Anti-Semitism is on the march across Europe

[Behind the Aegis]

The Front National is about to depart the French political scene. When members of the far-right party gather in Lille for their annual congress today, they are expected to pass a motion to change the party’s name. It will be a personal victory for party leader Marine Le Pen, who has long argued that a facelift is vital if the party is to shed its toxic reputation and open itself up to political alliances.

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In this one aspect at least, the Front National is bucking a wider trend. Across Europe, the rise of populist right-wing parties has been accompanied by an alarming rise in anti-Semitism. When a new government is formed in Germany this month, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland will become leader of the opposition. It carries a legacy of anti-Semitism; last autumn one of its candidates said Germany should take pride in what its soldiers achieved in the second World War. Official figures show reported anti-Semitic crimes are rising, and almost 93 per cent of those are linked to far-right extremism.

In Poland, where the nationalist Law and Justice party recently enacted a law making it illegal to speak of Polish complicity in the Holocaust, prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki last month found himself having to deny being a Holocaust denier after apparently suggesting that Jews were partly responsible for it. Jewish organisations in Poland have recently reported being flooded with hate mail.

As xenophobic parties have seen their support surge from Austria to the Czech Republic and Italy, so too has anti-Semitic demagoguery.

In Hungary, authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has proclaimed zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, but many see anti-Jewish messaging in the government’s campaign against George Soros – the elderly Hungarian Jew who emigrated to the US after the second World War, made a fortune and has long been involved in promoting liberal democratic values in eastern Europe.

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And today, what do I wake up and read in LBN here at DU? Putin says Jews with Russian citizenship could be behind U.S. election meddling (there is also now a thread in General Discussion.)

[samir.g]

1. Islamophobia is out of control in Europe

[Behind the Aegis]

2. True, but not the topic.

Is anti-Semitism marching across Europe not problematic for you?

[MicaelS]

4. And of course THAT is a bigger problem, right? n/t

[Iliyah]

3. Both are hated equally in some parts of Europe.

Open right out hatred for POC and Jews, Muslins, etc. is a concern. And t-rump in the WH along with total racists in his ear is dangerous and does give more power to those who want total white superiority in the world.

Putin just implicated that it was the Jews that effected the 2016 USA's election by sabotaging it.

t-rump and GOPs are blaming the Muslins and immrigates and Latinos for the "problems" in the USA.

There is a pattern here.