Israel and Jews: Facing Europe’s Challenges
A number of major problem issues in Western European countries and the EU face Israel and the Jews. The widespread demonization of Israel remains a critical problem. So do anti-Semitism, the continuous influx of Muslims without any selection, the major manifestation of anti-Semitism within the UK Labor Party, the growth of the extreme right and left in France, and other important issues. Establishing such an inventory may provide a useful tool for Israel and international Jewish organizations in defining their 2018 agenda.
In order to follow developments in 2018, it is helpful to establish a partial inventory of major problem issues for Israel and the Jews in Western European countries and the EU.
A central problem remains the widespread demonization of Israel. Polls in nine countries tell us that high percentages of their populations agree with statements such as, “What the state of Israel does today to the Palestinians is in principle no different from what the Nazis did to the Jews in the Third Reich” and “Israel conducts a war of extermination against the Palestinians.” Statistics show that in these countries, at least 38% of the population agree with such statements. The figure is highest in Poland, at 63%.
These “feelings” of European citizens tell us nothing about Israel and its actions. They are, however, indicative of extreme anti-Israel bias in a number of countries. Concerning Germany, seven polls exist on these attitudes taken from 2004 to 2015. The latest, from 2015, found that 41% of Germans see Israel as behaving like Nazis.
On a continent where Nazi Germany had so many collaborators in the countries it occupied, the Israeli government is fully within its rights to confront governments about its being demonized.
Anti-Semitism in several EU countries seems to be expanding. Many in the European establishment have made efforts to suppress information or avoid mentioning the important role of Muslims in aggression and hatemongering against Jews and Israel. This has delayed this major aspect of anti-Semitism from coming forcefully into the European public domain.
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Israel and Jews: Facing Europe’s Challenges
Πηγή: besacenter.org
