With the economy worsening, B'nai Brith Canada fears disgruntled citizens are turning to a historic scapegoat to vent their anger and fear.

"Any time there's bad economic times, the Jews get blamed for it," said Marvin Kurz, national legal counsel for B'nai Brith Canada, which released yesterday an audit of reports of anti-Semitic incidents made to the group.

"The ancient tie between Jews and money that predates Shakespeare and Shylock continues to be stuck in some aspect of our collective memories."

In the audit released, B'nai Brith stated that anti-Semitic incidents in Canada jumped by 8.9 per cent last year to 1,135, a high for the 27 years the group has recorded the reports. Almost half, 547, were in the last four months of the year as the economy worsened

"Historically, anti-Semitism has increased in this type of climate, as disgruntled citizens seek a scapegoat to blame for their personal difficulties," the audit states.

"Cyberspace has indeed been buzzing with conspiracy theories linking Jews to the global financial crisis, with Canadian opportunists being just as active as bigots elsewhere."

The audit reports 405 incidents of Web-based hate activity with a Canadian connection in 2008, a 30.6 per cent increase over the 310 cases in 2007.

"Whenever something happens in Israel, anti-Semitism in Canada and around the world increases," added Kurz.

Middle East tensions – often a trigger for anti-Semitic behaviour in past years – were largely absent throughout the fall, the audit states. However, once fighting broke out in Gaza in December, there was another spike in incidents.

Across Canada, there were 151 incidents in December, 70 of which coincided with fighting in Gaza and 36 of which occurred in the closing days of the year, as tensions in the war-torn area heightened.

Kurz says that while most of the anti-Semitism he saw when he began with B'nai Brith 20 years ago was from the right wing, he now sees an increase in anti-Semitism on the extreme left, stemming from opposition to Israeli policies.

In the audit, B'nai Brith calls for tougher restrictions on racist groups and their symbols, and suggests that racist motivations be given greater prominence during the investigation of a crime, rather than just at sentencing.

More than half the total incidents, or 682, took place in Ontario, a 17.2 per cent increase. Of those, 538 were in the GTA, a 26 per cent jump.

Sixty-two were in Ottawa.

B'nai Brith tracks three forms of anti-Semitic behaviour – harassment, vandalism and violence – using a national hotline to collect data.

Harassment, including an incident in which a Toronto woman was called a "Christ killer" by her boss, was by far the biggest group, with 803 incidents reported.

There were also 318 cases of vandalism, including a Barrie synagogue that was defaced with the word Nazi just prior to the Jewish high holidays.

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Fourteen cases of violence were reported, including a young Jewish boy and his mother who were threatened and taunted with anti-Semitic slurs on a Winnipeg bus.