MULLINGS
Easterine Kire
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he wave of anti-Semitism that has been blowing over European cities for some years now, has escalated sharply. The rise of the far right in the European elections means parties that are strongly anti-Israel are coming into power. The fear that these parties could institute anti-Jewish laws is a real fear now that political power is passing into their hands. A diplomatic official was quoted as saying, “Of course it is our business. We are talking about neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups who managed to get elected and gained institutional respectability and will be able to exert influence over policy making.” This sort of anxiety is not unfounded. Because policy making is going to influence the European Union’s relations with Israel and it will dictate how Israelis living in Europe are treated.In France, the Front National party led by the daughter of the man who was convicted of denying the holocaust has won the majority. The UKIP in UK is more anti-EU and more populist than anti-Semitic. But in Greece, the anti-Semitic Golden Dawn received 3 seats in the EU. Israel watchers are not exaggerating when they ask readers to beware if their leaders should begin to talk about delegitimizing Israel.
Anti-Semitism in Hungary is more visible after the rise of the anti-Semitic political party Jobbik. Young Hungarian Jews have been assaulted on the streets in Hungary simply because they were Jewish. Two men were attacked in Paris because they were Jewish. Four people were shot dead in an anti-Semitic attack in the Jewish Museum in Brussels. Closer home during the Mumbai bombings, the synagogue killings of the rabbi and his wife, leaving their toddler son orphaned, was a clear instance of anti-Semitism. The West has been witnessing the wave of anti-Semitism which has been developing undiminished. It manifests itself in different ways. One is in the denial of the holocaust in school syllabi.
In some European countries the holocaust is not taught because it offends students from Islamic countries. An Iranian writer settled in Sweden publicly declared that her government had completely removed history of the holocaust from its textbooks. Distortion of history is one form of anti-Semitism. Big European cities like Frankfurt are venues for impromptu gatherings of Arabic men, women and children protesting against the Israeli government.
Blogger Lena Bakman writes of an insidious form of anti-Semitism that began in 2001 at the Durban conference in South Africa where a number of NGOs declared a political war against Israel. The anti-Israel campaign in the form of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) was widely implemented by many NGOs funded by European governments. The new form of anti-Semitism is very clever. The organisations and people involved say that they are not against Israelis but they are against the State of Israel. Bakman claims that the NGOs hide their true political agenda which is directed against Israel as a nation state for the Jewish nation.
Anti-Semitism is not showing any signs of retreating. It has grown to such a stage that Jews are afraid to wear their traditional garments that can distinguish them as being Jewish. From the distortions and denials of Jewish history of persecution, the anti-Semitic movement is developing into open and targeted attacks on Jews and Jewish establishments.
Ever since the outbreak of trouble in Ukraine, some Christian ministries have been working very hard to evacuate the Jewish population in Ukraine. On entering Ukraine, they found a fearful Jewish population. Immigration to Israel has been on the rise amongst Ukrainian Jews, not without reason. An observer reported, “In eastern Ukraine there is a vacuum of power and where there is a vacuum of power, there is anti-Semitism.”
Disappointment with the EU has been raised from certain quarters. Instead of being a bulwark against racism and intolerance and xenophobia, it is lending itself to becoming a catalyst “for the justification of its citizens to vote for extremists and racists,” states an anonymous observer.
In the meantime, writers with university credentials in The New York Times are proposing that Israel should be wiped off the map and replaced by a unitary country which includes its neighbours in Gaza and the West Bank.
Anti-Semitism should not surprise us. It is, in part, fulfilment of biblical prophecy. And on the other hand, it is by way of reminder for the rest of us to watch both the word and the times. Israel is gathering her people to herself. We are living in the most interesting and exciting of times.
