Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, stood in front of Yeshiva University students last April and pronounced that globally, anti-Semitism is the worst it has been since World War II. The potency of these remarks, delivered as part of the Hillel Rogoff Memorial Lecture, has dramatically increased in light of the Gaza conflict this past summer.
Even before the Gaza conflict began with the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers and the subsequent Israeli offensive into Gaza, anti-Semitism was growing steadily stronger in Europe. In May, a radical Islamic French citizen with apparent ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, killing four people. Since the offensive in Gaza began, Brussels has held several pro-Palestinian protests, some with shouts of “Death to the Jews!”
There have been strings of anti-Semitic attacks this summer following Israel’s invasions into Gaza. Perhaps most chilling were the riots held in Sarcelles, France: reminiscent of Kristallnacht in 1938, youths attacked synagogues and Jewish-owned stores, including a kosher supermarket and a funeral home. Rioters threw gas bombs and shouted “Death to the Jews.”
As Roger Cuikerman, head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France told Radio France International: “They are not screaming, ‘Death to the Israelis’ on the streets of Paris. They are screaming, ‘Death to the Jews.’ The community was not just scared, but anguished” (The Huffington Post UK, Jul. 22, 2014).
There has been an upsurge of anti-Semitic incidences in Germany as well, inciting exceptional alarm because of memories of Nazi Germany. In July, protestors were heard shouting, “Gas the Jews!” on the streets of Berlin, according to the Associated Press. In Frankfurt-am-Main, a Rabbi received a phone call from a man who threatened to kill thirty Jews in the city if his family in Gaza was harmed. On July 29th, firebombs were thrown at a synagogue in Wuppertal.
These anti-Semitic acts extend far beyond France and Germany. The Anti-Defamation League’s website contains a lengthy page devoted to describing anti-Semitic occurrences this summer from around the world; the list seems infinitely continuous.
In Rome on July 26th, anti-Semitic graffiti including Nazi swastikas and posters reading “Anne Frank Storyteller” was found on various buildings. Fliers were also distributed calling for the boycott of over forty Jewish-owned shops.
“[The situation of Jewish communities in Europe is] worse than any previous period we can remember,” said Richard Goldstein, operations director at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London, in August. “It’s hard now to predict how things will look once Gaza calms down. But it looks like a red line has been crossed where many don’t make the distinction between Israel and Jews anymore” (Ha’aretz, Aug. 12, 2014).
Most recently, two Islamic teenage girls were arrested on September 2nd for plotting a suicide bombing of a synagogue in Lyons, France. On September 14th, rocks and bottles were thrown at the Jewish Martyrs’ Memorial in Brussels, and on September 16th in Anderlecht, Belgium, a synagogue was the target of an arson attack, with Belgian fire services stating that initial investigations point towards a racially motivated attack.
Although these attacks are far from home for most Stern students, they nevertheless serve as a reminder that time and again Jews feel threatened in their home countries. Zahava Lieberman, a senior at Stern College, said, “I’ve heard from Europeans, mostly those living in Paris, that Jews are treated as second class citizens. There’s a clear distinction between Gentiles and Jews and I don’t think that exists in America. I know that the Muslim population in Europe is rising and…based on the news, I definitely think anti-Semitism has gotten worse. On most levels [anti-Semitism] is irrational, but I do think it always existed and always will.”
The rise of the Muslim population in Europe is not the only factor contributing to increased anti-Semitism. In the Hungarian parliamentary elections this April, the radical nationalist Jobbik party, known for its explicit anti-Semitic remarks and positions, became the third largest party in Hungary. As one example of their anti-Semitic views, in November 2012, Jobbik’s deputy parliamentary leader Marton Gyongyosi suggested in Parliament that the Hungarian government should tally up a list of Hungarian Jews who pose a national security threat to Hungary.
Natan Szegedi, a senior at Yeshiva College from Budapest, Hungary, described how anti-Semitism is categorically growing in his home country. “European countries are showing strong bias against Israel, which is a modern manifestation of anti-Semitism.”
Szegedi also discussed how “the economic downturn in many European countries led to a renewed anti-Semitism, something that did not happen in the U.S.”
Regarding the growth of the Jobbik party, he said, “there is an obvious and visible rise of the far-right, anti-Semitic segment. Hungary is in the news a lot for having openly anti-Semitic political parties doing well in elections. You can clearly see that the country is not headed the right way.”
The Anti-Defamation League recently conducted a poll in Europe that was elucidated by Abraham Foxman in a letter to the New York Times on September 24th. “When asked if they agreed with the statement ‘Jews don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind,’ 33 percent of the population in Belgium agreed. The responses varied little from country to country.” Foxman emphasized that European mindsets such as these promote the ever-increasing anti-Semitism and hatred in Europe, “which has had remarkable staying power through the ages and so far no clear antidote.”