in 2018.

CBN News reported last year that the increase in European anti-Semitism was creating an "ethnic purge" in Europe. For many Jews, the solution is to flee Europe and move to Israel.

"There is concern in Hungary. There is concern in France. There is concern of a new and very ugly wave of anti-Semitism sweeping Western Europe and I think we will see more Jews coming to Israel," Alan Hoffman, CEO of The Jewish Agency, told CBN News.

"We hear of Jewish children being taunted at school, and so the family says, 'if this is what the future is going to look like, I don't think that this is what I would like to see for my children,'" Hoffman says, "and we see many many young people making a decision to leave.'"