In March, an Islamist gunman in Toulouse, France, murdered three Jewish children as well as one of their fathers in a shooting spree outside of a school. The crime was widely condemned (especially when at first it was thought to be the work of a neo-Nazi rather than a Muslim), but the link between this outbreak of deadly violence and the rising tide of anti-Semitic incitement throughout Europe was clear. Yet, rather than the murders signaling a turning point in the battle against Jew-hatred in France and Western Europe, it may have been just an indication that anti-Semitic incidents are becoming commonplace, a conclusion that has been reinforced by a shocking increase in attacks on French Jews since March.
Nevertheless, the latest indication of the dark climate in France is all the more painful because it involves the same school that was targeted by the Toulouse shooter. As the European Jewish Press reports, on Wednesday night, a 17-year-old student from the same Ozar HaTorah school that was the site of the March murders was attacked in a Lyon train station. The student, who was wearing “identifiable religious symbols” was set upon and beaten and subjected to insults. The teenager reported the attack and the assailants were caught, but the message from the incident is clear: it is open season in France on Jews who publicly identify themselves in this manner. If even after the shock over what happened in Toulouse violence against Jews is going up, it is no longer possible to put it down to the actions of isolated individuals. The incessant drumbeat of anti-Semitism— often rooted in anti-Zionist prejudice against Israel and all who publicly identify with the Jewish state and Jewish identity — throughout Europe is inciting violence that can no longer be ignored.
The problem here is not just al-Qaeda sympathizers such as the Toulouse shooter or the importation of Jew-hatred from the Middle East that have taken root among French Muslims. It is the way that such views have melded with attacks from intellectuals on Zionism, Israel and its supporters in such a way as to dignify the sordid hatred flung at Jews on the streets of Europe. There is a long and dishonorable history of anti-Semitism in France, but what we are witnessing now is an updated version of traditional bias that is casting a shadow over the future of the Jewish community there.
It was bad enough when such sentiments were linked with the traditional right in France and then Muslim immigrants, but nowadays Jew-hatred is part of the parlance of so-called human rights groups that vent bias against the Jewish state. Thus, while the French government condemns such incidents, anti-Semitism continues to grow, and Jews must now wonder whether it is safe to go about wearing anything that might give away their identity. That is no way for anyone to live in a democracy, but that is the situation in France. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to envision much of a future for Jews in Europe.
I recall very vividly when Menachem Begin told the French government that Israel would teach French Jews how to protect themselves against anti-semitic attacks and supply whatever was necessary to do so. The French reacted with horror and outrage, but the attacks were stopped in their tracks.
French Jew hatred is hardly new. I remember a conversation with some young Jews in Israel in the 1970s in which we all agreed that we would expected the holocaust to originate in France rather than Germany.
"The incessant drumbeat of anti-Semitism—often rooted in anti-Zionist prejudice against Israel…" n nI'd say the converse. The incessant drumbeat of anti-Zionist prejudice against Israel is often rooted in anti-Semitism. In fact, I'd go even further and say anti-Zionist prejudice against Israel is usually rooted in anti-Semitism. n nEurope has always been anti-Semitic. When one considers that tolerance is the sufferance of what one does not approve, even such refuges for Jews as Holland and Scandinavia cannot be excepted from generalization. Anti-Semitism is like syphilis or malaria — it can be controlled but never rooted out. It will always be lurking in the marrow. n nAnti-Zionism is just a convenient peg for anti-Semites to hang their hats. In earlier times, other pegs were used: the money-lenders, the cosmopolitans, the avant-garde…. Now, because Israel is the Jewish state, anti-Zionism has become the unambiguous vector for the foul bacillus of anti-Semitism, and the left has become the carrier of choice.
I completely agree. Which of these people really has a principled objection to the establishment of a Jewish state in the historic land of the Jews? The answer is, virtually no one. The issue is, and always has been, Jew-hatred. It is also a lesson, Mr Tobin, on what happens when a nation loses control of its borders. It is an act of cultural suicide. You may have been able to shame the old France, but you have no chance of that now.
The story of Toulouse illustrates how endemically anti-Semitic Europe has facilitated the metastasis of constitutionally anti-Semitic Islam.
Jews should leave europe en mass. Let europe go down the drain and choke on their moslems. The Jews should go to Israel or some non-european country that is happy to have them, so they can contribute Jewish genius to that country. I hope many will come to the US or Canada. Korea will also be happy to have them.
