Anti-Semitism. Is it rising, declining, or transforming to anti-Zionism?

[Behind the Aegis]

(Mods: There is no "official" title to this piece, so I took the title from the question posed.)

In the last five years Europe experienced a dramatic increase in attacks against Jewish individuals, institutions, and property. Discourse once reputed unacceptable is now routinely voiced in mainstream circles, the press, and the corridors of power. But what are the nature of this phenomenon, the reasons for its recurrence, and its severity?

Though attacks against have been steadily on the rise since late 2000, there is much disagreement about their nature. Surveys show that traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes are resilient. Nevertheless, the bulk of incidents, whether involving physical violence or abusive literature, are not easily recognized as anti-Semitic due to the context in which they usually emerge, namely the return of conflict in the Middle East and its emotional impact on European audiences. When the motives behind the incident appear rooted in some grievance - real or imaginary - arising from the Middle East, most Europeans are inclined to dismiss them as merely 'anti-Israel' and not anti-Semitic. The tendency to minimize the nature of a threat hinders efforts to formulate a right response.

Along with the prejudice therefore comes denial of its occurrence. Extreme right wing and neo-Nazi manifestations of anti-Semitism are readily recognized and universally condemned, but there is disagreement on other expressions of anti-Jewish prejudice, due to its source as well as its substance. Some disagreement may no doubt depend on definitions. Anti-Semitism, after all, is a term coined in 1879 by German author, Wilhelm Marr, to define a racially-based hatred of Jews.

Racially based prejudice assumed that Jews were incorrigibly dangerous - hence unredeemable - and therefore had to be exterminated. Previous hatred, whether inspired by Christian theology or by liberal or Marxist doctrines, postulated that Jews could be redeemed - by embracing the dominant culture or faith - and could be discriminated and persecuted for their refusal to conform. Therefore, anti-Semitism is a term that expresses only a certain prejudice against Jews - and it is therefore grossly inaccurate to suggest that it applies to other 'Semites' as well. Some among those who deny that there is a serious anti-Semitic threat in Europe today may indeed be using the term in its accurate meaning - and in a sense may have a point.

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[aquart]

1. The title is such a crock, no point in reading more.

What unfunny things crawl out at DU in the dead of night.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Why do you say that?

There was no "title" so I improvised from the question that was posed. I think it is very short-sighted that you can't be bothered to read the actual response. Considering your prior posts, I find your remark very unusual.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[Chulanowa]

4. Just like allowing gay marriage leads to pedophilia in schools!

:sarcasm: <-- for those unaware.

There's a great chunk of difference between antisemitism and anti-zionism, budro. It's the difference between hating white people and hating European imperialism. Fo' 'zample, I find the history of the British empire absolutely disgusting, and I have absolutely no tears for the pith helmeted fucknuts who made their pounds by oppression and murder. This does not mean I have any issue with a British person. Get that?

Same deal with Israel. I view it with hte same disgust I view our current Administration in the states, and for much the same reasons. I look at either, and I see my tax dollars going to a corrupt war machine what makes an enormous fuss about how it deserves to turn entire families into twitchy meat-pulp with high-grade weaponry because someone in that family's neighborhood shot at a tank with a handgun. Both nations reserve the inalienable right to demolish an entire nation as much as htey deem necessary in order to find somethign that is not there, and tell the rest of the word "fuck you, I'm fighting turrists!"

You think it centers on Jews? If so, then I'm afraid you're gonna have to look inside your own closet. Now maybe for some opponents of Israel - such as those waffleheaded freaks over at StormFront or wherever - it is a matter of "TEH JOOZ!", but there are far more people who have simply come to the conclusion that footing the bill for Israel's war is intrisicly no different than footing the bill for Hamas' war.

Either way, people are murdering other people for a strip of land, and would utterly obliterate their opponents given the chance. And when people like you and Aegis - instigators both - and scream about how any opposition to this fucking war machine is "antisemetic", you're not just insulting me, but you're also insulting the millions of Jews who live nowhere near Israel, as well as yourselves. How are you instigators, how are you insulting Jews?

Because you are equating zionists - Imperialists, murderers, war profiteers, embezzlers - with hte entirity of the Jewish race and religion, by claiming that an opponent ofthe first is the enemy of the second. I can clearly recognize that "Zionists" and "Jews" are not even close to being synonymous. It's you who fails to make that distinction. Whether out of ignorance or a simple desire to provoke, I can't begin to fathom.

[streamlake]

5. Iran is the menace not israel

Iranian supreme leader orders the jewish center in argentina to be bombed.

Iran is training radical shiites to comit systematic genocide of sunnis in iraq and give them a shiite state.

What is happening by the iranian backed shiite militias in iraq is a new holocaust. Read up about the horrors of the iranian backed shiite militas of what they are doing in sadr city.

They go house to house taking sunnis out of their houses. They have a kangoroo court in sadr city. A sheik orders their executions and they drill holes in their eyes. They do this with kids too.

These shiite militias are ruthless they roam the streets raping christian women. They also treat palestinians with disdain there too.

But the world is silent on iran.

[Chulanowa]

6. "Quick, look over there!"

