E/CN.4/1997/71 page 12 by the Jew. This notion of world Jewish domination is disseminated by all means of modern communication, especially the Internet, which legally is still accessible to everyone. “1. Decline in violent acts “A considerable decrease in violence directed against Jews in Western Europe was registered in 1995 at the database of the Project for the Study of Anti-Semitism. This followed four years of a steady increase, most notably in Western Europe. The exceptions in the Western world are Canada, Australia and Sweden. In the Commonwealth of Independent States, especially Russia, even the lack of full and reliable information cannot obscure the steady increase in violence. The 1994 level in Eastern Europe was maintained in 1995, and very few cases of violence were registered in Latin America. The decline was especially significant in the category of attacks and attempted attacks with the potential to cause loss of life. “Not all the reasons for this decline are discernible; in fact, the ups and downs of anti-Semitism have never been fully understood. Yet, one might assume that at least in part it is the result of more stringent enforcement of existing and new anti-racist and anti-terrorist laws, brought about through joint efforts of Jewish and other national and international organizations and agencies, ranging from the Anti-Defamation League and the World Jewish Congress to the European Union and the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and from security services to parliaments and juridical associations. “Since the beginning of the 1990s extreme right-wingers and Muslim extremists have been the two main elements perpetrating violence against Jews in Western Europe. While right-ring extremists were behind many acts of harassment and vandalism against communal sites and Jewish property, violent attacks with the intent of causing bodily harm were perpetrated in most cases by Muslim extremists. The latter factor has not been taken into account in various assessments dealing with anti-Semitism in Western Europe. “From the beginning of the 1990s, a clear correlation between dramatic events in the Middle East connected to the Arab-Israeli conflict and a rise in the number of attacks against Jews was observed. In 1991, in the wake of the Gulf war, there was a marked increase in attacks against Jewish targets. The deportation of 415 Hamas activists to Lebanon in January 1993 and the Hebron massacre in March 1994 led immediately to a significant rise in violence against Jews in Western Europe. In 1995 no similar event occurred in the Middle East that could lead to a significant rise in violent activities by Arab and Muslim extremists ...” “2. The Jewish stereotype “The image of the Jew as a subversive element aiming at 'world Jewish domination' remains at the core of various extremist ideas. In Japan, popular books warn against Jewish and Zionist plots to use their