Newsweek: Jews encourage Right-Wing antisemites by criticizing European anti-semitism

An article in  Newsweek this week, written by Charles Hawley, looks at the European Right's admiration towards Israel.

The headline News week chose for this article is "Netanyahu's Unholy Alliance With Europe's 'Anti-Semitic' Far Right", together with a picture of Netanyahu celebrating his recent victory.

There is actually nothing in the article indicating any type of alliance between Likud and Europe's Far-Right.  Because there is no such alliance.

In fact, based on the URL, the original headline seems to have been something like "Why is the Anti-Semitic Right Hailing Netanyahu's Victory?", which seems to be more in tune with the contents of the article.

The article mainly looks at how the European Far-Right views Israel.  But it also has some criticism towards Netanyahu.  

While not explicitly embracing the Right, Netanyahu has been vociferous in his criticism of growing anti-Semitism in Europe, particularly in the wake of the January attacks in Paris and Copenhagen. He urged European Jews to emigrate to Israel and intimated he saw Europe as an unreliable trading partner: “Western Europe is undergoing a wave of Islamisation, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. We would like to ensure the state of Israel will have varied markets around the world.”

Why is that bad?  Because, as Hawley explains "Such comments endear Netanyahu to the Right."

According to Newsweek, Jews should not complain about anti-Semitism, because it makes the European Right-Wing happy.

There seems to be a certain hidden assumption here that Netanyahu (and by extension, Israel) criticizes anti-Semitism as a way of achieving a non-related political agenda.  Netanyahu couldn't possibly care about European Jews.  He must be doing it as a way of implicitly embracing the Right.

And the Right-Wing is anti-Semitic!  So Israel is actually encouraging anti-Semitism in Europe!  

Note to Jews: Next time Islamic State terrorists kill you off in a European capital, please try to be less 'vociferous' in your criticism of the growing anti-Semitism around you.  If you can, please focus on the Far-Right antisemitism, and ignore everything else.  Otherwise you might offend Newsweek's sensibilities.  

There are Jews, both European and Israelis, who support European Far-Right parties.  This is due to the fact that Jews are finding themselves in an increasingly hostile environment.  So hostile that they feel the European Far-Right parties are the least antisemite of the bunch.  Maybe Newsweek should write an article about why that is.

Sweden: "In one day, I spotted and heard more anti-Semitism than I did in a week in Morocco"

Jonathan Katz writes in The Forward about his trip to Morocco:

What struck me most is a celebration of diversity that we often do not see in Europe. We are always told to engage with Germany, with Sweden, and with the Netherlands — “safe countries” that look like secular-Ashkenazi Israel, with “Western” values and tolerance of Jews. Yet I, a survivor of anti-Semitic violence, have never felt so threatened as a Jew than I did when walking the streets of Lund, Southern Sweden’s university city, in January. In one day, I spotted and heard more anti-Semitism — in graffiti and conversations — than I did in a week in Morocco. But somehow we’re still told that Sweden and Denmark are “clean and safe” (like Israel), whereas Morocco is “dangerous and dirty” for Jews. We celebrate the Jews who return to Berlin, city of Hitler, but not those who return to Tunisia or Morocco.

Regarding Katz's last point.  I don't know who 'celebrates the Jews who return to Berlin'.  Maybe Katz does.   There are quite a few places in Europe where there are no Jews, because of atrocities that happened hundreds of years ago.  The memory of those pogroms and blood-libels etc lives on in communal memory, and Jews stay away.

There are many Jews who think Sweden, Denmark and in fact, Europe, is "dangerous and dirty" for Jews.  In case Katz missed it, Israeli Prime Minister Netayahu was widely ostracized by European governments and some European Jews, when he dared suggest that Denmark and France were "dangerous and dirty" for Jews.   

Bosnia: Football fans wave Palestinian flags, chant "Kill, kill, the Jews"

Via Sporting Balkans.

Bosnia fans waved Palestinian flags and chanted "Kill, kill, the Jews" prior to the Austria-Bosnia friendly in Vienna yesterday.

France: Growing up and working as a Jew in France

An account of growing up and working in France by a Jewish woman, who now lives in Australia @ Jews Down Under.

Paris: "Death to the Jews"

[...] I returned to Paris in 2004. I had never had Arab colleagues before, but on my first project upon returning there were quite a few. They were born in North Africa, highly educated and in France to get work experience before going back home. We had a few conversations about politics – not unusual in France. Some of them told me that there was a tradition of anti-Semitism in their country, especially among the older generations. They themselves didn’t seem anti-Semitic at all. However talking about Israel was much more difficult. I tried very hard to have an exchange with those I considered I could. But it was almost impossible. They always came back to the ‘Deir Yassin’ massacre or videos they would have seen of Israeli soldiers torturing Palestinians. I completely disagreed with their point of view, but I could understand why they felt compelled to have a strong opinion on the matter being fellow Arabs/Muslims. 

