Antisemitism on the Rise in Europe
by Michael Curtis
May 7, 2012 at 3:00 am
May 7, 2012 at 3:00 am
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Ominously,
an inversion of victim and perpetrator has taken place.
The virus of antisemitism persists in haunting
Europe. In recent months, antisemitism has been exhibited all too often in
European countries, not just in theory but in practice. France has been the
scene for the murder of Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse; attacks on Jewish
property in Paris and Dijon; desecration of Jewish graves in Nice, and
anti-Semitic graffiti throughout the country. Malmo, Sweden, with a now
considerable Muslim population, has witnessed increasing outbreaks of violence
against Jews. It is disquieting that Ilmar Reepalu, the mayor of the city, has
denied these attacks, and dismissed criticism of his denials as the work of the
"Israel lobby."
Over the last decade, antisemitic incidents
have occurred not just in France and Sweden but also throughout Europe; some of
the more notable have been in the Kreuzberg section of Berlin populated by
Palestinians and Turks; even more significantly, in other neighborhoods of
Berlin that are not populated by Middle East immigrants; in Stockholm,
Amsterdam, and major French cities besides Paris; on the island of Corfu in
Greece, and in Rome.
In the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam, the European
Union called for joint efforts to combat prejudice and discrimination
experienced by individuals and groups on the basis of their ethnic features,
cultural background, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability.
As a result of this treaty, comprehensive data and an analysis of the state of
discrimination in Europe with special emphasis on antisemitism is now available
in a just-published comprehensive study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in
Berlin.
This study, Intolerance, Prejudice and
Discrimination: a European Report, was based on interviews with sample
populations of 1,000 people in eight European countries. It examined negative
attitudes and prejudices against groups defined as "other,"
"foreign," or "abnormal." The overall result -- showing
widespread intolerance, racism, sexism, dislike of Muslims, concern about
immigrants, opposition to homosexuals and gay marriage, and antisemitism -- is
dispiriting.
Although the prejudices against the various
groups differ, the study suggests that they are interconnected: that people who
denigrate one group are also very likely to target other groups. Prejudices
against the different target groups are linked and share a common ideology, one
that endangers democracy and leads to violence and conflicts. The problem that
democratic countries and well-meaning people now face is how to confront and
overcome these prejudices that are so observable.
The overall saddening conclusion of the report,
which deals with a number of areas of discrimination, is that group-focused
enmity towards immigrants, blacks, Muslims, and Jews is widespread throughout
Europe; and that anti-Semitism is an important component of this hostility. The
Report defines anti-Semitism as social prejudice directed against Jews simply
because they are Jews. Being Jewish is seen as a negative characteristic.
Current antisemitism takes many forms: political (the Jews have a world
conspiracy); secular (the Jews are usurers); religious (the Jews are
responsible for the death of Jesus); racist (Jews through their genetics are
not people to be trusted). The report continues with additional detail: Jews
have too much influence; Jews try to take advantage of having been victims
during the Nazi era; Jews in general do not care about anything or anybody but
their own kind.
Two additional troubling points of view were
documented: the first is why people do not like Jews when one considers
Israel's policy; the second is the belief that Israel is conducting a war of
extermination against the Palestinians.
Even though the study deals with a limited
number of individuals and European countries, its findings are significant. The
details are a warning of possible future danger. The study shows that animosity
against Jews is strongest in the Eastern European countries (Poland and
Hungary) and in Germany, moderate in France, Italy, and Portugal, and weakest
in the Netherlands and Britain. A recent shift appears to have occurred from
traditional anti-Semitism to a new anti-Semitism in relation to the Holocaust.
Ominously, an inversion of perpetrator and victim has taken place.
Auschwitz was liberated on January 27, 1945,
but the of the Final Solution seems to have been forgotten in the view of
European citizens. The study shows that 72% of Poles, 68% of Hungarians, and
49% of Germans believe, strongly or somewhat, that the Jews today are
benefitting from the memory of the camp and exploit the Holocaust. Even in the
countries with the lowest expression of prejudice, the percentages of people
who hold the view that Jews exploit the Holocaust are alarming.The figure for
the Netherlands is 17% and in Britain 21%.
The most frequently expressed-anti-Semitic
perception is the certitude that Jews have too much influence in the country of
the respondent. Nearly 70% of Hungarians hold this view. In Poland, where few
people even know a Jew since Poland has such a small Jewish community, some 50%
hold this belief. The lowest figures are in the Netherlands where this view is held
strongly by 6% and in Britain where 13.9% profess agreement with this
assessment. The other four countries around 20% concur with this statement.
On the question of Jews caring only about
themselves, the range of views is different. Portugal joins Hungary and Poland
in agreeing, 51-57%, while the other six vary between 20 and 30%. Somewhat
surprisingly, a majority in all eight countries believe that Jews have enriched
the culture of the country; the highest figures are in the Netherlands, (72%),
Britain (71%) , and Germany (69%).
Not unexpectedly the animosity towards Jews
extends to the state of Israel. Nearly 40% of the Europeans in the survey
believe that Israel is waging a war of extermination against the Palestinians.
The Polish figure is 63%. The other countries range from Portugal (48%) to
Italy (37%). A similar range was found in the accompanying question; nearly
half in some of the countries think that attitudes of antisemitism result from
disapproval of Israel's activities, Poland (55%) to Germany and Britain (35%).
It is the task of political education to
overcome those factors that favor prejudiced attitudes: a low level of
education, low income, and a culture, especially in Eastern Europe, where
prejudice in general is more widespread than in Western Europe. For this purpose
some generalizations are pertinent. Antisemitism is prevalent among people in
age group 50-65, and disappointingly in the 16-21 group, and lowest among the
22-34 group. Hostility generally increases with age, making the level of hate
in the 16-21 age group worrisome. Although European educational systems are
diverse, it appears that people with the median level of education are not
significantly different from those at a low level, and are more antisemitic
than well educated people. Gender plays a minor role; women, however, more
likely to be prejudiced than men regarding immigrants and Muslims, are not more
antisemitic than men.
The report was restricted to attitudes and
beliefs. It therefore did not include physical acts of anti-Semitism such as
the overt harassment of Jews through threats or attacks, both physical and
verbal; the vandalism of Jewish property, institutions, and memorial sites; the
use of cyberspace to convey hostile messages; the revival of blood libel
charges; the widespread allegation of Jewish conspiracies, the rise of openly
anti-Semitic parties, and the success of Islamist parties and groups. Neither
does the Report deal with the newest form of antisemitism, that of Muslim
extremists.
The Ebert Foundation is allied with the German Social
Democratic party. Not surprisingly. Its report is mainly concerned with right
wing or populist political attitudes, not with those of the political left. It
finds that the further to the right of self-identification, the more it is that
people hold prejudicial views. It did also mention, nevertheless, that extreme
left groups and individuals, probably because of their authoritarian attitudes,
were more prejudiced than those of the moderate left. It does not belittle the
importance of the report to comment that it minimizes the degree of
antisemitism displayed by a number of individuals from well-educated groups,
and by the media and the academic community. These last groups repeatedly issue
international condemnations against Israel with their calls for boycott,
divestment, and sanctions against Israel, and their attempts to delegitimize
the state of Israel. These attacks can be explained in a number of ways, but
certainly a major one would be an implicit antisemitism. A warning for these
groups: "Teacher heal thyself: prejudice and discrimination are on
display."
Related Topics: Michael Curtis
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