Strong Piece on Present-Day European Anti-Semitism

[Barry]

The New Anti-Semitism

By Denis MacShane
(The writer is a Labor member of the British House of Commons and has served as Britain's Europe minister.)

Tuesday, September 4, 2007; Page A17

Hatred of Jews has reached new heights in Europe and many points south and east of the old continent. Last year I chaired a blue-ribbon committee of British parliamentarians, including former ministers and a party leader, that examined the problem of anti-Semitism in Britain. None of us are Jewish or active in the unending debates on the Israeli-Palestinian question.

Our report showed a pattern of fear among a small number of British citizens -- there are around 300,000 Jews in Britain, of whom about a third are observant -- that is not acceptable in a modern democracy. Synagogues attacked. Jewish schoolboys jostled on public transportation. Rabbis punched and knifed. British Jews feeling compelled to raise millions to provide private security for their weddings and community events. On campuses, militant anti-Jewish students fueled by Islamist or far-left hate seeking to prevent Jewish students from expressing their opinions.

More worrisome was what we described as anti-Jewish discourse, a mood and tone whenever Jews are discussed, whether in the media, at universities, among the liberal media elite or at dinner parties of modish London. To express any support for Israel or any feeling for the right of a Jewish state to exist produces denunciation, even contempt.

Our report sent a shock wave through the British government. Tony Blair called us in and told his staff to fan out throughout government departments and produce answers to the problems we outlined. To Britain's credit, the Blair administration produced a formal government response setting out tough new guidelines for the police to investigate anti-Semitic attacks and for universities to stop anti-Jewish ideology from taking root on campuses. Britain's Foreign Office has been told to protest to Arab states that allow anti-Jewish broadcasts.

We made clear that criticism of actions of Israeli politicians was not off-limits. On the contrary, we noted that some of the strongest criticisms of Israeli policy come from Israeli campuses, journalists and political activists, and from the Jewish intellectual elite of many countries. American universities have provided a base for Noam Chomsky and the late Edward Said, among others, to launch campaigns of criticism against Israel, and the bulk of the West's university intelligentsia remains hostile to the Jewish state.

Tony Blair's successor as British prime minister, Gordon Brown, recently said in London that he stood with Israel "in bad times as well as good times," and one of the remarkable turnarounds of the new Labor leadership that governs Britain is a strong support for Israel and its commitment to combating anti-Semitism. The problem is worse in other European countries. The Polish politician, Maciej Marian Giertych, recently published a pamphlet under the auspices of the European Parliament that attacked Jews. No action has been taken against him. France and Germany have seen anti-Jewish attacks. Some references to Jews in the Lithuanian press do not bear translating.

Europe is reawakening its old demons, but today there is a difference. The old anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism have morphed into something more dangerous. Anti-Semitism today is officially sanctioned state ideology and is being turned into a mobilizing and organizing force to recruit thousands in a new crusade -- the word is chosen deliberately -- to eradicate Jewishness from the region whence it came and to weaken and undermine all the humanist values of rule of law, tolerance and respect for core rights such as free expression that Jews have fought for over time.

The president of Iran is the most odious example of this new state-sanctioned anti-Semitism. But from the Egyptian Writers Union to the notorious anti-Jewish articles in the charters of Hamas and Hezbollah, hatred of Jews is an integral element of a new ideology rising to prominence in many regions of the world.

Democracies always take their time, often too much time, to recognize and face a totalitarian threat when it is posed in ideological terms. In prewar Europe, conservatives were soft on right-wing ideologies because they were seen as being anti-communist and anti-labor. In postwar Europe, socialists were soft on the Soviet Union because the communists appeared to challenge capitalism and imperialism. Today there is still denial about the universal ideology of the new anti-Semitism. It has power and reach, and it enters into the soft underbelly of the Western mind-set that does not like Jews or what Israel does to defend its right to exist.

A counterattack is being organized. My own House of Commons has led the way with its report. The 47-nation Council of Europe, on which I sit as a British representative, has launched a lengthy inquiry into combating anti-Semitism in Europe. The European Union has produced a directive outlawing Internet hate speech originating within its jurisdiction.

