Anti-Semitism in Europe: a Growing Danger

ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE: A GROWING DANGER LAWRENCE GROSSMAN

PROTESTERS SET THE STAR OF DAVID

ON FIRE DURING AN ANTI-ISRAEL

RALLY IN ATHENS IN JANUARY 2009.

ANYONE WHO HITS SOMEONE WEARING

A SKULLCAP IS HITTING US ALL. ANYONE

WHO DAMAGES A JEWISH GRAVESTONE

IS DISGRACING OUR CULTURE. ANYONE WHO

ATTACKS A SYNAGOGUE IS ATTACKING

THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR FREE SOCIETY.

GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL AT A RALLY IN BERLIN

AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2014.

Table of Contents

1 The Latest Anti-Semitic Attacks in Europe

3 Putting Things in Context

4 By the Numbers: Anti-Semitisms Rise

6 Why Is This Happening and Where Is It Coming From?

10 Combating Anti-Semitism in Europe

11 AJCs Call to Action

A reporter walked down the street in Malmo, Sweden, in January 2015, wearing a kippah and a

Star of David to see how people would react. He

was cursed, pelted with eggs, and hit, and fled

for his life.

A Dutch Jew walking down the street in The Hague on Friday night, September 5, 2014, was cursed

and almost run over by a man riding a motorized

scooter. Reporting the incident to police, he noted

that this kind of hatred had made him decide not

to wear a kippah in public.

In a suburb of Paris, three men broke into the apartment of a Jewish couple on December 1,

2014. One raped the woman while the others

demanded cash, one of them saying, Tell us

where you hide the money. You Jews always

have money.

In Paris itself the previous July, anti-Israel demonstrations in the wake of the Gaza war

turned explicitly anti-Semitic, as mobs attacked

synagogues and the cry Death to the Jews

was heard. This was nothing new. On the night

of January 26, 2014the eve of International

Holocaust Memorial Daya scheduled anti-

government march in Paris similarly turned into

an anti-Semitic rally as the crowd chanted Jews,

France is not yours! Jews, get out of France!

Israel out of Europe! Piss off Jew, France is

not for you!

A cold-blooded killer calmly walked into the Jewish Museum in Brussels, Belgium, on May 24,

2014, and shot to death four people.

BLATANT ANTI-SEMITISM HAS RESURFACED IN EUROPE, WHERE INCIDENTS IN RECENT MONTHS HAVE RUN THE GAMUT FROM ASSAULT TO MURDER:

A GIRL STANDS NEXT TO

FLOWERS AT THE JEWISH

MUSEUM IN BRUSSELS ON

MAY 25, 2014, THE DAY AFTER

FOUR PEOPLE WERE SHOT

TO DEATH THERE.

1 ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE: A GROWING DANGER

Another assassin shot and killed Dan Uzan, a member of the Jewish community standing guard at the entrance of a Copenhagen synagogue

on February 15, 2015, where a bat mitzvah was being celebrated. Hours

earlier the assassin had attacked a local caf hosting a discussion on

Islam and free speech, killing a Swedish cartoonist.

And little over a month earlier, on January 9, a gunman took control of a kosher supermarket in Paris, holding everyone inside hostage.

He killed four of them before police shot him. Two days earlier his

two accomplices killed 12 at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo

satirical magazine.

The American Jewish reggae star Matisyahu, scheduled to perform at the Rototom Sunsplash Festival in Spain, was abruptly disinvited after

he refused to express support for a Palestinian state. An international

outcry forced the sponsors to reinvite him, but when Matisyahuwho

is not an Israelicame on stage, he was met by curses and obscenities

from people waving Palestinian flags. Theres definitely an anti-Semi-

tism thats there, he said afterward.

As of September 2015, the new head of the British Labour Party is Jeremy Corbyn. The Jewish Chronicle, the Jewish communitys most

respected paper and by no means a disseminator of alarmist rhetoric,

editorialized that there is overwhelming evidence of his association

with, support forand even in one case, alleged funding ofHolocaust

deniers, terrorists and some outright anti-Semites. The Jewish Chronicle

found it little short of astonishing that a man who chooses to associate

with racist and extremists is about to become the leader of one of our

two main parties and could conceivably become Prime Minister.

BESIDE THE PHYSICAL THREATS AND VIOLENCE, THERE HAVE ALSO BEEN OTHER INCIDENTS IN EUROPE THAT AROUSE JEWISH CONCERN:


ON THE MORNING OF JANUARY 9, 2015, AS NEWS BROKE

OF A HOSTAGE SITUATION AT A KOSHER SUPERMARKET

IN PARIS, AJC SPRANG INTO ACTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

@AJCGLOBALS TOP TWEET INSPIRED THE VIRAL

SOLIDARITY HASHTAG #JESUISJUIF (I AM A JEW).

