Cases of anti-Semitism in Brazil have grown more than tenfold since the Hamas attack on Israel, on October 7, and the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, according to a report by the Brazilian Israeli Confederation (Conib) obtained by CNN .
Last month, the organization detected 467 cases of messages on social networks or public events offensive to the Jewish people, compared to 44 that occurred in the same period in 2022, an increase of 1,061%.
All of these posts or statements, in the opinion of lawyers linked to Conib, characterize a crime of prejudice, a non-bailable and imprescriptible offense (there is no legal deadline for the perpetrators to be punished by the courts).
In October, 15 complaints were received per day, an average much higher than that recorded a year ago, when there were less than two cases per day.
Therefore, a series of crime reports have been presented to Federal and State Public Ministries and police stations specializing in racial and intolerance crimes throughout Brazil.
From public figures to social media users who comment on posts, they have been the target of legal proceedings.
Lawyer Andrea Vainer, director of Conib, explains that there has always been voluntary action by legal professionals in detecting prejudiced expressions against the Jewish community and that these contents do not fit into legitimate criticism, for example, of a government or the way they are conducted military campaigns.
There are more than 40 lawyers working on writing and presenting crime news based on the identification of what can be characterized as a crime of prejudice.
“We are dealing here with people who make analogies to Nazism and Adolf Hitler, or who attack the Jewish people in a prejudiced and generalized way”, says the lawyer, who points out a “scary” increase in this type of demonstration since the terrorist attack that occurred in October 7th and Israel’s reaction against Hamas.
“In the week before the conflict, we did not register any complaints, but in the first week there were already more than twice as many comments on the networks and anti-Semitic messages that came to our attention, either through official channels or through informal means”, says Andrea .
Mobilization
In addition to the work of lawyers, members of the Jewish community have compiled cases of hate speech and intolerance against Jews to support legal complaints.
Virna Wulkan is one of the volunteers who works to monitor social networks and other public content in this regard, including graffiti and vandalism. Like her, there are almost 750 people across the country.
“The legal basis for the actions is the same legislation that punishes crimes of racism and was toughened in January this year”, explains Virna, in reference to the text sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“It is important that people know how to differentiate the policies of a State or a government of a people. There are Jews who are critical of the policies of the State of Israel, it is not only not fair but also criminal to make comments and attacks on the community as a whole.”
The growth of anti-Semitism and offensive content has been recorded in several countries around the world, such as the cases documented by Conib and which could become criminal actions in Brazil.
In New York, the Antisemitism Cyber Security Monitoring System had detected a 1200% increase in prejudiced posts against Jews in the first week after the start of the conflicts, a percentage close to that seen in Brazil.
See also: Children know there is war, says Brazilian woman who works in kindergarten in Israel
Source: CNN Brasil
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