European Left More Dangerous for Jews than European Right
by Soeren Kern, PYJAMAS MEDIA
Jewish groups in Europe and the United States have reacted with alarm to the gains made by far-right political parties in the recent elections for European Parliament. Right-wing and nationalist parties posted significant victories in Austria, Britain, Denmark, Hungary, Romania, and the Netherlands in four days of voting that ended on June 7.
The Paris-based European Jewish Congress (EJC), an umbrella organization for Jewish communities in Europe, said:
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“As we assess the results of this week’s elections, one disturbing trend has already crystallized; the gains made by extreme-right groups is a Europe-wide phenomenon. The success of the far-right and nationalistic parties that won seats in the elections on the basis of racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic platforms points to a clear erosion of tolerance and a clarion call to European officials to immediately engage in intercultural dialogue. The success of such rabid groups as The Freedom Party in the Netherlands, the Freedom Party in Austria (FPO), the Danish People’s Party, the British National Party, and Jobbik in Hungary, among others, will sadly only serve to embolden those who espouse the dangerous concepts of extreme nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.”
The New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said it was “deeply distressing that the blatantly anti-Semitic parties received so many votes,” and called on European leaders to “ensure that anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry never again gain a foothold in Europe. … It is imperative that European leaders do not remain silent, but speak out and reject the hateful and bigoted worldview of parties of the far-right and their supporters.”
The Geneva-based World Jewish Congress (WJC) said:
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“Far-right parties and extremists have made gains across Europe amid protest votes and low turnout for the European Parliament (EP) elections. The elections were held in all 27 EU member states from Thursday to Sunday last week. Support for centre-Left parties and governments collapsed across the EU as fringe parties, picked up protest votes.”
Although these and other Jewish groups are not alone in their concerns about rising anti-Semitism in Europe, their fear of the far right often obscures the indisputable fact that some of the greatest threats to Jews (and Israel) in contemporary Europe stem from the left side of the political aisle. Indeed, it is no big secret that all across the European continent, left-wing intellectuals are playing a crucial role in making anti-Semitism seem respectable. Of course, they are (usually) careful to promote their hatred of Jews only indirectly. Instead, modern anti-Semitism is typically disguised as anti-Zionism and an obsession with Palestinian victimhood.
European Judeophobia often takes on new life forms such as anti-Semitic boycott campaigns and anti-Israel demonstrations, the growing intensity of which the European left not only overlooks or obscures but often actively supports. It is transmitted by Europe’s left-leaning mass media, which not only believes that the systematic demonization of Israel promotes the postmodern and postnational ideological worldview of Europe’s governing class, but also appeases the wrath of Europe’s Muslim immigrants, lest they expose the myth of European socialist multicultural utopia.
As the European left intensifies its common cause with the Palestinian movement, Islam itself has emerged as a major threat to Jewish life in Europe. Although definitive statistics are scarce, most of the acts of violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in Europe in recent years seem to be perpetrated by Muslim extremists. Indeed, a 2003 report published by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) attributed the increase in anti-Semitic violence in Europe mainly to Muslims and pro-Palestinian groups. But those findings were so embarrassing that European left-wing elites quashed the report and commissioned another one. A subsequent EUMC report, which used a more politically correct research methodology, concluded that the “noticeable rise in reported anti-Semitic incidents” was the fault of “young, white Europeans incited by traditional right-wing extremist groups.”
In any case, right-wing groups such as Geert Wilder’s Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and the Danish People’s Party, far from being the purveyors of “rabid” racism and anti-Semitism that the EJC claims, are some of the best allies that Jews (and Israel) will find in Europe today. In fact, the Danish People’s Party is a strong supporter of Israel as well as the U.S.-led war on terrorism, of which Israel is a major beneficiary. It has called for stronger sanctions against totalitarian regimes and dictatorships, especially those in the Islamic world. It has also supported academic grants for specific research into terrorism and Islamism. For his part, Wilders calls himself a true friend of Israel. During a recent visit to Jerusalem, Wilders said: “We see Christians and Jews as part of one culture. When I’m here I’m with my people, my country, my values, I feel more at home here than in many other European countries. Israel’s a democracy — it’s everything we stand for.”