With the French (non-Jewish) colleagues on the other hand, it was much harder to understand why they cared so much about that issue – and seemingly no other. I would have to dig very deep to find any similarity between someone born in France or Gaza. I now think it goes back to the French traditional anti-Semitism.

They cannot stand to see the Jews having their own independent place on earth. Believing that the Israeli Jews kill Palestinians may relieve them of their guilt of being Nazi collaborationists during WW2. I remember spending hours in the evening researching on the internet and reading books to try and ensure that I had the ‘right’ argument for these often heated exchanges. It was exhausting and so unfair. I don’t believe any other people are guilty by default like the Jews and need to defend themselves like we do. In the end I just gave up and avoided the subject.

Burial of Ilan Halimi in Jerusalem

Then there was Ilan Halimi in 2006. A young Jewish man kidnapped in Paris by a gang of ‘barbarians’ – that’s what they called themselves – because they thought all Jews were rich. He was held captive in the basement of a housing commission and tortured for 3 weeks until he was left for dead on the street. Around me and in the media they tried by all means to prove it was not an anti-Semitic act. They couldn’t stand that if it was actually anti-semitism. They focused more on the killers than the victim to try and find excuses. They also blamed the Israeli prime minister for asking the Jews to leave France. 

After our holidays, my husband [who is not Jewish] mentioned our trip [to Israel] to his work colleagues. They attacked him with indignation – how could he go to this murderous country! They were not Arabic or Muslim, just French. My husband was shocked by the comments – especially coming from those he had become quite close to. He had never experienced something like that in Australia. [...]

Jewish victims of Mohamed Mehra

Today I hear there are almost no Jewish children in public schools, even in the centre of Paris. It has become very difficult to teach about the Shoah even though it is part of the curriculum. Jews cannot walk in Paris wearing a kippah for fear of being attacked. During the last Gaza operation in July 2014, mobs took the streets of Paris screaming ‘Kill Jews’, burned Jewish shops and attacked a synagogue terrorising those locked inside. This year there was “Charlie Hebdo” and “Hyper Casher”.

The Jews are leaving France in numbers. I don’t see what can improve this situation. Israel is constantly slandered in the media and people dare to say that the Jews, because of Israel, are responsible for what is happening to them. They say the real victims are the Muslims and they should be protected. The government has deployed the army in front of all the Jewish schools, and it is the Jews not the Muslims who are leaving the country because they fear for their lives.

I have never seen a crazy mob on the streets of Paris calling to kill the Muslims – but I have seen violent Muslims calling to kill the Jews. More.

US campus activists unite against anti-Semitism in Europe

This type of initiative will never happen in Europe.  When Jewish  students protested against actions they qualified antisemitic at the Free University of Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles), predictably it all turned against them (see Jewish students humiliated at the Free University of Brussels).  One of the most serious charges came from influential blogger Marcel Sel (here in French).  Former students wrote a protest letter but were accused of having written a partisan text spreading lies and - worse - of having tarnish the reputation of a "noble" university.American students are right to be shocked by what is happening in Europe and to claim that "silence is tantamount to guilt", but the likelihood is that they will not be heard.

Times of Israel reports:

Two months ago, Brandeis University senior Ryan Yuffe took special note of Martin Luther King Day on his campus, including the emotional involvement of students from many backgrounds.

Having already been thinking about the growing tide of anti-Semitism in Europe, the 22-year-old organizer had an “activist’s epiphany,” as he told The Times of Israel. “We should organize the same kind of thing on campus, but for European Jews,” Yuffe remembers thinking.

 Flash forward to Monday night, when more than 100 Brandeis students attended a vigil in solidarity with European Jewry, as well as the creation of a Brandeis student-led movement to focus on battling anti-Semitism in Europe.

At the start of the vigil outside Boston, 20 students read aloud the details of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe since the start of February, ranging from physical assaults to desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Simultaneous to the Brandeis gathering, vigils were held at Philadelphia’s Drexel University, Rutgers University in New Jersey, and the University of Rochester in New York.

Soon after Yuffe’s Martin Luther King Day vision, he and nine other Brandeis undergraduates decided to focus efforts on holding European governments accountable for promises made to combat anti-Semitism. Vigils were one thing, but the students — who named themselves the Coalition Against Anti-Semitism in Europe (CAASE) — had even bigger plans in mind.

According to Yuffe, a long-term goal is to march on the embassies of European countries which are in violation of commitments to address anti-Semitism. In the meantime, activists are conducting research, designing infographics, and tapping faculty advisors for guidance. The group also hopes to raise funds for a student mission to Europe to meet members of Jewish communities there. 

