Denis MacShane, a member of the British House of Commons, chronicles the disturbing rise in anti-Semitism in Europe and abroad, focusing on Anti-Semitism in Britain.  He led a large conference on the rise of anti-Semitism in Britain, the panel was made up entirely of non-Jewish people, and none were heavily active in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.  They found that British Jews are becoming nervous, and are seeing increased attacks, beatings, harrassment and vandalism.  Some are actually hiring out private security for larger gatherings like weddings. 

So where is this increasingly rabid hate coming from?  Islamists and Leftists, of course, particularly on campus, where they even try to shut down Jewish  or Pro-Israeli opinion where they can get away with it.  MacShane notes that among the liberal intelligentsia in Britain, any pro-Israel sentiment is looked down upon. 

We've seen a rise in this in the US too, I actually think its more pervasive in the US than we know, but its like socialism, in that liberals in the US won't say, 'yes, I'm a Socialist' because its a black mark to say it openly(even if its true,), "anti-Zionism" (straight up bullshit, its old-fashioned Jew hatred) is probably the same way.
 
MacShane points out that the Blair gov't and its looking like the Brown gov't will work to try and control the anti-Semitism bubbling up among the left and the Islamists.  Good luck fellas, I don't think you'll succeed.  I think this is well entrenched in Europe, and I think its getting there in the US.  The sad part is its even worse on the continent, with even higher violence, abuse and vandalism, and some politicians and papers making raw anti-Jewish statements and facing no condemnation.

He warns that the new anti-semitism in Europe has potential to become worse than previous forms.   I agree, for centuries the Jews were persecuted in Europe, ultimately culminating in the Holocaust.  Jews recognized the need for their own state, and created Israel.  Now again, it looks as though the Europeans are sliding into Jew-hatred, which could follow the Jews to their new homeland.  MacShane sounds like he'll fight it, but I'm not sure there are enough people like him in Europe.  I think there are enough here, thankfully.   If American Jews faced the kind of vandalism and abuse that European ones are getting now, I think there would be a huge outcry that would demand a strong response from authorities.  There's an uptick in that kind of thing, but not enough to demand a concerted response.

Looks like the Brits are doing a PR campaign to push back the Jew-haters.  Good luck guys, you'll need it.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:31 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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