Anti-Semitism in Western Europe - Essay Example

Anti-Semitism in Western Europe The word “anti-Semite” was first used by a German journalist, Wilhelm Marr in 1879. Marr was an anarchist and a socialist who founded an organization that was different in two ways. Firstly it was the first political party that was based with an agenda of hostility towards the Jews and secondly it gave the world a new word called “anti-Semite.” Simon and Schaler (2007) define anti Semitism as a term used for expressing hatred towards the Jews and Judaism. The followers of anti Semitism consider Jews to be their enemies and harbor strong disliking for Jewish activities and beliefs. History has witnessed the anti-Semite attitude in the form of the Holocaust and this attitude continues to exist even today. In this paper I intend to explore the current presence of Anti-Israel sentiments in Western Europe, particularly in the political sector. I would like to explore whether or not Western European politics have become more biased against Israel in recent years or is it just a social and media-based war. I have chosen this topic because as a Jew who lived in Jerusalem for a year, I have very close ties with Israel and consider it my home. I have witnessed the atrocities committed by terrorists who wish to eradicate Israel and its people from the face of the earth. I would like to research the influence of major political figures, most importantly Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Western European politics. I plan on bringing forth evidence and examples from the recent Durban II conference in Geneva, the United Nations’ support for the Goldstone Report and specific incidents in certain European countries. For that matter I intend to address the following questions in my paper to support my argument: Is there a major rise in anti-Israel attitudes in the Western European political community? What is the Western European social attitude toward Israel? What kind of influence do people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad possess in Western European politics? Which Western European countries, if any, have shown anti-Israel attitudes? Do anti-Israel views lead to anti-Semitism? The methodology used for researching for this paper was analysis of secondary data. Journal articles were read and analyzed. Online articles were searched and made use of and it was made sure that the information obtained was only from trusted websites rather than the popular ones like Wikipedia and blogs. Data was gathered after a thorough study of the relevant literature. After proper reading the information was reviewed and written about and conclusion was arrived at. Natan P.F. Kellerman (quoted by Simon and Schaler, 2007), an Israeli psychologist, quotes five reasons for which Jews all over the world are hated by the anti Semites. They are: 1. Jews are believed to be the root cause of all the misfortunes (panapathogens) 2. They are greedy and capitalists and as such possess lots of wealth and power. 3. They are arrogant and consider themselves to be the “chosen one” and for that matter they claim supremacy over other people. 4. They are the murderers of Jesus Christ and as such Christianity 5. They are inferior and weak because they have parted away from their cultural norms. Jews have long been considered as scapegoats and as such have been used to expel evil. Such was the spiritual and religious notions attached with the Jews and it gave rise to anti Semitism. However recently the term anti Semitism has been expanded and redefined as “new anti semitism” which includes hatred for Israel and Israelis. New Anti Semites preach hatred for Jews and Israelis to such an extent that they challenge the sovereignty of Israel simply because it is a Jewish state (Simon and Schaler, 2007). Kaplan and Small (2005) are of the view that there is a co relation between anti Semitism and anti Israel sentiments. Anti-semitic views increase with the increase in the degree of anti Israel sentiments. Anti Semitism covers anti Israel and anti Zionist sentiments and it is difficult to separate them from religious basis of anti-semitism. Is there a major rise in anti-Israel attitudes in the Western European political community? It has been observed that the European countries are more tilted towards the Palestine as compared to Israel. The Israel Lebanon war in 2006 created much highlights in the European political circle which also reflected their tilt towards the Palestine. The Council of Europe declared the Israeli response as “disproportionate” and “indiscriminate attack on civilian targets.” Italian Prime Minister Romano Prody called it “excessive” and Norwegian author Justin Gaarder called it ethnic cleansing and murdering of children. Gaarder further claimed that with such action Israel has forfeited its right to exist. With the exception of Tony Blair, who weakly defended Israel, many European capitals witnessed protests against Israel under Hizbullah flags (The Economist, 2006). Gerstenfeld (2006) expresses his dissatisfaction over the attitude of the European political community towards Israel in his article “Europe’s Mindset towards Israel as Accentuated by the Lebanon War.” The Lebanon Israel conflict that ended in 2000 was again initiated by Hizbullah when it attacked Israel in 2006 and captured and killed a few of its soldiers. Some rockets were also fired at Israel from Lebanon. In this background Israel reacted by bombing the Beirut’s International Airport. Israel expected unqualified support from the western allies but unfortunately the response was lukewarm. To add insult to injury, on July 2006, Finland issued a statement on behalf of the EU stating “the European Union is greatly concerned about the disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon in response to attacks by Hizballah on Israel. The presidency deplores the loss of civilian lives