Soeren Kern is Senior Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.
Quite obviously liberals Jews are still living in 1940 and are oblivious to where the real threats to Jews lie in the 21st century.
Comment by Laura — June 13, 2009 @ 6:53 pm
I don’t think right-wing groups like the British Nationalist Party (today’s version, not as it was 10 or 20 years ago) are the problem. Given their attitude toward Islamic supremacists, I think they are part of the solution.
Comment by Bill Levinson — June 13, 2009 @ 7:02 pm
I don’t think you would bet your life on this statement, maybe mine though.
Comment by yamit82 — June 13, 2009 @ 7:45 pm
1940 and 586 BCE 165 BCE 70 AD We have lots of dates:
When 39 Scud missiles hit the country during the Gulf War, apartments and buildings were leveled to the ground. Only one Jew died - of a heart attack. It could easily have been hundreds or thousands. During the same time, only one Scud fell into Saudi Arabia and killed many American soldiers.
Is there a message here?
Comment by yamit82 — June 13, 2009 @ 8:12 pm
Re: #3
If I were in Britain and the militant “Muslims” began to riot, I think the company of BNP members (and Brit soccer hooligans) would be the safest place in the country.
The BNP has no desire to put Jews in the ovens; there are in fact Jewish BNP members. The militant “Muslims” have, however, expressed their intention to cut off my head, and the heads of my Christian neighbors, on numerous occasions. It is pretty clear whose side we should take.
Comment by Bill Levinson — June 14, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
I wouldn’t doubt that the dangerous Leftists in Europe are dominated by dangerous UnJews. Such Leftist Jews are a danger to themselves and others worldwide.
Liberal Jews are a disgrace and a humiliation
Comment by David BenAriel — June 15, 2009 @ 3:03 am
During World War II, both Francisco Franco and Benito Mussolini sheltered Jews from the Holocaust.
Comment by Michael Ejercito — June 15, 2009 @ 3:37 am
Even among dangerous Leftists, there are always exceptions to the rule.
Comment by David BenAriel — June 15, 2009 @ 3:41 am
Have you ever heard of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”?
Do you understand the connotation of what it is to be a “tool”?
LGF: Nick Griffin’s Holocaust Denial
LGF: Pat Buchanan and the American Friends of the BNP
And for those of you who wish to dismiss the above because of their dislike for anything from Charles Johnson (who is no longer a favorite of mine, BTW), please consider Melanie Philips warnings of the same nature:
The Real Reason for This.
“Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses, nor will we say any longer, our gods, to the work of our hands, for in You, by Whom the orphan is granted mercy.”
- Hoshea 14:4
Rashi’s commentary:
Read the rest of Hoshea chapter 14 to begin to catch on Who is truly waiting for our alliance and allegiance.
Or we can all just continue spiraling downward. We seem to be enjoying the ride.
Stupid Jews.
Comment by Shy Guy — June 15, 2009 @ 7:59 am
The enemy of my enemy sounds nice and sometimes has temporary merit but not always. Many Jews supported Hitler also and even Goering had a Jewish deputy. The Muslims in Britain are the problem of the English and frankly I think a Muslim takeover of that fascist country of virulent antisemitism is poetically historical just. Do you think for a second if the BNP ever gained power over the Muslims in England they then would not turn on the Jews? I think you are naively dangerous as one who never learns from the past.
Comment by yamit82 — June 15, 2009 @ 9:52 am
While some EU right wing parties espouse anti-semitic views, it appears that the beginnings of the rise of the right wing parties is more in direct response to how far the political pendulum has swung to the left. If the right can ignite a greater sense of national identity and pride in EU culture, that would not auger well for the Islamists in the EU.
