BY JAMIE FOSTER
Antisemitism is on the rise in the US and Europe according to two reports out this month. Jews around the world were feeling an ‘increased sense of emergency’ said Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress while launching the Kantor Centre Report into Global Antisemitism. The analysis by the group, which represents Jewish communities across Europe, found a rise in all forms of antisemitism with violent attacks up 13% from 342 to 387.The highest number of these cases was in the US with 100 attacks, then the UK with 68 then France and Germany with 35 each.
A separate report by the Anti-Defamation League in the US found that violent attacks against Jewish people in the US had doubled last year. The 59 victims were up from 21 last year, including 11 killed in a synagogue shooting.
The Kantor report said that antisemitism was no longer just found in the far left, far right, radical Islamist triangle and had become mainstream as a normal part of ordinary life.
In France the Interior Ministry recorded 541 acts against Jewish people including 81 violent attacks. In Germany violent attacks against Jews were up 70%. In the UK there were a total of 1652 documented anti-Semitic incidents – a rise of 16% – on 2017.
The report suggests that the reason for the rise is a generational distance from the holocaust. “Almost 75 years after world war two ended, a growing number of the present third generation feel free of the commitment to know, remember and expiate for bygone wrongs. They are free of the burden that cast a shadow on former generations regarding the plight of Jews,” it said.
It defies imagination that in the 21st Century we are still having a problem with antisemitism. It is hard to think of a group of people who have done less to deserve the hatred that is piled upon them than the Jews. They have made extraordinary achievements over the years in all fields. They are dramatically over represented in the professions. They have helped UK society immeasurably. From doctors and scientists to the media, Jews have played their part in all walks of life in the UK. Long may this continue. How often in business or personal life does one ever ask a person if they are Jewish? It’s a question that never comes up, so integrated most people are in British life?
Surely the holocaust was enough to stop antisemitism from flourishing afterwards. The horrors of the holocaust should act as a warning to future generations against all forms of antisemitism. There is plenty of material available at the click of a mouse for people to educate themselves with. Why are they ignoring the truth?
We have reached a point where the far left is inextricably tied up with antisemitism and hatred of Israel due to its association with Islamism. Radical Islam hates Jews and has infected the far left with this hatred. Since becoming a far left party, Labour has also been infected with antisemitism. The review that they held into anti-Semitism was shocking and the party apparatus is not fit for purpose in detecting antisemitic abuse. The review held up by Shami Chakrabarti – Baroness Chakrabati after the report was delivered – was a complete whitewash and Labour ought to be ashamed of themselves. They shame Britain in turn.