web analytics
June 19, 2013 / 11 Tammuz, 5773
At a Glance ▼
InDepth
Sponsored Post
Bicycle in South Pioneers of the Periphery: Olim of the South

Got that pioneering spirit? You’re invited to help build Israel’s periphery by planting roots in southern soil with Nefesh B’Nefesh.



Home » InDepth » Op-Eds »

Anti-Semitism On The March In European Politics

Published: November 23rd, 2011
Latest update: July 23rd, 2012
tell a friend

Anti-Semitic and other criminal worldviews received greater legitimization in the European Union with the recent inclusion of the Laos (The Popular Orthodox Rally) Party in the Greek government.

In 2001 its leader, Giorgios Karatzaferis, while still a parliamentarian of the major New Democracy Party, asked the foreign minister to explain why “no Jews died” during the 9/11 attacks. He has also remarked that “Jewish blood stinks” and compared the Israeli Defense Forces to Hitler.

According to the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Karatzaferis is the publisher of a Greek translation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The Laos minister of transport, Makis Voridis, has a fascist past. Deputy minister of development Adonis Georgiadis has promoted one of the most anti-Semitic books in Europe, The Jews and the Truth by Kostas Plevris.

In 2000, the European Union was still willing to react against racist ministers. When the far-right FDP Party of Jorg Haider entered the Austrian government, the EU issued some sanctions against Austria. (These were hardly effective and were lifted seven months later.) Today, even a suggestion of sanctions would sound ridiculous. To survive its dramatic financial crisis, European Union leaders seem willing to accept almost anything.

One finds extreme racist and anti-Semitic parties in many EU countries, which are not (yet?) part of the government. The largest – in percentage of votes — is the Hungarian party Jobbik, which received 17 percent of the vote in the 2010 national elections.

Germany was shocked recently when it became known that a small neo-Nazi group had murdered German Turks and others over the past several years without being noticed. Now many want to prohibit the extreme rightist NPD party.

Anti-Semitism is widespread among European populations. A new report by a government-approved commission of experts finds that about 20 percent of the German population holds strongly anti-Semitic views.

The ancient anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jewish lust for blood have spread to European perceptions of Israel. A recent study conducted by the University of Bielefeld on behalf of the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation found that 63 percent of Poles think Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians. The lowest figures in the study are from the Italians and the Dutch respectively, with 38 and 39 percent. In Hungary, Great Britain, Germany and Portugal, between 40 and 50 percent think this.

The entrance of Laos into the Greek government is not only linked to the country’s economic crisis, it is also part of the progress of anti-Semitic and other criminal ideologies in the European public sphere.

 

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld is chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

tell a friend

About the Author: Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld is a board member and former chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (2000-2012). He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award (2012) of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism.


You might also be interested in:


If you don't see your comment after publishing it, refresh the page.
no comments

Comments are closed.

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Current Top Story
The FBI arrested two upstate New York men who came up with a stranger than fiction X-ray device to 'kill Israel's enemies'
KKK Member Tried to Sell X-Ray Weapon to Kill ‘Israel’s Enemies’
Latest Indepth Stories
Louis Rene Beres
InDepth → Columns → Louis Rene Beres

Starting next week, Professor Beres’s column will be on summer hiatus until September. * * * * * In June 1998, Prof. Beres, following publication of an op-ed article in The New York Times, was invited by then-Swiss Ambassador Thomas Borer to present personal testimony before the specially-constituted Swiss Commission on World War II in [...]

Gilor-Dov
InDepth → Columns → Focus on Israel/Dov Gilor

Israel is a country that understands security concerns. Many civil rights have been sacrificed in the name of security and Israelis are used to being checked every time they enter a shopping center, a large store or any public building. Americans recently learned that they, too, are subject to many checks on their most private activities.

Moshe-Feiglin-022213
InDepth → Columns → Moshe Feiglin

Without a clear worldview, it is impossible to coherently deal with the challenge of the strategic changes taking place throughout the world – and particularly in the Middle East. Before our very eyes, a worldwide and local revolution is unfolding; their significance is greater than both World Wars combined.

InDepth → Editorial

No one can envy President Obama’s current dilemma over Syria.

