Thursday, December 24, 2015

Austria: "In Austria anti-Semitism is still flourishing"


Via Ynet (h/t Honestly Concerned):
When I ask Oscar Deutsch, head of Austria's Jewish community, what the main concern is for Jews in Austria these days, he answers immediately: "There's Islamic anti-Semitism, which is gaining strength in Austria and all over Europe, The politicians need to fight this phenomenon. Of course we are bothered by the fact that the Freedom Party got 30 percent of the votes in the Vienna elections. However, I believe the urgent topic right now is Islamic anti-Semitism, because it's becoming dangerous."

"We saw in Paris, Brussels, in Copenhagen what it can cause, and we need to fight it," Deutsch continues, "There's harassment of Jews who can be identified as such on the streets. Protests that are held here see swastikas being raised and calls of 'death to Israel,' and 'death to Jews.' The Jewish community has risen up to help the refugees. It's a Jewish tradition. But it's important to know that many of them grew up with anti-Semitism and Jew hatred, which have been indoctrinated to them through the schools and the media. It's hard to believe that eight hours of education they get here in Austria will give them a totally new worldview on the matter."

(...)

Last November, an academic conference was held in Vienna, dealing with the topic of commemorating Jewish-Austrian doctors.

Even though senior members of the Austrian doctors' association and medical departments in different universities were in attendance, the event reflected the hardships many Austrians have in dealing with their country's criminal past. Again and again speakers recounted the "immigration of Jews to Palestine and the United States," until an American relative of one of the commemorated doctors stopped the discussion and angrily said, "It wasn't immigration, they were thrown out of here."

"In Austria," Haim Gilon estimates, "anti-Semitism is still flourishing. This country hasn't changed much, sadly."

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