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Is Anti-Semitism Still a Problem in Europe 70 Years After the Holocaust?

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Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked argued that anti-Semitism continues to be a significant problem in Europe while speaking in Krakow, Poland at a symposium marking 70 years to the Nuremberg trial. “We are witnessing anti-Semitic attacks in the heart of Europe,” said Minister Shaked. “We hear anti-Semitic slanders in European media. We feel anti-Semitic hatred in the continent that should have learned.”

The number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world has decreased substantially, according to a report by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University.

Despite the positive trend, the report also drew conclusions that show reasons for concern, notably that the decrease in anti-Semitic incidents was not the result of a shift in attitudes but instead was due to the significant increase in security at Jewish institutions following the terror attacks in Paris last January.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked argued that anti-Semitism continues to be a significant problem in Europe while speaking in Krakow, Poland at a symposium marking 70 years to the Nuremberg trial.

“We are witnessing anti-Semitic attacks in the heart of Europe,” said Minister Shaked. “We hear anti-Semitic slanders in European media. We feel anti-Semitic hatred in the continent that should have learned.”

Some expressed particular alarm at a report in Der Spiegel magazine last weekend suggesting that Germany was reevaluating its staunch support for the State of Israel in light of its disagreement with Israel’s continued construction in Judea and Samaria. However, Professor Moshe Zimmerman, a history professor and expert on modern German history at Hebrew University, argues that Israel has little to be concerned about, at least regarding Germany.

“Public opinion polls show that 20% of Germans show potential for anti-Semitism and this is something that has been constant for the last 20 years,” explained Professor Zimmerman to Tazpit Press Service (TPS).

Zimmerman attributes the existence of anti-Semitism in Germany and in other parts of Europe to the local Muslim population’s gripes about Israel.

“Muslims do not react exclusively to the existence of Jews in Germany and in Europe, but they react to the existence of Israel and what Israel does,” he noted. “So, their fight with Israel often, though not always, becomes anti-Semitic.”

However, Zimmerman feels that criticism of Israeli policies in German political circles does not by itself constitute anti-Semitism.

“Criticism that arises here and there is not a sign of anti-Semitism and has nothing to do with anti-Semitism,” Zimmerman told TPS.

“One has to differentiate as there is uneasiness in German politics and even more so in the German public about Israel’s policies in the occupied territories,” Zimmerman continued. “Netanyahu is expanding the settlements and this is something that the Germans cannot accept or can see as a contribution towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Professor ZImmerman asserted that Germany continues to maintain very cordial relations with Israel out of a sense of responsibility for the actions of Nazi Germany.

“Germany is friendly to Israel because it has accepted the burden of history and acknowledges the fact that without Nazism, there wouldn’t have been a need to create a state for the Jews so it has to support the Jewish state,” Zimmerman argued.

Zimmerman noted that Germans often attempt to avoid issuing such criticism so as not to appear anywhere close to being anti-Semitic.

“There is a certain hesitation, particularly among politicians in Germany, when it comes to criticizing Israel’s policies because they are afraid of being accused of being anti-Semitic or of being the heirs to anti-Semitic Nazi policies,” Zimmerman added. “So this is why they usually keep quiet on Israel or hide behind the facade of Europe.”

Zimmerman also said that Israel’s close relationship with Germany necessarily entails that Germany will more closely observe Israel’s policies.

“Germans, who have a special relationship with Israel because of the past, cannot then be expected to forget about Israel when it comes to actual politics,” argues Zimmerman. “There is more emphasis, interest, and focus on Israel so you must expect them to have more criticism of what Israel is doing in the Middle East.”

Jonathan Benedek (TPS)

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