Some parties labelled right wing such as the Dutch Part of Freedom under Geert Wilders gets it that Israel is on the front lines of a war with Islamists and their creed, which war is what the EU is dealing with, but has failed as yet to become fully engaged.
Comment by Bill Narvey — June 15, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
Don’t confuse Wilders views with those of the rank and file in his own party. We don’t know what they think. They are still a large minority and I wouldn’t look to anyone in Europe to help us out today. In the end they will all blame the Jews for something but from different vantage points and ideological perspectives.
Comment by yamit82 — June 15, 2009 @ 1:18 pm
Missing the big picture is a danger if Jews focus on antisemitism as being evident in some EU conservative right wing factions.
The bigger picture is that it appears that one of the factors contributing to the rise of conservative and right wing politics, is a rejection of the leftist EU’s accomodating the Islamist movement in Europe that has as many pointed out made much progress in transforming Europe into Eurabia.
One of the obvious aspects to the Islamist movement is its intractable anti-semitism, which increasing numbers on the left have embraced or tolerated.
It seems reasonable to predict that if conservative and right wing politicians increasingly make gains with the result that EU society begin to stop appeasing and accommodating Islamism and indeed take back ground already given away, the EU attitudes and perceptions that would be inspired by such Islamist rejection, could well result in concurrent more positive attitudes and perceptions of Jews and Israel.
To be sure, antisemtism may never be wiped out in the EU, just as it won’t in other Western democracies, but still the problem would likely be less of a problem if the EU became more conservative and right wing, more rejecting of Islamism and all that it stands for and reined in multiculturalism and political correctness so that more sanity in applying those ideologies would prevail.
Comment by Bill Narvey — June 15, 2009 @ 2:59 pm
If the right hand don’t kill you then the left hand will!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI9KBLb_8ro&feature=related
Hear this, you elders, and hearken, all you inhabitants of the land. Did this come about in your days or in the days of your forefathers?
Tell your children about it, and your children to their children, and their children to another generation.
What the shearing locust left over, the increasing locust devoured, and what the increasing locust left over the nibbling locust devoured, and what the nibbling locust left over the finishing locust devoured.
Awaken, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine drinkers, concerning the strong wine, which has been cut off from your mouth.
For a nation has ascended upon my land, mighty and innumerable; its teeth are like the teeth of an old lion, and its molars are like those of a young lion.
He has laid my vine waste, and my fig tree into a disappointment; he has peeled it and cast it off, its branches have become white. Joel
Comment by yamit82 — June 15, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
Wilders is openly pro-Israel. I hardly think he could have risen to lead his party if it was populated by anti-Semites. As the article states not all of the right wing parties of Europe can be painted with a broad brush. Some of them are indeed anti-Semitic, as the article specifies which of those groups are. The Hungarian right wing party was mentioned, the Dutch Freedom party most certainly is not amongst them. However we know that virtually all of the left parties are anti-Semitic. Article excerpt:
Comment by Laura — June 15, 2009 @ 10:19 pm
Laura’
Last update - 03:51 01/03/2009
Dutch authorities turn other cheek to anti-Semitic slurs
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1067557.html
Jewish group says anti-Semitic incidents in Holland up by 64%
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/924989.html
Report: Dutch gov’t funding anti-Israeli organization
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=917224&contrassID=0&subContrassID=0
20-05-2009 / Germany
Germany - Right-wing extremist crime on rise
The number of right-wing extremist crimes increased significantly in Germany last year, intelligence officials said.
Around 20,000 extremist acts were recorded in 2008, a rise of 16% from the previous year, the domestic federal intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said in its 2008 report.
Violent right-wing extremist attacks rose by 6%.
USA - Survey: Jews are blamed for economic crisis
A survey conducted by the Boston Review in its May/June issue shows that nearly 25% of American non-Jews blame “the Jews” a moderate amount or more for the financial crisis.
Furthermore, a total of 38.4% of the non-Jews in the U.S. attribute at least some level of blame to the group.
Possibly most significant of all were the subconscious antisemitic tendencies revealed based on the way the questions were phrased to different groups.
