By TPS • 19 April, 2020

Several anti-Semitic events occurred last week in Europe and the US, just days before Israel is set to mark its national Holocaust Remembrance Day and as a senior Israeli official warned of mounting global Jew-hatred.

In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the memorial for famous Holocaust victim Anna Frank was desecrated and vandals destroyed a tree planted in memory of Anna Frank.

In Immenstadt im Allgäu, Germany, “F*** YAHUDIS” was spray-painted in an underpass.

These events come as a wave of anti-Semitic accusations blaming Jews of spreading the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic is growing.

Deputy Chairman of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Haguel warned that “incitement against Jews in the world is rising year after year.”

He demanded that governments “in all countries in the world” step up their actions in the fight against anti-Semitism.

“Jews live in fear and hide their identity and the responsibility for protecting Jews rests with the heads of state,” he stated over the weekend.

“We in the World Zionist Organization will lend a hand as needed to the heads of the Jewish communities in the world to combat these phenomena. Jews need to walk with their heads raised everywhere in the world,” he said.

An internal report by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) revealed last month that anti-Semitism is rising around the world as a direct result of the spread of the Coronavirus.

A sharp rise was detected globally, with the US, Germany, and France seeing the largest increase. The MFA stated that it was working closely with foreign governments to address the problem. A range of conspiracy theories is blaming Jews or Israel for the outbreak of the virus, sparking hatred against local Jewish communities.

Examples of theories being spread included talk of a Jewish takeover of the global economy, Jewish profits from the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, a Jewish conspiracy to reduce the world’s population and the novel Coronavirus as an Israeli bio-weapon.

Similarly, the UK-based Anti-Semitism watchdog Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA) reported last month that anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are spreading online and in international media, claiming “Jews and Zionists” have “organized and engineered Coronavirus” as part of a scheme to “design the world, seize countries and neuter the world’s population.”

Twitter has been a hub for Corona-based conspiracy theories, with Israel’s ongoing efforts to develop a vaccine also seen as “proof” for the “Zionist plot” by several users.

Jews frequently find themselves being portrayed as sinister perpetrators of conspiracy theories, bringing disaster upon the world to expand their power and achieve their goal of world dominance. As the Black Plague spread across Europe in the 14th century, Jews were made responsible for the epidemic by many, resulting in attacks on Jewish communities.