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Do Jews Have a
Future in Europe?
Jewish World Review ^
| Dec. 9, 2003
| Daniel Pipes
Posted on 12/09/2003 5:04:01 AM PST by SJackson
Anti-Semitism in Europe was for nearly two millennia a Christian phenomenon; now it is basically a Muslim one.
That is the basic message of an officially-commissioned study by the European Union (EU) which became notorious in recent weeks when the EU itself quashed the 104-page draft version. The Financial Times, which broke this story, reported that it did so "because the study concluded Muslims and pro-Palestinian groups were behind many of the incidents it examined. This focus on Muslim and pro-Palestinian perpetrators, the Financial Times went on, "was judged inflammatory." One person familiar with the draft study concluded that "The decision not to publish was a political decision."
But beyond the politics of this dispute, the draft study titled "Manifestations of anti-Semitism in the European Union" and now released by the EU itself, though with a disclaimer confirms the historic change in the locus of anti-Jewish sentiments and actions. Focusing on a sample monitoring period one month in duration (May 15-June 15, 2002), the study hammers home again and again the key role of Muslims in forwarding anti-Semitism:
-- "from the perpetrators identified or at least identifiable with some certainty, it can be concluded that the anti-Semitic incidents in the monitoring period were committed above all either by right-wing extremists or radical Islamists or young Muslims mostly of Arab descent."
The problem includes violent attacks:
-- "Physical attacks on Jews and the desecration and destruction of synagogues were acts often committed by young Muslim perpetrators in the monitoring period. Many of these attacks occurred either during or after pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which were also used by radical Islamists for hurling verbal abuse. In addition, radical Islamist circles were responsible for placing anti-Semitic propaganda on the Internet and in Arab-language media."
-- "Physical attacks on Jews and the desecration and destruction of synagogues were acts mainly committed by young Muslim perpetrators mostly of an Arab descent in the monitoring period." It results from the rabidly anti-Jewish discourse that exists among Muslims:
-- "Observers point to an 'increasingly blatant anti-Semitic Arab and Muslim media,' including audiotapes and sermons, in which the call is not only made to join the struggle against Israel but also against Jews across the world."
In many instances, this aggression is connected to anti-Zionism:
-- "the threatening nature of the situation, in particular for the Jewish communities, arose because in most of the countries monitored the increasing number of anti-Semitic attacks, committed frequently by young Arabs/Muslims and by far-right extremists, was accompanied by a sharp criticism of Israeli politics across the entire political spectrum, a criticism that in some cases employed anti-Semitic stereotypes."
Of the EU's then-fifteen member states, four stand out for their deeper problems:
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: danielpipes; jihadineurope
1
posted on
12/09/2003 5:04:02 AM PST
by
SJackson
To: dennisw; Cachelot; Yehuda; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; ...
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
2
posted on
12/09/2003 5:09:37 AM PST
by
SJackson
To: SJackson
The problem is the Euros don't get it, the Jews are only the first, they won't be the last.
Actually, I guess the Jews are second. Hitler started with German victims, the Muslims start with their own women and, in the Muslim world, miscreants. Then they expand their villany to the Jews. After that, ALL are fair game.
3
posted on
12/09/2003 5:20:32 AM PST
by
jocon307
(The Dems don't get it, the American people do.)
To: SJackson
Releasing the report is not nearly as inflammatory as ignoring its substance.
4
posted on
12/09/2003 5:20:53 AM PST
by
Savage Beast
(Despite their claims, what they want is worldly glory. Its price? A pact with the devil!)
To: jocon307
"The problem is the Euros don't get it, the Jews are only the first, they won't be the last."
Yes. Churchilll said it almost as well:
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
5
posted on
12/09/2003 5:26:33 AM PST
by
Savage Beast
(This is the choice: confrontation or capitulation. Appeasement is capitulation.)
To: SJackson
Do Jews have a future in the DemocRAT party. Al Gore and Dean don't seem to think so.
6
posted on
12/09/2003 5:31:53 AM PST
by
jerod
To: jerod
Nor do most Jews these days
7
posted on
12/09/2003 6:07:29 AM PST
by
thoughtomator
(The U.N. is a terrorist organization)
To: SJackson
8
posted on
12/09/2003 6:27:04 AM PST
by
joesnuffy
(Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
To: SJackson
It is true that some European Muslim youth, trained by their elders in the most extreme versions of their religion and fired up with the zeal that follows from that mind set, are committing most of the overt acts of harrassment and vandalism against Jews and Jewish symbols. But their ability to do so is enabled by the latent antisemitism present throughout the old European community.
It was suppressed for a while by the shame of the Holocaust, but the generation that learned that lesson in their hearts is dying out, and the old paradigm is returning. It hides under the false banner of "anti-zionism," but it is merely the same old antisemitism, now expressed openly at all levels in academia, politics, and the arts.
But even that is less than the true shame of Europe, now shared in America by too many members of the Jewish community itself. I refer to the self hating and self victimization that we Jews adopt automatically in the face of any criticism of our defensive actions. I can handle the criticisms from the friends and sympathizers with the Muslim residents of Israel, including the territories. They are mosquito bites, irritating and unpleasant but nothing more than a part of the environment. But too many Jews have accepted and adopted these malignant misinterpretations of history, and echo the sentiments of the people who would destroy them if they could. That is Brutus' dagger to the heart.
In addition, we fail to recognize that we ALWAYS will be responsible for defending our own lives, faith, and culture. After more than a thousand years of European antipathy, every Jew ought to be ready to be part of that defense, whatever it might take. Being armed, and being proficient with arms, ought to be as much a part of Jewish culture as Sabbath prayer by now. But no, too many of us have tied our politics to our enemies. A majority of American Jews support the party that defines itself by abortion, gun control, pacifism, and moral equivalence in all things, including a total failure to distinguish good from evil. How do we make ourselves a part of these heresies?
So I am afraid that we will have to learn the lesson again, at the same terrible cost in blood and treasure. And this time we will not have the strength to resist our enemies on our own. If we lose the propaganda war that we have failed even to engage so far, we will stand alone on the field, and surely lose everything.
To: SJackson
Every nation or empire that has expelled Jews has ended up on the ash heap of history.
Go for it, Euros!
To: MainFrame65
But their ability to do so is enabled by the latent antisemitism present throughout the old European community. Not to disagree, but I believe there is an additional factor at work: multi-culturalism. This is a movement targetted almost exclusively at white majorities. "People of color" are not targetted as in need of racial tolerance. There are whole schools of thought that suggest it is impossible for a minority (like North Africans in France, or Turks in Germany) to be racist.
So when the most virulent strain of anti-Semitism since the Nazi era emerges in these minority communities, the majority populations feel it is not their place to condemn it. To do so would be an example of cultural arrogance, and failing to respect differing minority values.
Layer that on top of the lingering anti-Semitism you mentioned, and you have a virtual breeding ground for anti-Semitic violence.
To: Snuffington
Good point. I am not unaware of it, but I failed to directly address it in my entry. But I have to say that the failure of Jews to address this threat is what burdens me most heavily. My birth family, and even my wife, who does not concern herself with politics, all tend to accept liberal positions uncritically. My parents, brother, sisters, aunts and uncles, and cousins of every degree are fully and completely in the liberal camp, and automatically accept whatever they are shoveling out. I am the political black sheep, and they all really view me that way.
So I approach the topic with a political bias, and in doing so I missed a point. Ya got me.
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