THE IMPORT OF THESE ALARMING EVENTS SHOULD NEITHER BE

MINIMIZED NOR SENSATIONALIZED.

On the one hand, they are not a mere passing aberration, but rather the

latest phase of a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Europe that began more

than a decade ago and shows no sign of abating. It should come as no

surprise to learn that emigration of Jews from the continent, to Israel

and elsewhere, is accelerating. While almost all of the recent incidents

of violence were carried out by young men from Muslim backgrounds,

surveys indicate that there are two other subgroups that are especially

hostile to Jewspolitical extremists of the right and the left.

THIS IS NOT THE 1930s

On the other hand, the recent anti-Semitic manifestations do not

mark a return to the 1930s and 1940s. Nowhere in Europe have Jews

been deprived of their civil rights or their livelihoods. Nowhere are

openly anti-Semitic political parties respectable, let alone influential.

Furthermore, public opinion strongly opposes attacks on Jews. Most

important, European leaders unanimously condemn anti-Semitism. The

most eloquent expression of this has come from French Prime Minister

Manuel Valls, who said: To understand what the idea of the republic is

about, you have to understand the central role played by the emancipa-

tion of the Jews. It is a founding principle. If 100,000 French people of

Spanish origin were to leave, I would never say that France is not France

anymore. But if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France.

The French Republic will be judged a failure.

IF 100,000 JEWS LEAVE, FRANCE WILL NO LONGER BE FRANCE. THE FRENCH REPUBLIC WILL BE JUDGED A FAILURE. FRENCH PRIME MINISTER MANUEL VALLS


NEVERTHELESS, JEWS ARE WORRIED, AND FOR GOOD REASON.

The EUs Agency for Fundamental (FRA) issued a report in November

2013 of Jewish perceptions and experiences in eight countries that

collectively contain more than 90% of the EUs Jewish population.

Two-thirds of the Jews said that anti-Semitism was a serious problem,

and three-quarters believed that it had gotten worse over the previous

five years.

A quarter of the respondents had experienced anti-Semitic harassment

of some kindprimarily verbal, in the mail or over the internetthough

only 4% had been subjected to physical violence. More than three-quar-

ters of the Jews who had been harassed did not contact the police,

believing that it would do no good. Close to 40% do not go out of their

houses wearing symbols of their Jewishness for fear of trouble, and 23%

said they stay away from Jewish events for the same reason. Nearly a

third of the sample said that the rise of anti-Semitism had made them

consider emigration. The FRA report showed particularly high rates of

Jewish concern in France, Belgium, and Hungary.


IN FRANCE, SYNAGOGUES

AND JEWISH SCHOOLS HAVE

RECEIVED PROTECTION FROM

THE MILITARY.

1/3 OF EUROPEAN JEWS HAVE CONSIDERED LEAVING THE COUNTRIES OF THEIR BIRTH BECAUSE OF RISING ANTI-SEMITISM.

JEW, JEW, COWARDLY PIG,

COME ON OUT AND

FIGHT ALONE.

CHANT BY BERLIN PROTESTERS DURING ANTI-ISRAEL DEOMONSTRATIONS IN THE

SUMMER OF 2014.

HUNGARY

91% OF JEWS

FEEL THAT ANTI-

SEMITISM HAS

INCREASED IN THE

PAST FIVE YEARS.

GERMANY

42% OF JEWS HEARD

ALLEGATIONS THAT

JEWS EXPLOIT HOLOCAUST

VICTIMHOOD FOR THEIR

OWN PURPOSES.

SWEDEN

50% OF JEWS

AVOID WEARING

ITEMS IN PUBLIC

IDENTIFYING THEM

AS JEWISH.

FRANCE

60% OF JEWS

WORRY ABOUT

BEING PHYSICALLY

ATTACKED BECAUSE

THEY ARE JEWS.

62%

BELGIUM

62% OF JEWS

FEEL THAT THEY ARE

BLAMED FOR DECISIONS

MADE BY THE ISRAELI

GOVERNMENT.

60% 42% 91% 50%

THE EUS AGENCY FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS 2013 REPORT

ON JEWISH EXPERIENCES IN EIGHT EUROPEAN NATIONS

EUROPE HAS UNDERGONE RADICAL DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE.

There has been a massive influx of Muslimssix million live in France

alone, ten times the number of Jews there. With hundreds of thousands

of refugees from Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere in the Middle East seeking

entry into Europe, the situation is likely to be exacerbated.

Also, the fading hopes for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement are

widely blamed on Israels continued control of and building on the

West Bank, and local Jews are seen as Israeli surrogates.

And the economic downturn that began in 2008 has hit certain

countries especially hard, triggering a feeling of helplessness among

the poor and unemployed, encouraging the search for scapegoats,

and providing opportunities for demagogues.

