A memorial in Sarcelles, France, commemorating the victims of shooting at a Jewish school
For half a century the memories of the agonizing Holocaust limited the perpetual anti-Semitism from manifesting in Europe, but that time has come at an end. Terror attacks in Paris, Copenhagen, murders in France but also miscreants committing less severe crimes embody this resurgence of anti-Semitism in the continent which, after being a hornet’s nest for Jews for two thousand years, finally turned more accepting of its Jews. The reinvigoration of the right-wing fascists and the new radical Islamists have created a new crisis giving Jews an agonizing question; is it time for Jews to leave Europe?
The age old Jewish question that can be asked to any in Europe: Do you have a bag packed? Or a more fashionable variant stems from the Algerian conflict while the French Colonial Empire was crumbling: 'la valise ou le cercueil' or 'the suitcase or the coffin'.
The resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe
Anti-Semitic graffiti being cleaned from the Holocaust memorial at the former concentration camp near Krakow, Poland
The gravity of the situation is clear based on the situation in France. France’s Jews are at less than 1% of the population, yet experience over 50% of racist attacks (the legal definition of racist stretches further than only race). Statistics in other countries are better, but still abysmal. Plenty cases of perpetuated anti-Semitism arose in the last years, Jews were murdered, raped, beaten, harassed and insulted for being Jewish. During protests phrases like ‘Death to Jews’, ‘Jews to the gas’ and such were frequent.
This resurgence of anti-Semitism shouldn’t be a surprise in Europe. Anti-Semitism was a very persisting phenomenon within Europe, with the Catholic Church being one of the main centrifuges of it. The Church blamed Jews for killing Christ, Voltaire blamed Jews for inventing Christianity, Jews were seen as the spreaders of diseases - Jews were more hygienic so didn’t get the plague as much -, Jews are the creators of capitalism and communism; in other words, people of many permutations have seen Jews as the single malevolent force preventing Europe from being a utopia.
Emerging from the death camps, survivors of the Holocaust flocked to the newly founded state of Israel with some staying in Europe. But this memory of the sheer horrors of the Holocaust is fading and the state of Israel is more and more seen as a source of evil. Some people even make the utterly ridiculous comparison between the policies by the Jewish state and those who tried to murder all, the Nazi regime led by Adolf Hitler.
‘’Those who condemn Hitler day and night have surpassed Hitler in barbarism’’
-Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said this of Israel
So now that we have concluded that this anti-Semitism is actually absolutely nothing new in Europe, the existential difference with this new wave of anti-Semitism in Europe comes into play. The far-right fascists who embrace that older anti-Semitism have been working together with the influx of radicalized Islamists in Europe, which became very apparent at an anti-Hollande protest in Paris, where many of the far-right but also Muslims came.
So what did we hear at that protest? The anti-Hollande message was taken over by another one;
‘’Juif, la France n’est pas à toi’’, or in English ‘’Jew, France is not for you’’. This attitude is also apparent in Belgium, a study showed over 50% of the Muslim youth does share anti-Semitic thoughts. No, disapproval of the policies of Israel were not seen as anti-Semitism. 80% of those involved responded that Jews are inherently not trustworthy, simply for being Jewish. This resonates in Britain as well, a poll in last September found that 55% of the British Muslims hold anti-Semitic attitudes, compared to 12% of the general population.
Some Syrian asylum seeker taking a selfie with Merkel
This attitude towards Jews has been gaining strength since the refugee crisis in 2014. German intelligence reports that ''We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples as well as a different societal and legal understanding''. Former president Joachim Gauck even stated that he is terrified of the multiculturalism in Germany; ''I find it shameful … when anti-Semitism among people from Arab states is ignored or declared intelligible with reference to Israeli policies. Or if criticism of Islam is immediately suspected of growing out of racism and hatred of Muslims''. So even though Germany faced it's past with extraordinary honesty and makes fighting anti-Semitism an important aspect, it still is okay with taking in many asylum seekers with import of anti-Semitism as the result.
"'I find it shameful ... when anti-Semitism among people from Arab states is ignored
- Joachim Gauck, former president of Germany
Britain is a more interesting case for Jews since in recent years it has been clear that vile anti-Semitism hasn't just manifested itself in fascist extremes of the political spectrum, but the very heart of the Labour Party. The Labour Party contains pockets of anti-Semitism, which has not adequately been dealt with and Jeremy Corbyn, the head of the party itself, has shared some extremely worrying thoughts. He calls Hezbollah and Hamas - two recognized terrorist groups who aim to wipe out all Jews - his friends, continuously protected anti-Semites and fails to tackle persistent anti-Semitism in his own party. After all, Jewish Labour MP's have faced anti-Semitic intimidation while Jewish students have abandoned the Labour party. So not only is anti-Semitism present among the extremists, but is represented en masse in the Parliament of the one country that refused to subvert to Nazi-Germany, merely 70 years after the Holocaust.
''Jew, France is not for you!'
Hatred for Jews will never go away, let’s be real here. But barely 60 years after the bloodshed of the Holocaust it once again restarts all over again. Apparently the Shoah was not good enough for the anti-Semites, the death of 6 million Jews didn’t satisfy.
Is 2018 comparable to 1933 for European Jewry?
Some compare the situation now in 2018 to 1933, but that assertion is not right.
The first reason is simply the existence of Israel. Jews in the most threatened communities of Europe know that Israel will take them in without asking any questions. The whole state was built with the purpose of providing a safe haven for Jews.
Chancellor Merkel giving a speech at a rally against anti-Semitism with 'Stand up! No more hatred for Jews' in the background.