and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The imposition of an air and sea blockade on Lebanon cannot be justified (quoted by Gerstenfeld, 2006)”. This European hypocrisy has been highlighted by the author’s comparison of the situation with bombing of Serbia for no reason by the NATO forces in 1999. None of the European countries declared attacks on Serbia “disproportionate” when Serbia was turned into ruins after 73 days of bombing. Spanish socialist Prime Minister, Zapatero stated: “From my point of view, Israel is wrong. One thing is self-defense, and the other is to launch a counter-offensive consisting of a general attack in Lebanon and Gaza that is just going to further escalate violence in the area.” Zapatero was later photographed wearing a kafayah which reflected his anti Israel stance and commented that he had no regret in wearing it and would do it again. On August 2, 2006 the EU’s Finnish presidency made a shocking statement for Israel and stated that it would not put Hizbullah in the list of top terrorist organizations and declared Israel’s military actions against Hizbullah unacceptable. The European Union could not reach at any consensus on sending ally troops to Israel1. Shamir (2009) sites another example of the prejudiced attitude of the world towards Israel. The resolution passed by the United States on the issue stated that both Israel and Palestine have committed war time crimes in Gaza and acts that can be stated as crimes against humanity. Israel rejected the Goldstone UN resolution and declared it “detached from reality”. The resolution was accepted by the Non Aligned Movement bloc and the Arab world. The US and Israel voted against it and 44 countries did not participated in the vote. The European Union was split over the issue and Britain and France refused to participate. Israeli Deputy Ambassador Daniel Carmon called the resolution deeply flawed, prejudiced and one sided2. However Great Britain had shown its support to Israel in the following words of Prime Minister Tony Blair: “that reactionary Islam had seized its opportunity first in Gaza, then in Lebanon: They knew what would happen. Their terrorism would provoke massive retaliation by Israel. Within days, the world would forget the original provocation and be shocked by the retaliation (Gerstenfeld, 2006)”. Apart from the Lebanese war, in Great Britain, members of some far right political parties such as The National Front, BNP, the White Nationalist parties and some extremist Muslim organizations such as Al Muhajiroun have repeatedly expressed their anti-semite views in their speeches and literature which also includes the denial of the Holocaust. However the British government is making efforts at the same time to counter their anti-semitic attitude. In 2005 the British police charged Abu Hamza Al Misri with four counts for encouraging the killing of Jews. The British government has also reinforced their commitment to protect the Jews and for that matter the Nazi war crime investigator, Simon Wiesenthal, was awarded honorary knighthood for his long time services to counter anti-semitism (Simon and Schaler, 2007). Which Western European countries, if any, have shown anti-Semitic attitudes? It has been recently observed and reported in the media that anti-semitism has gone beyond the borders of the Middle East and has found its way in the European countries as well. In a Gallop poll carried out in 2005 several European countries were asked the question as to which country did they consider to be a threat to world peace? The survey showed that a greater majority of people (74% in Netherlands, 69% in Austria, 65% in Germany and 48% in Italy) reported Israel to be a threat to world peace (Simon and Schaler, 2007). Other surveys indicate that many Europeans did not approve of the Israeli counter attacks on Lebanon and declared them “disproportionate.” A YouGov Poll carried out in Britain stated that 63% of the people stated that Israeli response to attacks by Hizbullah were “disproportionate”. A similar kind of poll carried out in Germany stated that 75% agreed to this view. As far as Europeans are concerned a European Union poll carried out in 2003 stated that a majority of people supported Palestine as compared to Israel. Approximately 59% Europeans stated that Israel posed a greater threat to world peace as compared to Iran and North Korea3 4(The Economist, 2006). Following is the result of the poll: (The Economist, 2006) What kind of influence do people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad possess in Western European politics? Anti-semitic statements have also been uttered by many Muslim leaders including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Ahmedinejad, in his Durban II conference in Geneva stated in his speech that Israel was an illegitimate state and that Iranians were willing to sacrifice millions of Muslims to eradicate Israel in order to establish peace in the Middle East. The statement is a reflection of the Iranian intention of the mass genocide of the Jews (Gerstenfeld, 2006). This statement had greatly created uproar in the world and led many European countries representatives to walk out of the conference. Many countries expressed their disapproval of the Iranian president’s views. However, in terms of taking any practical step the European response was lukewarm. French foreign minister replied to the statement in the following words: “I totally condemn these words” and that they were “absolutely unacceptable on anyones part, especially from a head of state”. He stated that Iran could play a major role in bringing stability in the region and such statements confirm the negative side of Iran. Gerstenfeld (2006) is of the view that such statements by the French authorities leave no meaning since they are not stated with any practical implementation. Europeans have no concern with the statements of Ahmedinjad and its attitude