The most disturbing finding of the new anti-Semitism Worldwide General Analysis 2017, is “the prevalent ominous feeling of insecurity among Jews in Europe, recently intensified by the murder of two women in their homes in Paris.”
Indeed, the analysis continues, “the anti-Semitism atmosphere has become a public arena issue, intensively dealt with vi-a-vis a triangle made of the constant rise of the extreme right, a heated anti- Zionist discourse in the left, accompanied by harsh anti-Semitic expressions, and radical Islamism.” This despite the fact that there was actually a “moderate worldwide average decrease in anti-Semitic violent incidents of about 9% (327 cases compared to 361 in 2016), not including France, where the numbers are still being studied.
The General Analysis on Anti-Semitism Worldwide 2017 of the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry was presented Wednesday in a press conference at Tel Aviv University. Along with that hollow feeling of 1939 revisited in the streets of European cities these days, the analysis points out the “gradual return of classic traditional anti-Semitism,” alongside Muslim anti-Semitism that adopts Christian classic anti-Jewish themes.
The report is based on the ongoing Kantor Center and the Moshe Kantor Database team’s work, and on the various reports and data they receive from organizations and contact persons in about 40 countries – a network they have established in more than 25 years of activity.
The latest study points out that the term “Jew” in many languages and forms has been turned into a negative adjective, in a manner reminiscent of darker times. “Jew” is a swearword, and the pejorative use of the words “Jew,” “Jude,” “Juif,” “Feuj,” and “Yahudi” is “inseparable from anti-Semitic perceptions of Jews,” according to the study.
The electoral and political achievements of the extreme and largely anti-Semitic right, has accompanied a rise in leftist anti-Semitism, by supporters of radical-Muslim anti-Israeli attitudes “expressed in anti-Semitic terms such as in the BDS and Antifa movements,” including in Jeremy Corbin’s Labour party.
“The main damage that anti-Semitism has recently caused is a certain corrosion of Jewish life,” the study points out. “Once there are Jews who do not participate in Jewish traditional gatherings, or do not appear in the public sphere identified as Jews – the ability to live a full Jewish communal and individual life is jeopardized, and so is Jewish identity.”
“A feeling of not belonging is also connected to the trust – or its absence – in the state’s authorities, especially the police – which is of utmost importance,” the study argues. “This corrosion is especially apparent in schools: Jewish schools limit youth activities, close or face severe security and budgetary problems. As a result, some Jewish pupils moved to Catholic schools, where the fees are lower and there are no Muslims.”