The first thing that jumps out from the findings here is the sheer amount of anti-Semitism that now takes place across Europe.
Of those surveyed, 66% say anti-Semitism is a problem in their country, 76% say that in the past five years anti-Semitism has worsened. And the anti-Semitism being experienced is wide ranging with 59% having experienced it in the media and 75% on the internet. Additionally, 27% of respondents had witnessed a verbal or physical attack on a Jewish person in the past twelve months. That figure stands at 21% in the United Kingdom.
When it came to having experienced general anti-Semitic harassment in the last five years, 36% of Jews in Germany have been victim to this, 35% of French Jews and 33% of those in Sweden. In Britain the situation is only marginally better where 29% of those Jews surveyed said they had witnessed anti-Semitic harassment over that same period. These are the stark facts of Jewish life in the enlightened and liberal societies of modern Europe, with all the lofty and civilizing influence of the European Union.
Of those who had experienced anti-Semitism, overall 53% had observed it from someone on the Left. In Britain 57% of those who had witnessed anti-Semitism said it came from someone on the Left. In Italy 62% of this group registered hearing anti-Semitism from the Left and in France that figure stands at 67%. By contrast, in Britain, for example, only 33% of those reporting anti-Semitism said it came from the political Right.
What this survey further demonstrates is that those who fan the flames of hatred against Israel also do so against Jews in general. The most common anti-Semitic slur reported by Jews in this survey concerned equivalences being made between Israelis and Nazis, with 82% saying they had heard such an accusation.
Indeed, 79% said that they had felt held to account or blamed for events in Israel, simply because they were themselves Jewish. The way in which events in the Middle East are used as an excuse for unleashing attacks against Jews in Europe was further attested to by the fact that 68% of respondents said that the Arab-Israeli conflict impacted upon their own sense of safety either a great deal or to a fair amount.
Unsurprisingly, the upshot of this wave of animosity has been an extremely negative effect upon Europe’s Jews, 68% whom say they have avoided appearing identifiably Jewish in public because of fears of anti-Semitism. Almost half of those who have been victims of anti-Semitism, 49%, say they now avoid certain areas for fear of further attack; 21% of those who have not yet been attacked do so anyway.
It also seems unlikely that European leaders are about to display much moral clarity on the Israel issue and declare unequivocally the right of Israel, as an embattled democracy, to defend itself and the right of the Jews to have self-determination like any other people.
Instead, they will no doubt push ahead with their growing support for boycotts of Israeli products which sit unpleasantly alongside the mounting prospect of seeing kosher and circumcision banned in many EU countries.
Without a sea change on the part of European political and intellectual elites, it appears as if Europe is about to become a dark continent of anti-Jewish persecution once again.
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4341/plight_of_europe_s_jews_revealed_in_new_survey
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