I've said - many times have I said - that Iran is led by a stark raving asshole. This does not, however, change my opinion of Israel. I think they're both batshit loco and I don't want to pay for their delusions.

Honestly, using the logic displayed in your previous post, you hate Muslims and Persians. Hey, if it made sense going one way, it should make sense coming the other way, right? :crazy:

[streamlake]

7. I wasn't questioning your beliefs

I have read your posts before on here and I respect your viewpoint even if I don't agree with it.

http://www.israel.org/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/... some of the attacks israel has had to deal with.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1159193522684&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

3 israeli jewish young women jogging and captured taken into cars and driven into the woods and gang raped by arab men.

But somehow israel is the problem.

[Chulanowa]

9. Do you want to get into a link war with me?

In all honesty, every act of violence against Israelis you find can be matched by a mirror act against Palestinians. In fact i'm pretty certain that I could find ten or twelve instances of Israeli on Palestinian violence to match each of yours about Palestinians targeting Israelis. Do you think there is absolute good vs. absolute evil, designated by Jew and Arab, respectively?

I just want to ask you though. Do you think that my opposition to the military actions taken by Israel means that I support the military actions taken by Hamas or Hezbollah? Do you think that I am on "their side" or whatever? This is not an either-or equation, friend. Murder is murder, and arguing over who deserves to die more is a sick side event that I'm ashamed to see growing to such proportions in America.

No, of course those people in your links din't deserve what happened to them. Absolutely not, and I in no way even came close to suggesting that. They have mirror images in Gaza and the West Bank, who also absolutely do not deserve what happens to them, either.

Israel, i.e., the political-military aspect of the country is a problem. One of many. Each nation and faction there seems to think that violence can cure violence. And forgive me if I don't want to pay for ANY side's misguided need for blood.

[streamlake]

10. These groups have the capibility for mass genocide

Hezbollah in the last conflict came very close to hitting petro chemical amonia plants in haifa. It would have killed at least 100,000 arabs and jews in the haifa area. The toxic cloud would have been deadly for 6 miles.

In gaza islamic jihad and hamas keep trying to hit the petro chemical plants in ashkelon which would be a disaster for the region.

They have in the past infiltrated sensitive areas and gone towards sensitive areas to blow up.

They have tried to blow up huge tankers.

They have tried to place huge trucks under skyscrapers and take them down.

I just wish some of the israeli critics would look at all the attacks since 1994 israel has had to deal with and then understand her point of view.

[TheMadMonk]

11. I believe you're right on the 10 to 1 casualty ratio,

It might even be higher. And IIRC that ratio is for the innocents killed in these conflicts and is exclusive of combatants on both sides. For children it appears to be be over 20:1.

Now stack on top of that the tens (hundreds?) of thousands who have had their homes/property taken and/or destroyed.

Now contrast Israeli arrests of someone who is be the cousin of the laundrywoman of someone they suspect to be a terrorist, with the way they deal with their own who did knowingly kill innocents (including the probable "double-tapping" of a nine year old girl).

The inequality between what has been done to Israel and what she does in retaliation is enormous.

If Israel is so bloody sure she knows who is behind all this, then why the FUCK doesn't she go after them instead of beating the crap out of the Patsystinian's caught in the middle?

Oh, and the Israelies DID deliberately hit an oil terminal causing enormous ecological damage.


I think you see so much/increased anti-semitism, not because the world media reports Isreali acts, (which it actually appears to undereport by 10:1, thereby giving an appearance of parity in casualty figures), but because no matter what is reported of, or demonstrated in the way of Israeli violations, the international community turns a blind eye and refuses to make any substantiative efforts to get Israel to behave or negotiate in good faith.

And if the best answer anyone can come up with is, "But the Palestinians/Lebanese..." then perhaps they might be more comfortable over at FR, where the same logic is used in support of the Patriot Act, waterboarding, etc.

TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT. EOM

[streamlake]

15. Israel stops 20 attacks for everyone 1

You also are leaving out the truck bomb attempts under skyscrapers in tel aviv which would have killed thousands.

You are leaving out the attempted bombing of petro chemical facilities which would have sent up a toxic cloud killing everyone in 6 miles.

You are leaving out the rocket attacks against petro chemical facilities. Ashdod port attack where the bomber tried to get to a chemical facility. Attempted bombing against amonia tanks, against huge storage tanks.

But one day hamas or islamic jihad will succeed in a massive attack.

By the way why don't europeans show the ratios.

Tens of thousands of dead afghan civilians and zero europeans deaths.

Imagine if in the u.s we showed the rate of our dead to the rate of afghanistan dead.

I guess you only do that for israel.

It would look bad if the uk or canada showed 50,000 dead afghan civilians 0 dead canadians 0 dead britains

That only applies for israel.

[TheMadMonk]

19. So why won't they negotiate in good faith....

BEFORE one of these attacks succeeed?

I'd hate to think is's because they know they won't have to afterwards.

It is patently obvious that Israel does not want to return any of the occupied territories. (Indeed to all appearances, their first thought was to expand them further in the recent Lebanese conflict.)