We are at the beginning of a long intellectual and ideological struggle. It is not about Jews or Israel. It is about everything democrats have long fought for: the truth without fear, no matter one's religion or political beliefs. The new anti-Semitism threatens all of humanity. The Jew-haters must not pass.

[Barry]

This is like a never-ending nightmare that goes on for thousands of years.

I'm afraid the U.S. (and maybe Canada) is the only longterm safe haven for Jews.

[Corlyss_D]

UK MPs find leap in anti-Semitism
George Conger , THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 5, 2006

LONDON - Anti-Zionism has fueled an explosive rise in anti-Semitism in the UK, an All-Party Parliamentary Enquiry into Anti-Semitism is expected to report to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday.

A draft copy of the report, quoted by the Guardian newspaper, finds that anti-Israel activists and Islamist extremists have used criticism of Israel as a "pretext" for fomenting hatred against Jews in Britain.

The conclusions drawn by the 13-member panel of MPs support the findings of a study published last month by two Yale University professors, which reported that anti-Israel sentiments were a predictor of anti-Semitism.

The parliamentary committee was chaired by former minister for Europe Denis MacShane and included former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne and Birmingham Labor MP Khalid Mahmood. It found that a "minority of Islamic extremists" were responsible for "inciting hatred toward Jews."

The government had not responded adequately to the upsurge in Jew-baiting, the study concluded, saying police and prosecutors had failed to tackle anti-Semitism with the same alacrity as they had other racist crimes.

The report warned against the sharp rise of anti-Semitic incidents across Britain, citing violence and physical intimidation, destruction of property and verbal abuse. It also criticized the academic boycott campaign against Israel, noting that "calls to boycott contacts with intellectuals and academics working in Israel are an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange," the Guardian reported.

Anti-Semitism was "no longer a 1940s far-right phenomenon," Mark Gardner of the Community Security Trust (CST) told The Jerusalem Post; "it's far wider than that. Jews are its first target, and it will not end there."

Anti-Semitic incidents have risen threefold following the start of the conflict in Lebanon, said Gardner, a spokesman for the CST, an organization whose roots stretch back to the 1930s battles with Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists in London's East End. July was the third-worst month on record. He added that he hoped this inquiry "brings a better realization that all of society is challenged" by the scourge of anti-Semitism.

Following the committee's first meeting last November, MacShane stated there was "evidence that many British Jews are living with an unacceptable level of anxiety and discomfort as a result of a perceptible rise in anti-Semitism."

British Jews had been "forced to spend much-needed resources on securing their schools, places of worship and community centers," he said, noting that he hoped the committee's "definitive report on the state of anti-Semitism in the UK" would guide the government in taking "positive steps" to "improve the situation."

In July, MacShane wrote in his blog of his frustration in responding to voters in his South Yorkshire constituency who demonized Jews. "How do I explain politely to my constituents that the Holocaust did happen, that Jews have lived in Palestine for millennia, that the UN, not the UK, set up the State of Israel and that if the first point of politics is to demand the removal of the State of Israel, no one is going to get very far?" he asked.

A statistical link between anti-Semitic views and anti-Israel views was found in a study of 5,000 Europeans in 10 countries conducted by Profs. Edward Kaplan of Yale University's School of Management and Charles Small of Yale's Institute for Social and Policy Studies. The study supports the conclusions of the MacShane inquiry.

In a paper published in the August issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution entitled "Anti-Israel Sentiment Predicts Anti-Semitism in Europe," the two found that "Those with extreme anti-Israel sentiment are roughly six times more likely to harbor anti-Semitic views than those who do not fault Israel."

Anti-Semitic views were held by 56 percent of those who voiced strong anti-Israel opinions, the study found. Europeans who believed the IDF "intentionally targets Palestinian civilians" and that "Palestinian suicide bombers who target Israeli civilians" are justified also believed that "Jews don't care what happens to anyone but their own kind," "Jews have a lot of irritating faults" and "Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want."

The Yale study found that the percentage of those holding anti-Semitic views increased with age and decreased with rising income levels; women were less likely to hold anti-Semitic views than men; the level of social interaction with Jews had no significant impact on anti-Semitic views; those less tolerant of illegal immigrants were more likely to hold anti-Semitic views; and Muslims were disproportionately more likely to hold anti-Semitic views than Christians, Jews or those with no religious beliefs.

