Washington Post - 06.27.2002

The Washington Post

Europe's Anti-Israel Excuse

By Abraham H. Foxman

Throughout history a constant barometer for judging the level of hate and exclusion vs. the level of freedom and democracy in any society has been anti-Semitism -- how a country treats its Jewish citizens. Jews have been persecuted and delegitimized throughout history because of their perceived differences. Any society that can understand and accept Jews is typically more democratic, more open and accepting of "the other." This predictor has held true throughout the ages.

During the Holocaust, Jews and other minorities of Europe were dispatched to the camps and, ultimately, their deaths in an environment rife with anti-Semitism. Nearly 60 years later in a modern, democratic Europe that presumably had shed itself of the legacy of that era, Jews have again come under attack. During the past year and a half a troubling epidemic of anti-Jewish hatred, not isolated to any one country or community, has produced a climate of intimidation and fear in the Jewish communities of Europe. Never, as a Holocaust survivor, did I believe we would witness another eruption of anti-Semitism of such magnitude, in Europe of all places. But the resiliency of anti-Semitism is unparalleled. It rears its ugly head in far-flung places, like Malaysia and Japan, where there are no Jews.

The Anti-Defamation League has been taking the pulse of anti-Semitism in America for more than 40 years. Never did I expect that we would have to do the same in Europe, given the history and our expectation that European anti-Semitism, while not eradicated, would be so marginal and so rejected that it would not be a major concern.

What we found in the countries we surveyed -- Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark -- was shocking and disturbing. Classical anti-Semitism, coupled with a new form fueled by anti-Israel sentiment, has become a potent and dangerous mix in countries with enormous Muslim and Arab populations.

More than 1 million Jews live in these five nations, and their communities are under siege. Who would have believed that we would see the burning of synagogues and attacks on Jewish students, rabbis, Jewish institutions and Jewish owned-property?

While European leaders have attempted to explain away these attacks as a fleeting response to events in the Middle East and not the harbinger of a more insidious and deeply ingrained hatred, the attitudes of average Europeans paint a far different picture. Among the 2,500 people polled in late May and early June as part of our survey, 45 percent admitted to their perception that Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country, while 30 percent agreed with the statement that Jews have too much power in the business world. Perhaps most telling, 62 percent said they believe the outbreak of anti-Semitic violence in Europe is the result of anti-Israel sentiment, not anti-Jewish feeling. The contrariness of their own attitudes suggests that Europeans are loath to admit that hatred of Jews is making a comeback.

This view may make Europeans more comfortable in the face of what is happening in their countries, by suggesting that this time around, Jews are not the innocent victims but are themselves the victimizers in the Middle East. But the incredibly biased reaction against Israel seen in the poll -- despite the fact that Israel under former prime minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians an independent state, and despite the fact that Palestinians have carried out a sustained campaign of terrorism against Israeli civilians -- speaks to a repressed hostility to Jews that may not be socially acceptable in post-Holocaust Europe. Still, even with such constraints, some 30 percent of Europeans are not averse to expressing their anti-Semitic beliefs openly and directly.

Meanwhile, the Europeans have been tepid in their support for the U.S. war on terrorism and especially the Bush administration's efforts to broker an end to Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed. The Europeans seek to appease Saddam Hussein and other threats to the Western world while blaming Israel, not the Palestinian Authority, for the crisis. All while they minimize the extent of anti-Semitism in Europe and fail to immediately condemn horrific acts of harassment and vandalism. The message to Europe's burgeoning immigrant population is that there is a certain level of acceptance for intolerance.

It is time for Europe to assume responsibility for a situation of its own making. The combination of significant, openly expressed anti-Jewish bias together with irrational anti-Israel opinions creates a climate of great concern for the Jews of Europe. It is not surprising that in such an atmosphere Muslim residents feel free to attack Jewish students and religious institutions not because they are Israelis but because they are Jews. And it is not surprising that some European officials have begun telling Jewish leaders to advise their numbers to avoid public displays of Jewishness, instead of promising to protect their Jewish communities.

European leaders and officials must see what is going on for what it is -- outright anti-Semitism -- and condemn the revival of this ancient hatred that had its greatest manifestations on the same continent.

They must acknowledge that the anti-Israel vilification across Western Europe is unacceptable. The recent comparisons of Israelis to Nazis, to Jews as the executors of "massacres" and even as the killers of Christ -- these do not fall into the category of legitimate criticism of a sovereign state. They create the very climate that questions the future of Jewish life in Europe.

The writer, a Holocaust survivor, is national director of the Anti-Defamation League.