The second reason is that Germany in 1933 declared itself the arch enemy of world Jewry in itself, while they are now at the forefront of fighting anti-Semitism. They faced their past with commendable honesty, unmatched by any other nation I can think of. Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed ‘’Germany’s support for Israel’s security is part of our national ethos, our raison d’être’’. It’s important to note that she does not necessarily endorse what Israel does, rather viciously supporting the very right of Jews to self-determination. She also said ‘’Anyone who hits someone wearing a skullcap is hitting us all. Anyone who damages a Jewish gravestone is disgracing our culture. Anyone who attacks a synagogue is attacking the foundations of our free society’’. So the arch enemy turned into a staunch defendant of the Jews.
You won’t be able to find a single leader of a country in Europe who mobilizes political power by making anti-Semitic arguments. But that is not the occurring problem, the problem is well defined by David Nirenberg, scholar at the University of Chicago; ‘’The danger here … is that if political power isn’t willing to protect European Jews ... no one is going to protect them’’.
This is completely true, political power generally is unwilling to face the persistent problems threatening the Jewish community. In my mind a significant part of why this happens is simply for electoral reasons. Nowhere in Europe do Jews form a significant part of the electorate, whereas other groups like Muslims often outnumber Jews by at least 10 to 1. Hence it makes sense for political parties to focus on issues concerning those groups rather then trying to get the Jews on their side with their very little electoral power. The result is that problems concerning Jews, especially if more significant groups of the electorate play a significant role, are more or less ignored, resulting in the possibility for the anti-Semitism to flourish.
So 2018 is not comparable to 1933. You won't find politicians like Hitler nor the widespread anti-Semitism to the same extent. Next to that, the very existence of Israel will always give Jews a way out and Germany, former arch enemy, has turned 180 degrees to being at the forefront of fighting anti-Semitism.
The danger here … is that if political power isn’t willing to protect European Jews ... no one is going to protect them
Has Europe failed in protecting it's Jews?
Police arriving after a failed arson attempt on a synagogue in Gothenburg
Jews logically don’t hold the political power in Europe, which in it’s turn makes the governments of European countries responsible for protection of the Jews. So far this has failed quite miserably. They even themselves admit it. Swedish ambassador to Israel, Magnus Hellgren, even said on Jews being afraid to wear the kippah in Sweden ‘’This is the reality of the Jewish community and it’s a failure, it’s not something that should be allowed to happen … If a single Jew feels this way, we have failed’’.
Evidently Sweden failed according to the ambassador's words. The uncomfortable truth about anti-Semitism in Sweden, however, is that most of it stems from Muslims, not the far-right. The Swedish government is eager to denounce far-right elements perpetuating anti-Semitic attacks while a study from 2013 shows 51% of anti-Semitic incidents in Sweden come from Muslim extremists, while just 5% comes from the far-right. So not only does the Swedish government admit failure, and they definitely should, but they are always eager to denounce a relatively minor group orchestrating anti-Semitism while ignoring the bigger problem.
The sentiment of Europe having failed does echo in other countries, just recently a manifesto by 300 prominents French personalities was released in Le Parisien, in which they essentially clamor for significant changes in French policies in order to make it more hospitable for Jews while expressing that there is a silent ethnic cleansing of Jews going on by the radical islamists.
Having established that Europe is indeed growing more unsafe and it is failing to protect it’s Jews it should come to no surprise that over 50 thousand(!) Jews have already moved away from France, the aforementioned manifesto argued that there is a silent ethnic cleansing going on. Over a quarter of British Jews have expressed they consider leaving Britain and half fear Jews have no future in Great Britain. Hence the question ought to be raised again; do you have a bag packed? Many Jews inside Europe clearly think anti-Semitism has grown to such an extent that they fear Europe is simply not safe for them.
Their fears are completely justified. European Jewry does not have an exactly bright future ahead. There is a return of anti-Semitic thoughts; the rise of the far right; the waning of the consciousness about the Holocaust; the inability of European countries to actually effectively integrate Muslims, of which a part turn radical. Consequently, there is only one answer to the question whether Europe has failed in protecting its Jews. The only answer is a resounding yes, Europe has definitely failed 70 years after the Holocaust to protect its Jews.
Is it time for Jews to leave Europe?
Newly arrived immigrants from France making Aliyah
So to get to the actual gist of the text; No, I don’t think Jews ought to leave Europe right now. It would be very saddening to see them do it. The anti-Semitism isn’t extremely bad and when you never express that you’re Jewish, you’re not likely to experience it much. It's just cursing, spitting and that sort of stuff, so not too bad.That being said, the current situation ought to be extremely concerning to Jews and non-Jews in Europe.
Maybe now is not the time for Jews to leave Europe, but who knows how it will be in 20, 30 years. Nobody knows, but we do know that those Jews living in the USA are the result of Jews leaving when they could, while the ones burned in Auschwitz are the result of staying in Europe.
It would be a disgraceful posthumous victory by the Nazi's if Jews were to leave Europe, but the magnitude of the situation in Europe might just end up leaving Jews with no other option.
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If you have gotten this far, thanks for spending your time reading my take on this issue! It was very long, but I felt it had to be long to avoid ignoring many things.
Sources and inspiration:
Goldberg, J., 'Is it time for the Jews to leave Europe?', The Atlantic
'Jeremy Corbyn's anti-semitism problem', The Economist
Weinthal, B., 'Going into elections, Merkel says support for Israel's security 'part of Germany's raison d'ette', The Jerusalem Post
'Sweden has failed its Jews. Ambassador says', Forward
Neuding, P., 'The uncomfortable truth about Swedish anti-semitism', The New York Times
Kirchick, J., Is Germany capable of protecting its Jews?'', The Atlantic
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