On International Holocaust Day this past week, the Israeli Ministry of the Diaspora released its Report on Antisemitism - 2018. The massacre of innocent Jews in Pittsburgh and other incidents brought the yearly tally of those who died al kiddush Hashem simply because they are Jews to a recent high of 13 Hy"d, a number not seen since the bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1994.
The report also details record levels of antisemitic incidents in the street and on the Internet. A full 70% of expressions of violence are directed at Israelis, the code name for Jews. This reached a peak with the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem.
A smashed Jewish gravestone
According to another survey by the European Union, 85% of European Jews say that antisemitism is a problem where they live. 89% say that they expect antisemitism to increase in the next five years, and 38% are considering a move as a result of the increasing antisemitism.
Rav Pinchas Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi of Moscow and Nosi of the Conference of European Rabbis, told us: "I want to share with you my experience in meeting with the prime minister of the Flanders area of Belgium, in whose area a law went into effect at the beginning of the calendar year that outlaws traditional Jewish shechita.
"The meeting left me with a very bad feeling. Opposite me was sitting a cultured European man who told me, `The Jews will learn to live with this. They will find a way to change their laws a bit. Join the 21st century.' He began to tell me in classic antisemitic terms, that the Jews of Antwerp do not work. They live off of government handouts. The prime minister said that he had heard that in Israel they have the same problem with chareidim. In effect he told me that he had 30,000 Jews living in his district and it was up to him to assimilate them. When I told him that because of laws like that one and another that requires learning secular subjects in all the Jewish schools which will force the closure of all the chadorim of Antwerp, he just dismissed the issue.
In the not too distant past there was a concept that was accepted in Europe known as freedom of religion. Today all of Europe is becoming more secular and less religious. Even though they fancy themselves liberal, they are becoming less liberal. They tell us Jews that we must become like them or we should leave to Israel. Of course the main subjects of this are chareidi Jews. "
It should be noted that while synagogues in France have not been attacked for the past four years B"H, they are nevertheless protected by a 24-hour guard of armed soldiers in bulletproof vests, watching behind sandbags. Similar vigil guards Jewish schools and Jewish cultural centers.
The Jewish community in France is the largest in Europe but is quickly shrinking. In 2000 its population was estimated at half a million but today, it stands at less than 400,000 and it is rapidly declining. Major Jewish enclaves of the past are on the verge of extinction.
The threat is not without base. Only two months ago, a comprehensive survey made by CNN in seven central European countries was publicized, showing that while the memory of the Holocaust is fast disappearing, nevertheless, anti-Semitism on the continent has not faded and the negative stereotypes, hatred and ignorance regarding Jews is on the upswing.
The survey aroused a major storm in the world media. It exposed views that were complex, contradictory but also alarming regarding Jews. The boorish notions screamed out. One out of every twenty Europeans never even heard about the Holocaust even though less than 75 years have passed since the end of WWII and there are some twenty-thousand Holocaust survivors still living in our midst. This rampant ignorance is most outstanding among the French youth: one out of every fifth person between the ages of 18-34 admits that he never heard about the Holocaust!
France is exceptional not only in its ignorance but also in its physical anti-Semitism towards its Jewish citizens. Attacks against individuals are on the rise, most of them taking place in broad daylight. Jews are aware of the danger on the streets, but attackers have also been known to break into homes.
In the latest report presented by the French government to the Organization for Communal Protection it said that one of every three racist crimes in France in the past two years was against Jews, even though Jews constitute less than one percent of the population. "Antisemitism has increased to such a degree that incidents of attacks with no casualties are not reported any longer. Most victims, in any case, feel helpless, and fear retaliation if they choose to report."
Jews who are able to leave France, do so. Those who have not yet decided to do so or are unable financially to leave, choose to move to safer neighborhoods.
