A study came out of Tel Aviv University this week reporting that the number of anti-Semitic incidents worldwide doubled in 2009 from the previous year, with the biggest spikes in the UK and France. Operation Cast Lead has been cited as the major source of the increase, but the report also points a finger at web culture as a facilitator.

Strong reactions to the Gaza War incited a surge in anti-Semitism, particularly in Western European countries home to large Muslim and Jewish communities: 374 violent incidents were registered in the UK and 195 in France, the sum of which constitutes about half of last year's anti-Semitic violence and vandalism worldwide. “The year in the wake of Operation Cast Lead was the worst since monitoring of anti-Semitic manifestations began two decades ago … The flow of materials to the Institute was so great and continuous that the decrease in anti-Semitic activities in 2008 from 2007 became a thing of the past,” the report states.

While the report emphasizes an increase in the amount of anti-Israel graffiti in Western Europe – slogans like, “Slay Jewish pigs” were publicly displayed in the UK, for instance -- it also lays blame on the rise of social media networks for creating a sort of online Congo line of hate. Oh, and ignorant youths are at fault, too, because they're the ones who use the web, according to the report.

“In the world of web culture where a flood of materials and information compete for attention, the bluntest and most extreme expressions are those that attract the eye and the ear. A good example is the anti-Semitism on social networks such as Facebook (Antisemitism 2.0), which cast a variety of anti-Semitic material to which anyone can contribute," the report says. "These tendencies are coupled with rampant ignorance of political and historical facts among contemporary youth.”

But let's not forget that those working to combat anti-Seminitism use the internet, too. An organization called the Jewish Internet Defense Force was founded a couple of years back to take on anti-Semitism in social media networks and has sought retaliation online by doing things like hacking a popular anti-Israeli Facebook group. And when compared with the offline acts of violence that arise from religious discrimination, some online crusades seem a favorable alternative.