It is also patently obvious that there is no hope for peace without the return of that land.

Short of a radical repolarisation of the Palestinian mindset (ie total submission to Israeli rule) I see only two likely outcomes: Either Israel comes to the table, or she'll end up committing genocide.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

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[streamlake]

16. Europeans kill far more civilians

You don't talk about the enormous disparity.

50,000 dead afghan civilians for nato how many dead european civilians but you only use that with israel.

The bbc won't be showing that comparison.

By the way the europeans are seeing how hard it is to fight the taliban who hide behind civilians.

Very hard when the groups attack from civilian areas give you bad intel and then hide behind them.

But you never hear about the crimes of not letting civilians leave and using them as human shields. They even infiltrate your spy rings and give them bad intel so you will hit them.

Jan england of the un said he heard hezbollah bragging how they had given israel bad intel to kill civilians.


Hezbollah just missed hitting the amonia tanks in haifa. It would have killed 100,000 jews the toxic cloud would have killed every jew within 6 miles also killing arabs.

In gaza they are right now firing rockets trying to hit petro chemical tanks in ashkelon. A direct hit would wipe out the region killing tens of thousands of jews.

[TheMadMonk]

23. And Americans kill even more.

So ruddy what?

Further there is considerable credible evidence that Israel deliberately attacks those civilians, when it knows that the launch team has dispersed, and their chances of killing anyone actually responsible are virtually nil.

In the recent Lebanese conflict, Israel deliberately attacked civilians on several occasions, without even the slim justification of being attaced from those civilian's midst.

They told people to get out or die, and then killed them anyway.

They used cluster bombs on civilians in deliberate violation of international laws, and did so in a "Fuck you Charlie!" kind of way in the final days of the conflict, after a cease fire had been agreed upon.


Let me say just one more thing about the "terrorists": Unless they are as dumb as dogshit, they are doing far less damage to Israel than they are actually capable of. If Hizbulah had 10,000+ rockets, (and they way they spent them suggested they did) then the most probable reason that Amonia plant didn't go up, is becasue they were aiming to miss, while demonstrating what they could do. And I think the same goes for virtually all of the larger, "terrorist attacks" where a success would almost certainly attract massive reprisal.

[Phx_Dem]

13. zionism

FYI 99+% of the worlds jews consider themselves zionists, and while you assert that zionists are "Imperialists, murderers, war profiteers, embezzlers" that is not a reasonable characterization, not even close.

"Either way, people are murdering other people for a strip of land, and would utterly obliterate their opponents given the chance."

What makes you think that? Israel right now has the military ability to "obliterate their opponents" but not only has that not happened, the GOI continues to try and move forward with negotiations.

[Chulanowa]

17. Wow, 99+%!

So out of 14,596,017 or so people.

I betcha those less-than-one-percent bastards never get invited to any parties, huh?

[Poll_Blind]

20. SELF-DELETE

PB

[bemildred]

18. Study: Israelis and U.S. Jews no longer seen as one nation

Two recent studies challenge the customary perception that Jews living in Israel and the United States, which make up 80 percent of the world's Jewry  belong to the same nation.

One study indicates that Israel occupies a marginal place in the younger generation's Jewish identity. The other finds that Israeli pupils' knowledge of American Jewry is negligible.

---

The study held in the U.S. summed the findings of all the studies conducted among 1.5 million American Jews in their twenties and thirties. They all concluded that Israel was not a central component in the young people's Jewish identity. For example, in a study conducted in 2000, Israel was placed 11th out of 15 identity components presented to the interviewees.

All the studies found that the younger the interviewees, the less sympathy they felt for Israel. The sense of belonging to the Jewish nation also fell with age. For example, a study from 2001 found that less than 30 percent of the young people felt they belonged to "the Jewish nation" compared to 42 percent of the 65 year olds and older people.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/779468.html

[Stockholm]

8. Isn´t he employed by AIPAC's European branch?

Dr. Ottolenghi I mean...

[bemildred]

12. It certainly does appear that anti-semitism in rising.

Along with various other anti-ethnicisms.
And there seems to be a lot more war going on too.
And a lot of political strife and chaos.
Perhaps those things are related somehow.

In any case, I would submit that it is wrong to
consider anti-semitism in isolation when trying to
understand what is happening and why.

[Spinoza]

14. I don't think anti-semitism

is rising--to a significant degree--in the U.S. (Certainly, it is rising among the hard-core left--read 'progressiveindependent.com' for a demonization of Israelis which has clearly crossed the line--but, this is not significant to America as a whole.)

On the other hand, every Jew I know in Europe (about 25 in England, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Holland--I worked for years in international toy sales) tells me that in recent years anti-Semitism is everywhere, that it is reminiscent to the old folks of the 30s, and that Jews are frightened and--mostly--trying to lay low and stay 'out of sight'. Almost all synagogues throughout W. Europe now require full-time guards, many Jewish cemeteries require guards, and many many European Jews are pondering moves to Israel, the U.S., Australia, Canada, etc.

A new European Jewish emigration, perhaps the last one and the final end to the 1,935 year story of the Jews in Europe, appears to be in the making.