The multi-faceted face of the anti-Semitic scourge

DAVID SAKS

In addition to many of the newcomers being already steeped in deep-rooted anti-Semitic ideologies when they arrive, conspiratorial notions of Jews being behind the unpopular influx are becoming common currency in right-wing, anti-immigrant circles.

As a result, as Porat puts it, European Jews are finding themselves increasingly “caught between the anvil and the hammer”, with the situation getting worse as the current refugee crisis intensifies.

Porat is the chief historian at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and head of the Kantor Centre for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University. She is in South Africa under the auspices of the Israeli Embassy and Yad Vashem to participate in the UN International Holocaust Day which was commemorated on January 27.

Immigration from the Arab-speaking countries, which commenced at a fairly low level at the beginning of the century, has rapidly increased until reaching near-flood proportions in recent years.

As Porat dryly observes, Palestinians are conspicuous by their absence within the ranks of the newcomers, notwithstanding their constant complaints about how much they are suffering at Israel’s hands. The reality is that compared with their counterparts in other Arab states, most obviously in war-ravaged Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, they are living secure and comfortable lives.

The immigration controversy has spawned a range of bizarre anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. It is claimed, for example, that Jews are behind the mass immigration in order to empty the Middle East of Arabs, leaving the ground clear for them to take over.

Others hold that the intention is to incite Muslims against Christians, while still others adhere to the time-worn theory that Jews are seeking to corrupt the purity of the Aryan races, in this case with the infusion of Semitic blood.

Porat also points to a high degree of hostility towards Jews by the immigrants themselves, who are resentful of how well they have succeeded in integrating, whereas they themselves are facing formidable obstacles in that regard, not least the pressure brought to bear to remain a community apart by radical fundamentalists within their own ranks.

Regarding how the social media is now the primary vehicle for disseminating anti-Semitism, Porat believes that the answer lies in holding the Internet companies that host such sites accountable, rather than in trying to track down and prosecute particular individuals. Some progress has been made in this regard, with the Jewish community in France, for example, having successfully compelled Twitter to clamp down on the abuse of its facility.

So far as the security situation facing European Jewry is concerned, Porat believes that there is a strong perception of danger within the various communities, perhaps stronger than the danger itself. Recent surveys show that around one in four Jews no longer identify as such in public, with the same proportion no longer being prepared to attend Jewish events when held at Jewish communal installations.

In most European countries, it is now standard practice to remove one’s kippah after shul for fear of being assaulted. Religiously observant Jews in the main wear alternative head coverings, such as caps or, in France, berets.