The dark side of Europe

THE RESULTS of the recent elections to the European Parliament seemed to challenge the assumptions and core institutions of the post-war European Union. In Great Britain the UK Independence Party (UKIP), advocating complete British withdrawal from Europe, scored a stunning success, winning 28 percent of the vote and leaving both the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition as well as the Labor opposition trailing in its wake. In France, Marine Le Pen's National Front, with 25 percent of the vote, trounced former president Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP (20 percent) and the deeply unpopular ruling socialists (14 percent) – an unprecedented achievement. A similar score was achieved by the Danish People's Party, while in Austria the Freedom Party also passed the 20 percent mark. In Hungary the anti-Semitic, anti-Roma Jobbik party finished second with 15 percent of the vote – somewhat less than its tally in recent national elections, but still a profoundly alarming result for Hungarian Jews. Like the xenophobic Swedish Democrats, the openly Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party in Greece hovered around 10 percent, but saw a dramatic rise in its polling numbers in the capital, Athens. True, the populist, anti-immigrant and ultra-nationalist right also had some setbacks. In prosperous Germany, the neo-Nazi radical right scored a modest one percent and in Italy the vote for the Northern League was cut by nearly half – as was the case in Belgium with the far-right Vlams Belang. Geert Wilders's Freedom Party in the Netherlands also did less well than expected. Nevertheless, the rumblings of a powerful populist revolt could clearly be heard across the continent, revealing a deep distrust of institutional Europe and its established parties. The common denominators, beyond rampant Euroscepticism and, in some cases, Europhobia were hostility to further uncontrolled immigration, fear of globalization and mass unemployment, and opposition to neo-liberal economics, international high finance, the multi-nationals, the Euro-zone and the faceless bureaucrats in Brussels. What evidently resonated with voters, besides the economic crisis, was the sense that their own governments no longer had control of their national borders or immigrant numbers, not to mention anxiety at the erosion of historic traditions and identities. For many European Jews, the populist- nationalist surge acquired a particularly alarming dimension, since the results were announced just one day after a deadly terrorist attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels – capital of the EU – in which four people, including a visiting Israeli couple, were killed. In fact, the Brussels shooting spree bore all the hallmarks of a jihadi-style execution – reminiscent of Mohammed Merah's cold-blooded rampage in Toulouse in 2012. The Brussels murders appear to have been the work of a French-Algerian jihadist, radicalized by prison and participation in the Syrian civil war. Anti-Semitism doubtless played a role, but of a far more lethal kind than that which exists even in far right groups like Jobbik in Hungary or Golden Dawn in Greece. These ugly, fascistic movements have yet to physically attack Jews, despite their violence against Roma people in Hungary or Third World immigrants in Greece. But they have indulged in brazen Holocaust denial and some chilling anti- Jewish rhetoric. On the other hand, explicit anti-Jewish sentiment is barely visible today in most West European far-right populist parties, whether in Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden or even France – though its residues from the Communist period are still felt in Eastern Europe. These movements are indeed mostly xenophobic, intolerant and sometimes racist, but their attitudes to Jews are much more ambiguous and vary greatly. Thus Wilders in the Netherlands is outspokenly pro-Israel and defends “Judeo-Christian” values; Marine Le Pen has abandoned the anti-Semitism of her father; the UKIP shows little interest in Jews; while the Austrian Freedom Party seeks, not always convincingly, to break with its historic anti-Jewish tradition. Yet there can be no doubt that a new wave of anti-Semitism has been engulfing Europe, even if its sources are far more complex than the simplistic equation with a resurgent far right or with a deepening economic crisis might suggest. Much of this hostility towards Jews derives from the systematic demonization of the Jewish State in the European media, in the universities, the churches, the mosques and on the Internet. It is often spearheaded by the radical left with its “apartheid” smear campaign and pro-boycott agenda against Israel, as well as its relentless, mendacious pro-Palestinian propaganda. THE