(...) Jewish groups, who are regularly expressing their worries at electoral gains of populist parties across Europe, will probably also be somewhat relieved with the elections results in the Netherlands.
While some of these parties are openly pro-Israel and try to connect to the Jewish communities, representative Jewish groups are avoiding open contacts with them because they fear for democracy and European values.
But there is no doubt that a significant number of Jews in the Netherlands voted for Wilders out of fear from the radical Islamists. The same will probably happen in France.
Just look at what happened last week in Rotterdam where in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between the Netherlands and Turkey, hundreds of young men confronted police, hurling stones at them while shouting "Allahu Akbar". Some in the crowd shouted "cancer Jews". It was one of several incidents recently in the Netherlands where anti-Semitic slogans were shouted at demonstrations that had nothing to do with Jews.
For Dutch Jews, the affair also underlined a growing concern over the defiance of a minority among local Muslims, whose anti-Semitic attitudes and actions are generating an anti-Muslim backlash in a once-tolerant society.
"It shows the centrality of anti-Semitism as a core identity value among some Muslim immigrants and their descendants," says Manfred Gerstenfeld who has written extensively about the Netherlands.
A similar situation happened in 2014 in France, amid protests over Israel’s strikes against Hamas in Gaza. Anti-Semitic hostility led dozens of French Arab rioters to besiege a synagogue in Sarcelles, a Paris suburb.
Such situations have led some Jewish voters to be inclined to turn to anti-Islam and anti-immigrant parties rather than voting for mainstream parties which are criticizing Israel's policies and sometimes are lenient towards Islamist extremists. So what is good for Jews in Europe?
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