has been rightly pointed out by the French Ambassador to Israel, Gerard Araud who stated: “Europeans have no idea what Israel is....They come here and meet more or less the same circles of the intellectual left, and hear more or less the same ideas in the same English, and go back home thinking that the only thing that interests Israelis is the conflict and that their lives are wonderful and everyone goes around the world from conference to conference....I am sad to see that in France and in Europe in general they do not see you in a realistic light”. Newmann (2009) criticizes the European response of calling the Israeli defense strategy “disproportionate”. He bitterly questions the world that the issue of proportionality should not be raised because it implies that the world is expecting more Jewish blood to be shed before taking any strong action against Hamas. Newmann sarcastically states that Israel must not expect any sympathy from the world since anti Semitism has now become a fashion5. However French government has taken some important steps to stop anti semitic incidents within its country. In 2003 a Jewish school was torched in Gagny which led President Chirac to make the following statement that “an attack on a Jew is an attack on France.” Since then the government has made efforts to stop anti Semitism within the country by forming an inter ministerial committee. The committee is helping the government in tracing anti-semitic incidents by timely publication of the statistics and ensuring the proper prosecution of the culprits (Simon and Schaler, 2007). Social Attitude: Let us review the social attitude of the Western European countries to understand the prevalence of anti-semitism in the modern world. A report prepared by Global Forum Against Anti Semitism in 2007 reported a significant increase in the anti-Semitic incidents in Western European countries. Incidents such as violet attacks, murder, and damage to property have increased at a faster pace. Compared to 2006, 2007 witnessed an increase in such incidents in Austria by 66%, Germany 60%, Scandinavian countries 50% and in France 20%. The United Kingdom has reported a slight decline in such incidents (Simon and Schaler, 2007). Great Britain: Great Britain has the fifth largest Jewish population in the world. However the population has been declining since 1970 due to Jews marrying out of their religion and low birth rate. A number of anti-semitic incidents have been recorded in the past few years. In fact the Community Security Trust (CST) reported an increased number of incidents of anti-semitism in 2006. In 2003 some people physically assaulted a rabbi and shouted anti-semitic statements. Another incident of a man shouting anti-semitic statements at the security guards outside Borhamwood Synagogue was reported in 2003. In 2005 some people started fire at the South Tottenham United Synagogue which led to the destruction of the Jewish prayer books that were smuggled out of Central Europe before World War II. The very next day another incident of suspicious fire led to the torching of a synagogue and a Jewish Educational Centre in Hendon. The same year also reported desecration of Jewish graves through painting Nazi slogans and swastikas. Twenty Jewish gravestones were damaged at Rainsough Cemetery in Manchester. In 2005 the Hillock Hebrew Congregation near Manchester was damaged by a deliberately set fire. In another incident some miscreants threw bricks and smashed the windows of London’s orthodox Edgware Synagogue (Simon and Schaler, 2007). France: France has the third largest population in the world and Paris is the believed to be the largest Jewish city outside US and Israel. In 2002 the European Human Rights Commission reported a significant increase in the anti-semitic incidents in the country6. The number of anti -semitic incidents rose six times more in 2002 as compared to 2001. In 2005, 510 anti-semitic incidents were reported in the first six months as compared to the 593 in 2003 and 932 in 2002. Approximately 160 attacks were reported against persons and property in the first seven months of the year 2004. The number is far bigger than 75 in the same period in 2003. The French Justice Minister reported 298 anti-semitic incidents between January 1, 2005 and August 20, 2005. Out of these 162 were attacks on property, 67 were assaults against individuals and 69 were press violations. The number is far bigger than the 108 incidents reported in 2003. The same year a son of a rabbi was attacked outside his home by some young men chanting anti- semitic slogans. In another incident a young Jewish boy was stabbed by a Muslim youth. The same person also assaulted some other Jewish students and was later arrested. Torching Jewish synagogues, desecrating the graves and tombstones of Jews with anti-semitic graffiti, swastikas and SS symbols. In 2006 a French Jewish Youth was found naked, tortured with burn injuries after three weeks of captivity. The youth later succumbed to injuries. The incident was reported as anti-semitic in nature. The year 2007 also witnessed the desecration on cemetery in Le Havre and Lille in France. The incidents are evident of the fact that France along with United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Holland where incidents of anti Semitism are on the rise (Simon and Sahaler, 2007). Germany: Germany has the ninth largest Jewish community in the world7. German leaders have reported a new kind of anti Semitism in the country. The new trend aims at promoting disgust for globalization, capitalism, Zionism and foreigners. Jews in Germany have experienced anti- semitic attitude in the form of violent crimes, assault, desecration of cemeteries, synagogues and memorials. German officials are of the view that there are more than 1000 sites that are objectionable and promote anti Semitism. Jewish cemeteries at Duesseldorf, Bochum, Nickenich and Bausendorf