Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Wednesday 5 September 2012

European Antisemitism: Major Survey Underway

A child among her elders in Dusseldorf, 2009
"In May 2007 a small group of religious leaders met in the E.U. headquarters in Brussels with the three most significant leaders of Europe: Angela Merkel, German Chancellor and at the time president of the European Council; Jose-Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission; and Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament.

The meeting was one of those semiformal occasions at which little is said, and a great deal of time taken in saying it. Concerned at the return of anti-Semitism to Europe within living memory of the Holocaust, I decided that the time had come to break protocol and speak plainly, even bluntly.


I gave the shortest speech of my life. Sitting directly opposite the three leaders, I said this: 

"Jews and Europe go back a long way. The experience of Jews in Europe has added several words to the human vocabulary -- words like expulsion, public disputation, forced conversion, inquisition, auto-da-fe, blood libel, ghetto and pogrom, without even mentioning the word Holocaust. That is the past. My concern is with the future. Today the Jews of Europe are asking whether there is a future for Jews in Europe, and that should concern you, the leaders of Europe"....
So recalled the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, Lord Sacks, earlier this year, against the backdrop of Germany's assault on circumcision.  He went on:
It's back, in Budapest
 "I have argued for some years that an assault on Jewish life always needs justification by the highest source of authority in the culture at any given age. Throughout the Middle Ages the highest authority in Europe was the Church. Hence anti-Semitism took the form of Christian anti-Judaism.
 In the post-enlightenment Europe of the 19th century the highest authority was no longer the Church. Instead it was science. Thus was born racial anti-Semitism, based on two disciplines regarded as science in their day: the "scientific study of race" and the Social Darwinism of Herbert Spencer and Ernst Haeckel. Today we know that both of these were pseudo-sciences, but in their day they were endorsed by some of the leading figures of the age.
 Since Hiroshima and the Holocaust, science no longer holds its pristine place as the highest moral authority. Instead, that role is taken by human rights. It follows that any assault on Jewish life -- on Jews or Judaism or the Jewish state -- must be cast in the language of human rights. Hence the by-now routine accusation that Israel has committed the five cardinal sins against human rights: racism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, attempted genocide and crimes against humanity. This is not because the people making these accusations seriously believe them -- some do, some don't. It is because this is the only form in which an assault on Jews can be stated today." 

This week, coincidentally not long after a rabbi was brutally attacked (by youths of Arab origin) on a Berlin street and his six-year-old daughter threatened with murder,  the second phase of research undertaken online towards a major study of antisemitism in Europe gets underway.

Says Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos, who heads the Department for Equality and Citizen’s Rights at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which commissioned the research,:
"Antisemitism remains an issue of concern today, not only to Jews, but to everyone in the EU. The ways in which it manifests itself vary according to time and place, and it affects Jews living in the EU in different ways. The FRA is conducting this survey to collect reliable and comparable data on antisemitism. This type of robust evidence will assist EU institutions and national governments in taking the necessary measures that will ensure that the rights of Jewish people are fully respected, protected and fulfilled across the EU, and the survey has been specifically designed with this goal in mind."
Adds Jonathan Boyd, Executive Director of the UK-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), which is conducting the survey in partnership with Ipsos MORI, and with the involvement of well-known experts in Britain, Israel, and elsewhere:
"It is clear to all observers of contemporary Jewish life that antisemitism continues to be a major preoccupation and worry in Jewish communal circles.  If it is ever to be effectively tackled, it is essential to have shared, reliable data.  This survey is designed to provide that data: this is an important and unique opportunity for thousands of European Jews to share their experiences and voice their concerns with policy makers working at the highest European and national levels."
In the heart of Auld Reekie
The survey, whose results will be published next year, will involve respondents in Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Sweden and the UK.  It's looking at "first-hand examples of antisemitic harassment and violence, as well as the extent to which Jews feel safe and secure in Europe today, how they characterize antisemitism, and whether or not they perceive it to be a growing threat" and it also investigates "how and whether incidents are being reported, and levels of awareness among European Jews about their legal rights."

Data collected "will provide important evidence both for European Union and national policy makers, as well as for national and European Jewish organisations concerned with security and antisemitism" and  will be used by all these "to tackle discrimination and hate crime against Jews, as well as rights awareness and under-reporting of incidents".