Neil Malhotra, Assistant Professor of Political Economy in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, and Dr. Yotam Margalit of Stanford University, conducted the study. It was part of a survey of 2,768 American adults exploring responses and antisemitic sentiments vis-à-vis the economic collapse.
They found that Democrats were significantly more prone to blaming Jews than Republicans: while 32% of Democrats accorded at least moderate blame, compared to only 18.4% of Republicans.
The researchers carried out a fascinating experiment in the course of the study. The goal was to see what happens when Wall Street corruption is explicitly associated with Jewish financiers such as Bernard Madoff; would that affect people’s views on bailing out big business?
To address this question, they randomly assigned national survey participants to one of three groups. All three were prompted with a one-paragraph news report that briefly described the Madoff scandal, and were then asked their views about providing government tax breaks to big business in order to spur job creation.
The text of the paragraph about Madoff had slight differences for the three groups: The first group was told that Madoff is an “American investor” who contributed to “educational charities,” the second group was told that he is a “Jewish-American investor” who contributed to “educational charities,” and the third group was told that Madoff is an “American investor” who contributed to “Jewish educational charities.”
The findings were “revealing and disturbing,” the researchers wrote. Those people who were told explicitly that Madoff is Jewish were almost twice as likely to oppose the tax cuts to big business. While only 10% those who were given no information about his Jewishness said they opposed tax cuts for big business, over 17% of those who were told that Madoff is Jewish opposed the gestures to big business. “This difference is highly significant in statistical terms,” the researchers conclude.
To complete the picture, the “middle” group – those who were told that Madoff was an American who gave to Jewish charities – produced a 14% opposition rate.
When Jewish respondents were assigned to the three groups, they had “the exact same policy preferences in all three groups,” wrote Margalit and Malhotra. Nor were there any differences between the groups on other proposals that did not deal with the business sector, but rather with federal support for state governments or with tax breaks for the middle class.
The researchers noted that the greater tendency among Democrats than Republicans to blame Jews is “somewhat surprising, given the presumed higher degree of racial tolerance among liberals, and the fact that Jews are a central part of the Democratic Party’s electoral coalition.
Sorting the results according to level of education provided another interesting finding: 18.3% of those with at least a bachelor’s degree blamed the Jews a moderate amount or more, while 27.3% of those lacking a 4-year degree did so. Yet, these numbers were basically reversed – as they were in the case of the Democrats and Republicans - when asked about the culpability of individuals who took out loans they could not afford.
“Crises often have the potential to stoke fears and resentment,” the researchers conclude, “and the current economic collapse is likely no exception. Therefore, we must take heed of prejudice and bigotry that have already started to sink roots in the United States… The media ought to bear these findings in mind in their coverage of financial scandals such as the Madoff scam. In most cases, religious and ethnic affiliations have nothing to do with the subject at hand, and such references, explicit or implied, ought, then, to be avoided.”
Source: http://bostonreview.net/
It’s only just beginning: As the economic crisis deepens in America and Europe the numbers of those blaming the Jews will increase exponentially. I would strongly consider following Teds lead.
t from right-wing extremism is a priority,” Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said at the presentation of the report,
which said around 30,000 people are considered right-wing extremists in Germany.
The findings could further fan a debate among German politicians about whether to ban the National Democratic Party (NPD), which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has described as racist, antisemitic and revisionist.
Efforts to ban the party failed in 2003 when judges at the country’s highest court rejected the government’s case after it emerged that some of the testimony was from government informants within the party.
Schaeuble said no new attempt to ban the NPD should be made until it was clear such efforts had a chance to succeed.
“If we launch procedures for a ban and they won’t succeed, there is the risk that this will have a boomerang effect… and provide publicity for the NPD,” he said.
The NPD has about 7,000 members and has made gains in local elections in East German regions, where unemployment is high.
http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2009/05/rabbi-amnon-yitzchak-moshiach-is-imminent.html
Comment by yamit82 — June 16, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
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