Most Europeans Jews do not want to hear the message.Most Europeans have been and remain antisemitic. Let us not play with words: there is no fundamental difference between antisemitism and anti Zionism. The root is the same. Those used to submissive Jews want them to remain submitted. "Jealousy" is the root cause of all the problems.
It's not European sentiment, it's from the muslim immigrants. Muslims have always been unapologetically anti-semitic since the very first day of islam. The Quran calls jews 'apes and pigs' and says that they should eradicated from the face of the earth (along with all other non-muslims). Mohammad started his 'religion' by attacking the defenseless Jews in Yathrib (Medina), stealing everything they owned, murdering thier men, and enslaving/raping their women. I find it ironic that in many European states it's is a crime to deny the Holocaust or be a member of a neo-nazi party, but muslims are allowed to preach much more caustic and violent views, becuase islam is a 'religion'. I suppose it will take a French civil war, or a million body count jihadist attact before Europe realizes that islam is every bit as dangerous as nazism.
There has been Antisemitism in Europe pretty near as long as their have been Jews in Europe. It is not an import of radical Islamic immigrants, they are just bringing more coals to Newcastle.
Fight back. n nThat is all.
Europe has reverted to the 1930s. Unfortunately, it has even come to the US-albeit to a lesser extent. When will the civilized world stand up and say enough is enough?
Anti-Semitism is what happens after our people decide to "reach out" to our enemies. The question is why we continue to behave this way.
The enemy of America is not just someone with whom we disagree, as the cultural relativists would have it. The enemy is evil. n nIran, North Korea and the ummah are not evil because they are our enemies, but are our enemies because they are evil. And insofar as peoples willingly give evil states and ideologies allegiance — as the vast majority of Germans supported the goals of the Nazis, as the vast majority of Muslims support the goals of the jihadists — they are our enemies, too. n nThe politician's platitude that "we have nothing against the people of [enemy name]" is a craven lie. "Reaching out" to our enemies is moral sloth posing as virtue. Islam is the avowed enemy of civilization. Why should we reach out to that?
American foreign policy is not so simple as you would indicate. If you take an honest look at (for example) America's interference in South and Central America, you will discover that the US is responsible for the overthrow of democratically elected governments and the installation of regimes that can only be described as evil. Like the murderous Pinochet for example. n nI would not contradict you on suggesting that the politicians are lying, in all likelihood they are
but I would say that when someone makes a statement like they have nothing against the people, this ought to be taken as making a distinction between the regime that rules and the people of a nation. North Korea in particular is a good example of people who are imposed on by a regime and suffering under it, and should not be seen as 'evil' along with it.
the current wave of Judeophobia and anti-Jewish attacks in France began shortly after the start of the so-called second intifada or Temple Mount War on September 30, 2000. The France2 TV news broadcast the staged "murder by Israeli soldiers" of young Muhammad al-Durah. France2 showed only a brief excerpt of the film 27 minutes of film footage taken by their cameraman on that day at the Netsarim intersection in the Gaza Strip. Longer parts of the film show that boy did not die at that time and place, that blood seemingly spurting out of the boy's guts when shot was actually a red cloth that the boy later moved away from his belly to his thigh, etc etc. Since the PLO/PA, Hamas, Hizbullah, and various murderous Arab regimes, in additional to Arab/Muslim Propaganda Central [al-jazeera TV] used the short film clip broadcast on France2 to rouse the rabble and incite the Arab masses against Israel, then France2 bears great respoonsibility [that is, guilt] for bringing about the worldwide wave of Arab and Muslim violence that has taken thousands of lives, indeed more lives of Arabs than Jews by far. n nIn France itself, the false report by France2 led to a series of bloody and violent attacks on Jews, bombings and burnings of synagogues, murders of Jews [most notably of Ilan Halimi in early 2006], mob attacks, and so on and so forth. The violence, predictably, spilled over into many attacks on the persons and property of non-Jews in France by vengeful or jihad-motivated Arabs living in France [1000s and 1000s of cars have been burnt in the last ten years, for instance]. These attacks included murders. There was even a demo by Chinese immigrants in Paris against all the attacks against them. In the midst of the march. Muslims snatched women's pocketbooks leading to the Chinese crowd going after the perpetrators. Chinese youth caught the perps who were soon released by the French police.