For further information (including, it appears, in Hebrew and Russian), and to participate in the online survey, see here

(Hat tip: reader Rita)

13 comments:

  1. Silly stupid waste of time. Another survey another conference. When Eichmann was moved to the SS special office for collating Jewish statistics in the 1930's he plainly wrote that we would all be exterminated. In those words. Not secret code like 'special handling'. Those words. Any idiotic conference on racism and antisemitism in Europe will consist of only two things: so called Islamophobia, and oppression of non Islamic women. End of story. Jew hatred will warrant a footnote at best and even that will be redacted in the final printing. Here are the countries where it's safe and rational for Jews to live: Israel, the US, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Uruguay, Brazil, Cyprus, South Korea. Maybe New Zealand for now

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  2. In the heart of Auld Reekie, they can't spell Niemoller. So much for the famed Scottish educational system.Joking apart, it is the lack of a proper historical and biblical education that gives these lies such fertile ground.

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    1. I agree, Ian. I assume nobody learns scripture at school any more, and that the Bible is not present, much less opened, in most homes. I'm convinced that if they were the philosemitism that characterised Josiah Wedgwood and others of his ilk would still be encountered among the public.

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  3. An interesting observation made by Jonathan Boyd himself in 2009:

    ".... There cannot conceivably be a connection between the way Israel and Jews are presented in the media and antisemitism on the streets of Britain.

    Or so [Guardian editor] Alan Rusbridger would have us believe. In the documentary, he maintained that he found it 'difficult to believe' that any journalistic coverage of events in Israel could result in acts of violence against Jews on the streets of Britain. Well, allow me to present myself as Exhibit A. In April 2002, at the height of the Palestinian intifada, media reports quickly began circulating that a massacre had been committed by the Israel Defence Forces in Jenin in the West Bank. Rumours circulated that hundreds of Palestinians had been killed. The BBC suggested 150. Saeb Erekat, interviewed on CNN, claimed 500. Yasser Abed Rabbo intimated 900. The overarching impression was that the IDF had clearly committed a horrific atrocity.

    On the following Saturday morning, I was walking to synagogue, wearing my kippah (skull-cap) in the north London suburb of Finchley. On the way there, I was punched in the face by a young man. It was an entirely unprovoked assault. We were simply crossing paths, when he delivered a sudden, forceful, right hook. Taken aback, my first response was to ask him why he had done it. 'That’s what happens to Jews', he responded, 'when they behave like that'.

    That is the only time in my life that I have been a victim of an antisemitic assault. It is, I suppose, possible that it had nothing to do with the events in Jenin at the time, but I find that very difficult to believe. My attacker saw me as a legitimate target directly linked to the so-called 'massacre'...."
    http://www.jpr.org.uk/discuss/blog.php?id=27

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  4. Daphne, Do you really believe the methodology of this survey is serious? P.

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    1. Well, it did strike me that there could be all sorts of bogus responses, and knowing how secretive/aloof certain parts of the strictly observant community are they might be unwilling to participate. In Australia, the Adass Yisroel adherents are reportedly unwilling to share information with relevant communal bodies when subjected to antisemitism, which skews the figures - so I assume that also happens in Europe.

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    2. The methodology might seem a little quaint and the results might be a mixed bunch, but from what I read, I feel that the organisers seem to be serious and passionate.

      I also believe in the simplistic dictum: "to say nothing is to say yes". Personally I think that, in the case of this ever spreading Judenhass, actions would be stronger than words, but then words are better than silence; in my humble opinion, of course.

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    3. Thanks, Rita. The only reservation I have (and all praise to the organisers) is that those who are perhaps most liable to experience antisemitism on the streets as a result of their obvious distinctiveness may be the very people who will hold back. However, I may be wrong.

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  5. Some of us who aren't Jews would like to comment on what we hear and see. The 'palestinian' demo held nearly every week outside M&S in Birmingham.Nowhere else. The idiots seem to think that M&S is part of the Jewish conspiracy to ... whatever! I get worried when they are not there. Think about it.

    For a genocidal nation you are bl**dy useless. No-one seems to notice that!

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  6. See footage of the recent Batsheva disruptions in Edinburgh here:
    http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/israels-batsheva-dances-on-in-edinburgh-despite-psc-invasions/

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  7. This is pertinent:
    http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-sad-reality-of-jews-in-europe-bad.html

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  8. The only survey worth asking is why Jews choose to reside in, visit or otherwise recognize the racist, depraved, shit-hole continent that has murdered, tortured and rejected, hated and persecuted them for over a thousand years.

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