YNET NEWS: For increasingly helpless European Jews Israel is the solution, not the problem
It's hard to believe that this question is being asked [a]gain, but sadly, after 70 years it has emerged nonetheless: Is there room for Jewish existence in Europe? Can Jews continue living as a proud community, in 2009, in that same continent with the terrible memories? The answer, in light of what has been materializing in the past few weeks – yet not only because of this – is negative.
A Jew can no longer walk the streets while displaying Jewish trademarks, or visit Jewish institutions that are not surrounded by police officers and guards; they must remain behind locks and bars, scared for their lives.
Meanwhile, those who hide any Jewish attributes and assimilate into society will continue to live – until they face an unpleasant situation with their colleagues, at school, or anywhere else in life.
In recent months I visited and spoke before several Jewish communities in European countries, including Turkey, France, and Britain – even before the Gaza operation. During the trip I saw with my own eyes the miserable Jewish existence. Yes, if they hide the Star of David and the unique dress, and if they agree that their synagogues will look like locked fortresses, like ghettos in fact, and if they are forced to experience threats on the street and hear about the growing number of anti-Semitic incidents – well, we can say that there is Jewish existence; scared, embarrassed, and submissive.
But what about feeling secure in their countries? There is none of that.
Anti-Semitism is a European phenomenon*, with millions of Muslims sweeping the continent and turning the conflict with Israel and the Jews into a cause that enables them to reinforce their hold on Europe. The global economic crisis is being exploited in order to incite against the Jews and against the investment banks which the world enjoyed for half a century. Yet now, when we see losses, "Jewish money still rules the world," as the South African deputy foreign minister startlingly asserted.
The trend is growing across the world and it has nothing to do with Israel: Israel is the tool used in order to secure achievements. Israel is what the Jews used to be in the past.
When we see, in Turkey or Italy, Jewish-owned stores being marked so the locals refrain from buying there, what kind of future do the children of the 750,000 Jews in Western Europe have? You worked for a country that will always view you as foreigners. Following World War II, you made some countries rich, but now we see a quiet Jewish rally in the Swedish capital being banned because of fears of Muslims violence there. What kind of future do you have in this continent, which is becoming increasingly Muslim? >>> | Friday, March 6, 2009
*Really? What about the anti-Semitism in the Muslim world?
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