“The recent targeted attacks against European Jews are not aberrations, but rather manifestations of the deteriorating conditions faced by European Jews,” according to the CAASE mission statement. “Our grassroots campaign demands accountability on behalf of European institutions. Silence is tantamount to guilt; we will not allow history to repeat.”  More.

UK: Edinburgh students union accused of antisemitism over pre-Pesach boycott vote

The Jewish Chronicle reports:

The president of Edinburgh Jewish Society has accused the student union of antisemitism for refusing to postpone a vote on boycotting Israel to be held the day before Pesach.

Emma Dubin, Edinburgh JSoc president, found out on Monday that a motion proposing a commercial and cultural boycott of Israel was on the agenda for the last student council meeting before the Easter holidays on Thursday.  Ms Dubin said she and other Jewish students would have already left campus to be home before Pesach, on Friday, and would be unable to attend the meeting.  The second-year student said that when she had raised the issue with the union – known as the Edinburgh University Students Association’s (EUSA) – she was told that only the proposers of the motion could change the date.

Ms Dubin asked Faatima Osman from the Black & Minority Ethnic liberation group (BME), who proposed the motion, to postpone the vote but Ms Osman refused. A compromise solution of an extraordinary student council meeting to be held in a few weeks time was also rejected.

Ms Dubin said: “I am not just worried it will pass. I am worried that this is a framework that makes it impossible for Jewish voices to be heard. It is an antisemitic process to not have Jewish students’ voices being heard at this stage.”  [...]

Edinburgh JSoc has around 50 members.

Europe: Requests for public funds to protect Jewish communities generate resentment, anti-Semitic response

Via i24 News:

Yet one concern might be shared by all Jewish communities. “Whenever we demand from the authorities to increase security, we see anti-Semitic comments on websites saying, 'why should the government take care of you? If you want security, pay for it yourself',” says Margolin. Afri fears the same reaction: “Some French media pointed out that the cost of assigning troops to guard Jewish institutions is about one million euros per day. We are working on the political level to explain that this is an important expenditure, but we are worried that people will resent the high costs.”

“The financial crisis of the Jewish communities can't be discussed publicly,” emphasizes Michael Gilad, Chair of the Jewish community in the west German City of Krefeld. “That would just increase the hatred and make people say, ‘look at how much more money they want from us’. But the funds we are receiving from the government aren't covering the cost of even half of the security measures we need. This is the situation in all of Germany,” he stresses, despite Schuster’s reassurance.

Germany: Max Blumenthal blames Zionists for Holocaust

Max Blumenthal spoke in Stuttgart about the "Zionist collaboration with Nazi Germany".

Let me repeat that: Max Blumenthal came all the way to Germany in order to tell the Germans that they should blame the Zionists for the Holocaust.  Nazis might have wanted to kill Jews, but the Zionists were helping them!  Because the Nazis and the Zionists had "shared anti-Semitic interests".

Read more by Nurit Baytch.

Netherlands: Police officers unwilling to intervene in antisemitic incidents

Via Times of Israel:

The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands rose last year by 71 percent, and some police officers are unwilling to intervene, the Jewish community’s watchdog on anti-Semitism said.

The Hague-based Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, or CIDI, recorded 171 incidents in 2014 compared to 100 in 2013, CIDI wrote in a statement sent to the media on Wednesday about the group’s annual report on anti-Semitism.

The statement noted “a worrisome phenomenon — Police officers’ failure to intervene in cases of evident anti-Semitism. Some police officer prefers to look the other way.”
A woman who wanted to report an anti-Semitic threat after hosting a party was questioned about whether she had permission to hold the party, CIDI wrote.

“The filing of a complaint was sometimes discouraged in contrast with the policy that indeed seeks to enhance reporting,” according to the report.

Belgium: Insurance company refuses to insure Jewish kindergarten

Via the Jewish Press:

A Belgian insurance company has refused to insure a Jewish kindergarten in Brussels. 

The company claimed the risk of a terror attack on the European Jewish Association-run institution was too high.

Bosnia: Jewish leader attacked in Sarajevo

Watch Antisemitism Europe reports:

On Saturday night the counselor for culture and religion of the Jewish community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eli Tauber, was physically attacked and suffered a serious head injury in ‪Sarajevo‬. The attacker got arrested by the police.







See also: Palestinians say attacks on Jews serve the Zionists

Hungary: 31% of Hungarians are antisemitic

Via Hungary Today:

Anti-Semitism declined in Hungary from 38 per cent of the total population in 2013 to 31 per cent in 2014, a survey conducted by the pollster Medián has found. While the level of education or financial situation do not affect anti-Semitism in society, two-thirds of voters supporting the radical nationalist Jobbik party have anti-Semitic leanings, according to results.