Spain was the most anti-Semitic country in Europe, with 22% of respondents reporting anti-Semitic beliefs, while Denmark and the Netherlands reported the least at 8%.

Given the level of anti-Israel invective from European Muslim groups, the universities, media and far-left political parties, "it does become reasonable to ask whether such criticism is a mask for underlying anti-Semitism," the study concluded.

The full text of the MacShane report will be released Thursday following a meeting with Blair at 10 Downing Street.

[Corlyss_D]

The report itself:

http://thepcaa.org/Report.pdf

[Corlyss_D]

The European Union has produced a directive outlawing Internet hate speech originating within its jurisdiction.

I'll bet cash money that the first defendants in a case based on this law will be people trying to rally support against Islamofascism. Do I have any takers?

I wonder how this policy squares with the following, from 2003:

Don't bother about burglary, police told

By Daniel Foggo
Last Updated: 12:32am GMT 12/01/2003

Police have been ordered not to bother investigating crimes such as burglary, vandalism and assaults unless evidence pointing to the culprits is easily available, The Telegraph can reveal.

Under new guidelines, officers have been informed that only "serious" crimes, such as murder, rape or so-called hate crimes*, should be investigated as a matter of course.

In all other cases, unless there is immediate and compelling evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA material, the crime will be listed for no further action.

The new "crime screening" guidelines were quietly introduced in the Metropolitan Police area last month and similar measures are being brought into effect by forces across Britain as pressure grows on senior officers to maintain a tighter control over budgets.

A Met spokesman confirmed that "less serious crimes" would now only be investigated if they were considered to be "solvable using proportionate resources", or were part of a current crackdown on specific offences. He said: "It might mean that people who have had their bikes stolen from outside a shop might not get any investigation into it. It is looking at the high priorities for crime in the community."

The Met's policy document states that when crimes are of a less serious nature and there are no "special factors", such as a particularly vulnerable victim, they will now be logged but not solved.

Oliver Letwin, the shadow home secretary, said last night: "This news will be regarded as the final nail in the coffin of this Government's policy on crime. Instead of zero tolerance it seems we are to be faced with total tolerance."

The Home Office denied that it had originated the new policy. A spokesman said: "Crime screening is a matter for individual forces. We have made the investigation of burglaries a national priority and we are certainly not directing forces to avoid investigating them."

Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited

*You have to understand that in England, hate-crimes do not happen to white people, and if they do, they will not be investigated. I'm thinkin' in spite of the hoopla, Jews won't meet the criteria.

[Madame]

I'm afraid the U.S. (and maybe Canada) is the only longterm safe haven for Jews.

I don't think we can pat ourselves on the backs or get too complacent about that, there's plenty of anti-Semitism among our citizenry. The Iraq war has fueled the long-standing resentment against Zionism, for starters. And there are still people who think of Jews as Christ-killers, or as shysters, or any number of unacceptable attributes. Jews run Hollywood! Jews run our banking system! Be afraid! Be afraid!

I recently had a conversation with a relative in which she asserted that if you ever get in a business dealing with a Jew, you'll always come out on the short end of the stick. I said, there are people in our own family I wouldn't trust in any financial matters, and boy did that get a reaction! I gave some examples and reminded her that she had once praised THOSE people as having a good head for business.

This may be anecdotal, but I don't think it's that unusual. Private attitudes and ignorant prejudices do matter.

End of rant.

[Barry]

I'm afraid the U.S. (and maybe Canada) is the only longterm safe haven for Jews.

I don't think we can pat ourselves on the backs or get too complacent about that, there's plenty of anti-Semitism among our citizenry. The Iraq war has fueled the long-standing resentment against Zionism, for starters. And there are still people who think of Jews as Christ-killers, or as shysters, or any number of unacceptable attributes. Jews run Hollywood! Jews run our banking system! Be afraid! Be afraid!

I recently had a conversation with a relative in which she asserted that if you ever get in a business dealing with a Jew, you'll always come out on the short end of the stick. I said, there are people in our own family I wouldn't trust in any financial matters, and boy did that get a reaction! I gave some examples and reminded her that she had once praised THOSE people as having a good head for business.