His decision to begin arming the Syrian rebels challenging Bashar Assad’s regime drew charges that the rebel forces are driven by jihad movements, particularly al Qaeda. Further, many rebel spokesmen have regularly denounced Israel and suggested that once in power they will end Mr. Assad’s policy of not rocking the boat with Israel. How, then, critics ask, could the president align the U.S. with the rebels?

InDepth → Editorial

In a gushing report on the election of Hassan Rohani as Iran’s new president, The New York Times began with this: “In a striking repudiation of the ultraconservatives who wield power in Iran, voters…overwhelmingly elected a mild-mannered cleric who advocates greater personal freedoms and a more conciliatory approach to the world.”

InDepth → Editorial

Last month in this space we noted that the New York State Assembly was considering legislation that would prohibit domestic insurers from including on their financial statements investments in companies that engage in investment activities in Iran. These financial statements are relied upon by the state to determine whether the company is solvent and able to pay claims. That bill has since passed the Assembly, but the New York State Senate is balking at passing it as well.

InDepth → Op-Eds

There is no other candidate running for mayor who supports our community’s values as Salgado does.

InDepth → Front Page

If the eyes are the window to the soul, then children’s eyes are the window to the Almighty Himself.

InDepth → Analysis

Adding Turkey to the list of volatile states would mean even more uncertainty for Israel.

InDepth → Op-Eds

Making Rouhani the president was a brilliant strategic move for Khamene’i.

InDepth → Columns → America's Rabbi / Shmuley Boteach

Noone, least of all me, wants to see any Arab child suffer, God forbid.

InDepth → Personal

The Sanctuary was built with an ezrat nashim, a separate area for women.

InDepth → Op-Eds

The 686 men who expressed their desire to run in Iran’s presidential election were whittled down to 8.

More Articles from Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld
President Barack Obama delivering the State of the Union address in January 2012.
InDepth → Op-Eds

Now that several weeks have passed since President Obama’s visit to Israel, it is possible to get a better perspective on many of its aspects. Focus must not only be placed on what was said and done, but also on what was missing.

Gerstenfeld-040513
InDepth → Op-Eds

On February 17, the Dutch Nederland 2 TV station broadcast an interview with Dutch Turkish youth conducted by volunteer youth worker Mehmet Sahin. In the broadcast the youngsters expressed their admiration for Hitler and his role in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust.

InDepth → Op-Eds

On October 15, the Knesset voted unanimously to dissolve itself. Elections will be held on January 22, 2013. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to take the step after realizing he could not obtain a majority for his proposed budget.

InDepth → Op-Eds

When Israelis say, “I worry about my grandchildren’s future,” it has a radically different dimension than similar concerns expressed in many other countries.

InDepth → Op-Eds

Since Oslo we have had some Israeli governments emulate Neville Chamberlain’s foolish position. While the current government has not done so, there certainly is vast room for improvement in the presentation of Israel’s case to the world.

InDepth → Op-Eds

There are few societies where the contradiction between Holocaust distortion and Holocaust commemoration is as pronounced as it is in the Netherlands. This phenomenon came to the fore earlier this month on National Memorial Day, May 4, designated to commemorate the many victims of the German occupier. One hundred thousand Dutch Jews – more than 70 percent of the country’s pre-war community – were by far the largest group of victims.

InDepth → Op-Eds

Last month the IDF responded to rockets being launched from Gaza into southern Israel by bombing Gazan targets. It took little time for some media outlets to equate the Palestinian aggressor with the Israeli aggressed. It took only slightly longer for many other media outlets to highlight Israel’s actions while shoving continued Palestinian aggression into the background.

InDepth → Op-Eds

Let us employ a bit of fantasy and assume that Muslim states were intent on assailing the Netherlands. They would claim in the United Nations Human Rights Council that the hundreds of cases every year of euthanasia in the Netherlands, in which the patient is not asked his or her permission, constitutes a severe breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These states could easily muster a majority to have the UNHRC appoint a commission of inquiry into this matter.

    Latest Poll

    Female, Orthodox, Halachic Deciders and Spiritual Leaders (Maharat)









    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/anti-semitism-on-the-march-in-european-politics/2011/11/23/

Scan this QR code to visit this page online:

No related posts.

Close