European Antisemitism Surging

In Europe, many experts feel there is a rapidly growing sense of hatred for the Jewish community. Anti semitic hate crimes and violent protests are at their highest point in years. On the surface, most Americans might attribute the surge in hostility to the war in Gaza. But this is deeper than that. In fact, the numbers suggest that anti semitism is at it’s highest mark since 1945, and it has been growing for years.

In Germany, a religious leader prayed in public for his god to “destroy the Zionist Jews … Count them and kill them, to the very last one.” In Hamburg, an angry group of protesters beat up an old Jewish man. In France, 8 synagogues were attacked in one week, while a mob of nearly 5 hundred people looted a Jewish market near Paris.

Some of the least offensive signs read, ‘Death to Jews’ and ‘Slit Jews throats.’ Many other signs were far more vulgar or contained extremely insensitive references, many recommending another Holocaust-style genocide to purge the area of Jewish influence.

This sort of violence is being noticed by some of Europe’s top leaders. German chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out recently, calling the outbreaks, “an attack on freedom and tolerance and our democratic state.”

French prime minister, Manuel Valls, calls the violence intolerable and extremely racist. He stood up for the Jewish community in his country, saying, “To attack a Jew because he is a Jew is to attack France.”

Tensions are also high in Spain, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Social media is another platform where anti semitism is becoming normal behavior in Europe. Hashtags on Twitter read, Hitler Was Right.

Crif’s vice-president Yonathan Arfi believes the rising hatred for Jews might be a combination of several comedians making jokes about the Holocaust, and several radical Islamic groups feeding off the jokes. Arfi says it’s common for other immigrant youths to latch on the sentiment, stirring it into a mass hysteria.

Regardless of the origin, it’s becoming more volatile and dangerous every day for Jews living in Europe.