Austrian anti-Semitic attacks nearly doubled in 2014 -- watchdog

Anti-Semitic incidents nearly doubled in Austria last year, a Vienna-based watchdog group said.

The Forum Against Anti-Semitism recorded 255 incidents last year, compared to 137 in 2013, the watchdog group reported earlier this week.

It was the highest figure recorded since 2008, surpassing the previous record year of 2009 by more than 22 percent, or 55 incidents.

Similar increases have been recorded in Belgium and France during and following Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Of the 255 incidents documented in Austria, nine were physical attacks and 57 were cases of vandalism. Threats and insults that occurred on the street or in public spaces numbered 21 and cases online hate speech deemed by the watchdog to be of a criminal nature totaled in at 83.