Another factor of immense importance is the proliferation of digital

and social media. Extremists who would have had minimal impact when

people got their news in print or on radio or television can now reach

millions via their websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and YouTube.

The anonymous culture of social media has also given license to many to

engage in hateful rhetoric shunned in polite society. Take for instance

the story surrounding the hashtag #UnBonJuif (A Good Jew), which

became the third most popular hashtag in France for a time in 2013.

The hashtag took off after it inspired what Le Monde described as

a campaign of anti-Semitic jokes using the phrase. Popular

tweets included:

A good Jew is a dead Jew.

A good Jew is a slave.

How many Jews can fit in a Volkswagen? Two in the back, two in the front, and 100 in the ashtray.

WHY IS ANTI-SEMITISM RESURFACING IN EUROPE PRECISELY NOW?


NEO-NAZISM IS A FRINGE PHENOMENON IN MODERN EUROPE,

and with the fall of communism, the nations of the European Union

are representative democraciesso what explains the resurgence of

anti-Semitism on the continent?

While Nazi policies against the Jews were the most devastating and

far-reaching ever devised, the history of anti-Semitism in Europe shows

great variety and complexity. Targeting Jews has served many different

purposes over the years. The very term anti-Semitism, for instance, was

coined in 1879 to denote a new form of opposition to Jews not rooted

in Christianity, but rather in the Jews alleged control over the economy

and the government. At various times, Jew-haters have said that Jews

are clannish or money-hungry or killed Jesus, that they are the bearers

of capitalism, of modernity, of socialism or communism, that they are

disloyal to their government, undermine civilization, plotas Elders of

Zionto take over the world, or to racially pollute the populace. The

specific arguments of anti-Semites tell us more about their fears and

insecurities than about the Jews.

WHERE IS THIS ANTI-SEMITISM COMING FROM?


WHAT IS FRIGHTENING AT THE MOMENT, BECAUSE OF THE RISE OF ISLAMIST EXTREMISM, IS THAT YOU SEE A NEW THREATA NEW ANTI-SEMITISMAND NOT THE TRADITIONAL ANTI-SEMITISM. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON

PROTESTERS AT AN

ANTI-ISRAEL RALLY IN 2014

DISPLAY THE QUENELLE,

A REVERSE NAZI SALUTE.

1 Extreme Nationalist Political Movements Most similar to the prewar anti-Semitic groups

are the extreme nationalist political movements

that spew xenophobia and hint darkly at

Jewish control of their countries. The most

significant of these are the Jobbik party in

Hungary and Golden Dawn in Greece, neither

of which are members of their government

coalitions. Jobbik has drawn support for its

strongly anti-Roma agenda, and in the national

election of 2014 attracted over 20% of the vote,

making it Hungarys third largest party.

In Greece, the countrys economic problems

have helped Golden Dawn find support, and it

has folded anti-Semitic conspiracy theories

into its thuggish agenda. The previous Greek

government cracked down hard on party leaders

and declared Golden Dawn a criminal enterprise.

The party received 7% of the vote in the

2015 election.

2 Elements of the Arab and Muslim Population In Western Europe, much of the antagonism

toward Jews comes from elements in the grow-

ing Arab and Muslim population, which is itself

the victim of discrimination on the part of the

majority society. In the FRA report, 27% of Jews

who had experienced anti-Semitic harassment

said the perpetrators had Muslim extremist

views, more than any other group cited.

It is people of Arab and Muslim origin who

constitute much of the mass following for

Dieudonne Mbala Mbala, the black comedian

in France who has become the public face of

anti-Semitism in that country and beyond, and

whose Quenelle gesture has become an

anti-Semitic calling-card.


SUPPORTERS OF GOLDEN DAWN, A GREEK

POLITICAL PARTY, OPENLY ESPOUSE

ANTI-SEMITISM.

TODAY AS WELL, ANTI-SEMITISM IN DEMOCRATIC EUROPE

COMES IN A NUMBER OF VARIETIES, SOME TRANSPARENT,

OTHERS MORE SUBTLE. Four distinct forms of the phenomenon

are readily discernable. And despite ideological differences, those

espousing the different anti-Jewish causes will sometimes

cooperate with each other against the common Jewish enemy.

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS IN PARIS HOVER

AROUND A SWASTIKA AT A RALLY IN AUGUST

2014, DURING THE CONFLICT IN GAZA.

3 Anti-Israel Sentiment Antagonism toward Jews in Europe because of their real or purported

association with Israel encompasses a much

broader sector of the population than just the

Muslim community.

Local Jews are often held responsible for the

policies of the Israeli government, such as

construction activity in the West Bank settle-

ments and security-based restrictions on the

movements of Palestinians. These and other

Israeli measures are imputed to European Jews,

creating pressure on them to explicitly distance

themselves from Israel or suffer consequences

for not doing so.