23 per cent of respondents reject the Jewish community on an “emotional basis”, director of research Endre Hann at the introduction of the survey today, adding that the figures are “not dramatic” in a European comparison. The poll, which divided respondents into “stongly anti-Semitic”, “mildly anti-Semitic” and “not anti-Semitic”, found that the number of anti-Semites fundamentally decreased from 2013 to 2014.

According to the survey, anti-Semitism has a stronger presence in the capital than in rural areas but there is no significant connection between the level of education, social status, income situation and anti-Semitism. The leader of research emphasised that anti-Semitism is not a “central question” to a large share of Hungarian society and pointed out that while two-thirds of Jobbik supporters were labelled anti-Semitic, 16 per cent of those backing the left-wing Socialists were also classified as strongly anti-Semitic. 

Denmark: Russian Jews bankroll security for community ‘under siege’

Via Jewish News:

Russian-speaking Jewry has given money at Denmark’s 6,400 Jews after an attack on a Copenhagen synagogue in February left one man dead and two police officers wounded.

The Genesis Foundation, which is bankrolled by Ukrainian-born oil billionaire Mikhail Fridman and other Russian oligarchs, gave 100,000 Euros to improve security.

In a statement, Fridman later described the Danish Jewish community as “under siege”.

Rabbi Jair Melchior, Denmark’s chief rabbi, said: “The Danish Jewish community has experienced a tragedy, we face a very challenging time that will shape the future of Jewish life in Denmark.

“The great support of world Jewry, as shown here, makes us feel we are not alone facing our challenges, and will help us secure our future, here in Denmark.”

UK: Organizers of antisemitic conference blame "Israeli Lobby" for cancellation

Via Jewish News:

 The University of Southampton has said it is still considering whether to pull the plug on a controversial conference exploring Israel’s legitimacy, despite organisers’ claims the decision had already been taken.

The Board of Deputies had called for the three-day event be reconstructed or cancelled while a petition against the gathering from the Zionist Federation garnered 6,00 signatures.

Last night a joint statement from the organisers said the the university had withdrawn permission for the conference on “health and safety grounds”. But the academics cried foul, claiming police officers had said they could control protests and ensure the safety of the event.

“The security argument was used to rationalise a decision to cancel the conference that has been taken under public pressure of the Israeli Lobby,” said organising professors in a joint statement.

Europe: Living a Jewish life is full of "everyday acts of courage"

Jeffrey Goldberg interviews Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, the Paris representative of the American Jewish Committee.


Via The Atlantic:

Jeffrey Goldberg: You are a European—Romanian-born, German-raised, now bringing up your own family in France—working for an American Jewish organization. What don't American Jews, and others, understand about the current situation facing Europe's Jews?

Simone Rodan-Benzaquen: Most American Jews probably do not understand how difficult everyday life is for some European  Jews; that bringing your kids to Jewish school, that going to synagogue, or putting on a kippa in certain areas in public, or going to a kosher supermarket, can be everyday acts of courage.

For the more informed and alert American Jews who know that there is a serious problem of anti-Semitism in Europe, I think there is a misconception on the other end of the spectrum. Some of those American Jews believe history is repeating itself and that we are now in a period that resembles the 1930s. But there is a profound difference [between] the 30s and today, in that the governments of Europe are today not only not anti-Semitic, but that most of them have made it a priority to fight anti-Semitism.

Goldberg: The governments are with the Jews, but are the people?

Rodan-Benzaquen: Yes, the governments are thankfully very outspoken in the fight against anti-Semitism. The people? This is, unfortunately, different. There has been a lack of civil-society mobilization against anti-Semitism. We have not seen massive demonstrations on the streets after the murders of Ilan Halimi in 2006 or after Toulouse in 2012, and one wonders what would have happened if there had only been the attack against the kosher supermarket, and not Charlie Hebdo right before it. Would we have seen 4 million people on the streets demonstrating?

Maybe the attacks this January have served as a wakeup call to France's civil society. Maybe people will understand that Jews have been the canary in the coal mine, that it might start with the Jews, but that it never ends there. Today it will be the Jews, tomorrow journalists and policemen, and then someone else? Maybe people will understand that Prime Minister (Manuel) Valls is right when he says that when Jews are attacked, France is attacked.

Goldberg: You mention Prime Minister Valls. Obviously he is committed to the security needs of the Jewish community. But do you feel comfortable that the political class will continue to be worried about the Jews?

Rodan-Benzaquen: There are probably very few political leaders who are as determined as Prime Minister Valls in combating anti-Semitism. He is pretty unique in this sense.