Antisemitism rising alarmingly in France

[KareninsGirl]

Three attacks this week alone, involving Jewish teenagers being tazered, chased with axes and stars of David daubed on the homes of Jewish families.

Europe has to wake up, this is massively on the increase.

Article here:

www.tabletmag.com/scroll/175622/jewish-teen-wearing-yarmulke-tasered-in-paris?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_content=Jewish+Teen+Wearing+Yarmulke+Tasered+in+Paris&utm_campaign=June2014#undefined

Big parts of Europe, including the UK, actively voted for far right political parties in the recent election. Whilst the parties themselves may be very careful to present themselves as concerned about nationhood or immigration & not racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic, their supporters don't make the same intellectual distinctions. That's why they are so dangerous. Europe has had chance to wake up and has instead chosen to sleepwalk.

Why specifically do people hate Jews these days? I mean the average guy in the street? In this country they are not 'taking all our jobs' or anything that ordinary people care about.

Is it that they actually hate Israelis and have themselves some racial or political connection to the Palestinians?

I can't explain why people continue to be anti Semitic, it's illogical.

But it's deeply ingrained.

We said 'never again' and it must mean never again.

My grandmother is a Holocaust survivor and I can't imagine why anyone would do this? There is a piece of graffiti near my work- a big red swastika. My DC aren't that old and know what that means, no one can't not know what that means. With the shooting in Brussels and so on, Europe seems to be becoming more anti-Semitic for sure.

Unless there's a reason, political, economic or religious I don't see how we can get a massive increase in Anti-Semitism. I can't see why someone who doesn't care one way or another would wake up tomorrow hating all Jews. Most of the people I know wouldn't know what a Star Of David was.

We know what happened in Germany, but that was directed wasn't it. The country had serious problems which were deliberately presented as the fault of Jewish people. In a small way that is done here with politicians saying "things would be so good if not for the single mothers/welfare claimants/unions/etc".

A lot of people have recently voted for anti-immigration policies, but even most of those people are thinking about jobs and housing, not racial purity. And I don't see Jewish people arriving in their 1000s to warrant any fear that they are 'taking over'. According to that article Jewish people are leaving France where they can.

When far right parties get more powerful, it sub-consciously legitimizes this kind of thing. Anti-semitism has always been bubbling under in France, now its bubbling up.

Grim.

I really do not understand the dislike of Jews. I do not understand what I'm missing there at all. Not that I understand any group being hated, but Ive experience of other sorts of racism and feel educated on them. This one I really do not understand. I kind of get the history a long time ago, but today? I don't get today at all.

Is anyone able to enlighten?

What happened in Germany, couldn't have happened unless the people wanted it to. Which they did.

France has shifted to the right. Le Pen did very well in the election and only recently her father talked how a (Jewish) singer should be 'put in an oven'. So there are people 'directing' it, and the French, who have a long and ugly history of antisemitism, are following.

Under these circumstances, there could easily be a massive rise of anti-semitic attacks.

There is no 'reason' as such. It's just always been there Minnie. As said previously, it's illogical.

Sadly, it is on the increase. It's worrying. It needs to be taken notice of and acted upon. Now.

I think any kind of hate-crime whether based on race, religion or nationality should be taken notice of and acted upon

I don't know exactly about anti-semitism, but a lot of people are upset and angry about Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Rudis, two separate issues really. What has that got to do with European Jews, or civilian Jews? Should we perpetrate hate crimes against members of a religion because we may disagree with a country's politics?

Anti semitism is anti semitism. It is not a protest against a perceived policy by a country.

A lot of people are upset and angry about the way Syria is wiping out its people, about Iraq, about Afghanistan, about America's overseas policy, about Russian expansionism, about countries all over the world etc, etc, but most people manage to refrain from attacking Muslim kids and Muslim mothers or White kids and white mothers, don't they?

Funny how "its somehow different" when it comes to Israel and Jewish people.

Well quite, johnfarleysruskin.

I'm amazed this isn't covered more in the mainstream news. I'm deeply saddened about what's happening...and worried about what it will take for people to see it for the hate crime it is.

the oldest hatred has been there long before the founding of Israel, and will never go away.

the excuses include the old 'you killed Christ', the fact that observant Jews keep themselves to themselves, the 'blood libel' which is being propagated again and the plain old ignorant hatred of anyone different.