have been vandalized during 2003-2005. A survey carried out by the Bertelsmann Foundation revealed that approximately 30% of the Germans agreed to the following statements that Israel is doing the same with Palestine that Nazis did with Jews and that Israel wants to exterminate Palestine and that Jews have too much influence in the world (Simon and Schaler, 2007). Belgium: Jews in Belgium too have been subject to anti Semitism. There have been reports of physical assaults on Jews, desecration of the graves and synagogues in the country. Incidents of chanting anti-semitic slogans and banners during soccer matches are also quite common in the country. The government is making efforts to control such incidents and for that matter anti- semitic speeches have been made illegal in the country. The Belgian Prime Minister declared such incidents to be attacks on “the country’s fundamental values and institutions” that could not be tolerated. For that matter a number of people have been arrested on charges of promoting anti Semitism, racism, holocaust denial, xenophobia and neo Nazism (Simon and Schaler, 2007). The Netherlands: In 2003 The Netherlands witnessed 334 anti-semitic incidents between January 2003 till May 2004. The number was low as compared to the 359 incidents recorded the previous year. There was a decrease by 40% in incidents such as violence, desecration of Jewish graves, synagogues etc. Amsterdam was the biggest target of such incidents since it has the largest population of Jews living in The Netherlands. The US State Department has declared Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom to be the five Western European countries where the incidents of anti Semitism are highest. DO ANTI ISRAEL VIEWS LEAD TO ANTI SEMITISM: The US Department of State (2005) outlines four basic reasons for global anti Semitism8: 1. The traditional prejudice against the Jews that they control the businesses, media, governments and financial world. 2. Anti Israel sentiments which may be due to criticism of Israeli policies and it being a Jewish state. 3. Anti Israel sentiments in many Muslim countries based on their disliking for Israel and Jews and their activities in occupied territories for example in Iraq. 4. Criticism of the United States and globalization that benefits Israel and the Jews. Viewing the above points it becomes evident that anti Semitism and anti Israel sentiments are related to each other. As mentioned in the beginning Anti Semitism is now described as New Anti Semitism in which the anti Israel sentiments are also included. Anti Israel views do lead to anti Semitism. It has been observed that in the Netherlands although Jews are victims of anti Semitism still the issue is most commonly linked to the Israel Palestinian conflict. This has been reflected through the verbal abuses noted during soccer matches and internet chat rooms (Simon and Schaler, 2007). Another incident that reflects anti Semitism based on hatred against Israel is the boycotting of Jewish shops in Rome, Italy. The boycott was due to Israeli atrocities in Gaza. Giancarlo Desiderati, the leader of the Flaica-Uniti-Cub Union9 stated that the boycott was necessary because what Israel is doing in Palestine cannot be ignored. He further stated that: “For 50 years we have been concerned for the Jews because of what they suffered in the Holocaust, but now it is time to be concerned for the Palestinians, who are the Jews of today. In another incident the Muslims in Milan expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians by protesting on the streets and burning the Israeli flags (Owen, 2009).” Newmann (2009) writes in Chicago Times that there is hardly a person who is anti Israel and pro Jews at the same time. Newmann is of the view that the issue of New Anti Semitism is not disapproving the policies of Israel but the disapproval of the existence of the very state of Israel. Hamas does not fight with Israel because it disapproves its policies. Hamas openly exposes its motive to eliminate the state of Israel and Jews. However instead of winning sympathy of the world Israel is actually witnessing global anti Semitism in the form of physical assaults and damagers to property. Even in the United States people have demonstrated against Israel in the following word “Go back to the Ovens” or “the ovens we not big enough.” The Europeans consider the Holocaust justified by declaring the victims of Nazism with being Nazis themselves. Time and again the Israel’s defense against the Hamas has been linked to the “Jews exploiting the guilt of the non Jews over the Holocaust.” Jews all over the world are victimized for being Israelis. Conclusion: To conclude one can say that the evidence indicates that Anti Semitism is on the rise in Western European countries. Jews have been persecuted in the past and the persecution continues even today. The statistics of anti Semitic incidents in European countries is sufficient to prove the point. Every day Jews are victimized, tortured, murdered for being Jews or Israelis. The leaders all over the world have expressed their concern over the rising Anti Semitism all over the world but the fact remains unchanged that when it comes to taking action against the anti semites, the response has always been lukewarm. Leaders like Iranian President Ahmedinjad continue to deliver anti semtic speeches but neither the United Nations nor the European Union has passed any resolution in favor of Israel. The picture becomes clear that Israel is on its own and must not expect any favor from the Western European countries. References Simon, R.J., Schaler, J.A., “Anti Semitism in the World Over in the Twentieth Century”, Current Psychology, (2007). Pg. 9012-8. Kaplan, E.H., Small, C.A. “Anti-Israel Sentiment Predicts Anti-Semitism in Europe: A Statistical Study,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 50, No.4, (2005). Pg. 548-561. Read More