This may be anecdotal, but I don't think it's that unusual. Private attitudes and ignorant prejudices do matter.

End of rant.

I wouldn't say it's a question of patting ourselves on the back. I'm just looking at the reality of the situation, and that is that the level of anti-Semitism here is nowhere near as bad as it is in Europe (and obviously the Middle East) if one is to go based on actual incidents. I'm aware there are anti-Semites in this country (when you grow up in the only house on the block where Jews live and the only house in the neiborhood where a black lives, you can't avoid hearing unpleasant things occasionally).

However, I've not heard of a city or neighborhood in this country where Jews are advised not to have anything on that would make their religious identity obvious because it may be unsafe for them to walk the streets otherwise. Yet that's the situation many European Jews find themselves in. Attitudes like the one you described regarding stereotypes of Jewish businesspeople are gradually less and less prevalent among the population here with each passing generation; just as racism and homophobia have gradually lessened with the passing of time. But while there may be the occasional exception, Jews have generally assimilated into American life and are accepted by their neighbors. The more serious type of anti-Semitism that makes it difficult for Jews to safely walk the streets in some areas in much of the world is not a significant problem in the U.S., and I don't anticipate it becoming one.

[Madame]

Attitudes like the one you described regarding stereotypes of Jewish businesspeople are gradually less and less prevalent among the population here with each passing generation; just as racism and homophobia have gradually lessened with the passing of time. But while there may be the occasional exception, Jews have generally assimilated into American life and are accepted by their neighbors. The more serious type of anti-Semitism that makes it difficult for Jews to safely walk the streets in some areas in much of the world is not a significant problem in the U.S., and I don't anticipate it becoming one.

From your keyboard to God's eyes....I hope you are right. I just believe that, given the right conditions, we are as capable of scapegoating as Europeans. I'm not convinced our younger generations are any less racist or homophobic than the older ones ... perhaps a little less overt.

[Ted]

Madame:

I'm not convinced our younger generations are any less racist or homophobic than the older ones ...

No, but they are more agile and perhaps more progressive in their racism and homophobia****

[Barry]

Madame:

I'm not convinced our younger generations are any less racist or homophobic than the older ones ...

No, but they are more agile and perhaps more progressive in their racism and homophobia****

Without actually doing the research to find the figures, I know I've read that all polling indicates that younger people are much more accepting of homosexuality than their parents, who are probably also less homophobic, statistically speaking, than their parents. And things like interracial marriage are barely given a second though today by loads of young people. That certainly wasn't the case even when I was a kid (I'm in my 40s). I'd also be shocked to find polling indicating that attitudes like stereotyping Jews as greedy and manipulative businessmen are as widely held as they were 30 or 40 years ago.

It will never be perfect, but I don't think anti-Semitism is a serious problem in most of this country already.

No, that doesn't mean we're incapable as a society of slipping back on such issues down the road, but I just don't see it happening in the foreseeable future. I'd expect the progression to continue moving in the same direction.

[Opus132]

Is there a particular reason why there's so much hatred towards the Jews in western countries? Is it because of Christianity?

It seems so odd that a race of people which are nearly indistinguishable from us and abide to an exclusive and non intrusive religious system should garner so much hatred, even from secular individuals. I wouldn't even notice their existence if the subject didn't appear so often.

[Brendan]

That would hardly explain Moslem hatred, or the Leftist attitude.

[Barry]

That would hardly explain Moslem hatred, or the Leftist attitude.

Yes, and I'm pretty sure a very high percentage of attacks against Jews in Europe are committed by Muslim/Middle Eastern immigrants. I don't think Christian America would let that happen on a wide scale here. Whether that's because anti-Semitism hasn't been as deeply ingrained in American society as it has been in European society for so many centuries I can't say. Perhaps it's the fact that this country was founded partially on the idea that people should be able to worship as they please and there is therefore a tradition of accepting non-majority religions as long as they don't cause trouble. Yes, we've had race-based slavery, the problems with American Indians and the internment of the Japanese, but we don't have a significant history of religiously inspired violence and genocide like Europe does.

[Opus132]

That would hardly explain Moslem hatred

Heh, i actually forgot about that.