I am proud to live in the UK where being Jewish does not stop anyone doing anything; but the synagogues and cemeteries still need to take extra care with security in a way that other places do not.

and yes, all hate-crime against any group should be taken seriously and dealt with.

Fairly simple IMO, ugly/extreme nationalism rears it's ugly head during bad economic times, just look at the last century.

Just look at the anti foreigner rise across the main economies of Europe now. Just look at the rise of Ukip here, on one policy they can't deliver, but accompanied by a barrage of nasty rhetoric designed to foster fear of further immigration.

Thankfully here our protests are still via the ballot box, in France, revolting seems to be in their DNA.

We need to fight discrimination wherever it exists particularly against women but also Jews and also more than Jews against Muslims (where there is much much more anti feeling than against Jews in the UK at present). The UK is pretty good compared to much of Europe and Russia actually but we must not be complacent.

We are coming out of a recession in the UK so the issues which matter to people (and which they wrongly blame) when they have less and less money may cease to matter so much. However we need to be vigilant.

However where religions whether Jewish Muslim or anything else are sexist and anti women then in my view liberal UK views must prevail and we must not kow tow to sexists in any form.

Sometimes I wonder whether humans just want an excuse for the ability to hate, express violence and commit atrocious acts.

It's Jews, different types of Muslims, tribes, women, gypsies - it doesn't seem to matter, and it's all in the name of religion, usually.

This has led to my dislike of all religions. But perhaps it is humans, and if it wasn't religion, it would be something else.

I will get flamed for this, but I don't care. I think men in particular are so power hungry that I do feel it more countries were female governed the world would be more peaceful. There are exceptions, but in the main, women don't drive around in cars with guns.....

ooh, many of us will agree with you. Most religions are sexist to the core - women wearing wigs or covering their heads, women in burkas (never restrictions on men of course) and most of all women being encouraged to stay home, clean, provide babies and sex and earn no money whilst men lord it over everyone. I accept of course that there are Islamic feminists and women rabbis but on the whole religions has been used against women with awful effects on this planet.

Even the C of E does not allow women archbishops or bishops presumably because women are lesser or unclean. In synagogue (or many of them) women and men cannot even sit together. It is all about control of women and their sexuality for these religions invented c.2000 - 1500 years ago. It did not matter so much when most religions were on the wane, most Jews were becoming secularised as more and more marry out and give it up, but the rise of Islam on the planet is a very much a backwards step because of the old fashioned versions of it which are being emphasised and its sexism even down to laws of inheritance.

I never understand the "it must never happen again" thing - it already has. Look at Rwanda for example.

However, I agree that no group should be discriminated against and that people are sleepwalking into these government policies by lack of thought/interest.

jane interesting post. This is why I find all religions so troubling. Yet many of my smart female friends are religious - of all faiths - so I feel it is me that is missing the point. I can't even sit through a conventional Church of Scotland church meet without feeling cross.

It just appears to me to be a way to suppress any minority, and yes, mainly wonen. but the attitude of some churches to homosexuals also appalls me.

I'm actually quite spiritual but just on my own if that makes sense, I'm that turned off by all conventional religion.

ainmnua I agree. It's currently happening in Syria and about to happen in Iraq. Do these people not stop to think about what their god must think about this?

Yes, I have never understood why Rwanda (about 1m dead including 70% of the Tutsi population) is regarded as any less bad than the 6 million jews, disabled people, gypsies, gays and communists in the Holcaust although anything which ensures people never forget is great. My son's old headmaster made sure every year in the final year at the prep school every boy watched Schindler's List.

Given that most of these killings the planet over have largely been done by men the logical conclusion is that any religion or culture which gives power to men and not women is not a great idea - ergo the prevalance in most religions and cults of male leaders, never mind the British cabinet is not the way to go.

JohnFarely, there are plenty of examples of children and pregnant women being attacked in France actually, there was an incident not so long ago of a pregnant muslim woman being attacked and suffering a miscarriage as a consequence. all she'd been doing was shopping, she even screamed that she was pregnant.

So actually yes Muslim women and children get attacked in France for their religion as well.

For their religion yes, but not for the actions of countries overseas.

According to the article in the OP the antisemitic attacks were because of the victims religion.