ANTI-ZIONIST left has for several decades branded Israel as an “ethnic cleansing” state, guilty of “genocide” against the Palestinians, criminal in its essence and Nazi-like in its policies. This is a profoundly anti-Semitic worldview, which has gradually become more mainstream in much of European public opinion. It has created a climate in which acts of anti-Jewish violence become almost normative. Then there are the Arab, Muslim and Palestinian demonizers of Israel who have re-imported some of the more obscene conspiracy theories (including the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”), blood libels and Holocaust denial back to Europe. With a critical mass of at least 25 million Muslims living today in the EU, the high level of anti-Jewish prejudice displayed in these Muslim communities is obviously a serious concern. In France, a Jew has a far greater chance of being assaulted than a Muslim. Incredible though it may seem, no less than 40 percent of all racist crimes on French soil are directed against Jews. Many of the perpetrators of these anti-Semitic acts are Muslim Arabs from North Africa. The incitement to hate crimes frequently comes from the Internet or Middle Eastern satellite TV as well as from preachers in the mosques. Nevertheless, it should be noted that anti-Semitism in France, Belgium, Scandinavia and Germany is increasingly a hybrid phenomenon, combining debris from rightwing fascist and post-Marxist leftist ideologies, as well as Christian and Muslim motifs. The French-African ex-humorist Dieudonné (M'bala M'bala) provides a good illustration of this trend. Coming originally from the “anti-racist” left, he veered after 2002 towards Jean-Marie Le Pen's demagogic right-wing xenophobia, lashed out at Jews for allegedly monopolizing victimhood at the “expense” of those blacks who suffered from slavery and even came to deny the Holocaust. Subsequently, he would embrace radical Islam – especially in its current Iranian incarnation. Like his guru, Alain Soral, a French pseudo-intellectual, ex-Communist and ex-National Front, Dieudonné has found a way – partly through anti-Semitism – to bridge the gap between Muslim immigrants and right-wing French nationalists. Well-meaning attempts by the French Socialist government to ban his “theatrical” performances have only increased Dieudonné's appeal – especially on YouTube. His inverted Nazi salute called “la Quenelle” is simultaneously “anti-System” and anti- Semitic, providing a transgressive frisson that is evidently irresistible to many in France. How toxic such a witches' brew of prejudice has become for Jewish communities across Europe was indicated by the results of a study by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) of the European Union at the end of 2013, concerning Jewish perceptions of anti-Semitism in eight leading EU countries. Two-thirds of the sample recognized anti-Semitism as a serious problem; threequarters of European Jews interrogated believed it had worsened in the past five years; one-third feared a physical attack in the coming year; and more than 40 percent of Jews in France, Hungary and Belgium had considered the emigration option. This suggests more than a passing mood of personal insecurity. It feels more like the intimations of a future earthquake. I was in Paris on 26 January this year and witnessed the so-called Jour de Colère (Day of Wrath) directed against the hapless Socialist Government – its tax hikes, support for gay marriage, its failure to check unemployment, rampant delinquency, the high crime rate and a host of other social problems. Especially shocking in this popular protest, however, were chants like “Jew, France does not belong to you!” coming from a section of the 20,000-strong march. This is no doubt a sign of the times in an increasingly battered, jobless Europe, unable to cast off its inner demons, of which the recent successes of the far right are undoubtedly a significant symptom. The murderous assaults on Jews in Toulouse and now in Brussels are a wake-up call for European Jewry; so are the attempted bans (in some cases implemented) on shechita (ritual slaughter) and the challenge to brit mila (circumcision) over the past two years. Jewish observance, as well as Jewish communities, Zionism and the Jewish State, are all under assault in a Europe that still claims the “moral high ground” in preaching to Israel where its best interests supposedly lie. Prof. Robert S. Wistrich, Head of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the author of 'From Ambivalence to Betrayal: The Left, the Jews, and Israel'

The dark side of Europe

The rise of the far right highlights a witches’ brew of prejudice that has become toxic for Jewish communities across Europe.

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