Europeans who engage in such Israel-bashing,

or who go further and question the legitimacy

of Zionism and the Jewish state will often indig-

nantly deny they are anti-Semitic. But singling

out Israel for condemnation when other countries

get a free pass for far worse actions suggests

anti-Semitic bias, whether conscious or not.

As the Belgian writer Jean Amery put it,

anti-Zionism contains anti-Semitism like a

cloud contains a storm.

4 Association of Jews with Perceived Barbaric Religious Practices

There are organized movements in Europe

to severely limit or ban kosher slaughter and

infant circumcision, two Biblically-based Jewish

religious practices without which the practice of

Jewish life would be impossible.

Several countries have outlawed kosher slaughter

(which is done without prior stunning), Poland

being the most recent. The anti-circumcision

cause made headlines in Germany when a local

judge ruled against the practice, and action by

the federal parliament was needed to override

the decision. There have been strong anti-cir-

cumcision campaigns in a number of European

countries, and the Parliamentary Assembly of

the Council of Europewhich, to be sure, plays

only an advisory rolepassed a resolution in 2013

urging an end to infant circumcision when not

medically indicated.

Indeed, restrictions on these rituals threaten

Islam as well, which requires halal slaughter

and circumcision. Even if the motives of those

pressing for legal bans are not racist, the

heated public discussions they have engendered

frequently bring out strongly anti-Semitic and

anti-Muslim rhetoric.


PROTESTORS IN POLAND CALL FOR THE

OUTLAWING OF KOSHER SLAUGHTER.

IN THE SUMMER OF 2014, PROTESTS IN

EUROPE AGAINST ISRAELI ACTIONS DURING

THE GAZA CONFLICT OFTEN DEVOLVED INTO

DEMONSTRATIONS OF ANTI-SEMITIC HATE.

GOVERNMENT LEADERS MUST SPEAK OUT FORTHRIGHTLY

against anti-Semitic acts and rhetoric, and strictly enforce laws against

hate speech whether delivered in person, in writing, or on the Internet.

At the same timeand this is no easy mattercare must be taken to

avoid making anti-Semitic leaders into heroes and martyrs in the eyes

of their followers. Municipal, regional, and national law-enforcement

agencies should inform the public that they will carefully monitor

and fully investigate all complaints of anti-Semitic harassment, and

prosecute the guilty parties to the fullest extent of the law.

In 2005 the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia

(EUMC) issued a Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, which sought to

clarify connections between some types of denunciation of Israel and

anti-Semitism. It was subsequently adopted by the U.S. Department of

State and Parliamentary Commissions in Canada and the UK. It stated

that while criticizing Israel in the same ways other countries were criti-

cized was perfectly legitimate, denying the Jewish people their right to

self-determination, imposing double standards on Israel not expected

or demanded of any other democratic nation, imputing symbols and

images associated with classical anti-Semitism to Israel, comparing

Israeli policies to those of the Nazis, and holding Jews collectively

responsible for actions of the State of Israel cross the line into an-

ti-Semitism. This definition represents a helpful standard that should

be applied across the board, including by countries, leaders, diplomats,

and elected officials.

In addition, Israel and the pro-Israel community must do a better job of

interpreting Zionism, and the challenges and contributions of the State

of Israel, to the people of Europe, while Jewish organizations should

similarly explicate the religious significance of infant circumcision and

the kosher laws, and their beneficial or benign impact. And while neither

economic and social dislocation nor political grievances justify acts of

bigotry, policies that ease the acculturation of Arab and Muslim residents

into their societies and combat alienation and extremism, and the con-

tinued support for a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,

will also help reduce manifestations of anti-Semitism in Europe.

THERE IS NO SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THIS COMPLEX PROBLEM, ONLY MULTIPLE STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS ITS VARIED MANIFESTATIONS.


IN MAY 2015, AJC CONVENED A Defining Moment for Europe, a

strategy conference for countering the rising tide of anti-Semitism in

Europe. It took place just down the street from the European Parliament

in Brussels. There, in the presence of government officials, diplomats,

and community leaders from across the continent (25 of the 28 EU

member states were represented, plus the U.S. and Canada), AJC

presented a Call to Action for European governments to address the

intensifying crisis of anti-Semitism within their borders. The document

contained suggestions for heightened visibility of the fight against

anti-Semitism, increased security at Jewish institutions, robust

counter-radicalization efforts, and the monitoring of social media for

anti-Semitic content.

The full document can be accessed at AJC.org/CallToAction.

A Defining Moment for Europe: AJC Strategy Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism

5 MAY 2015 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

AJC CALL TO ACTION

A CALL TO ACTION


AJC Mission:

To enhance the well-being of the

Jewish people and Israel, and to advance

human rights and democratic values

around the world

AJC.org

facebook.com/ajcglobal

@AJCGlobal

Anti-Semitism in Europe: a Growing Danger

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