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www.wikipedia.org/ Amakuha When the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia adopted a comprehensive working definition of anti-Semitism in 2005, it was a great encouragement to the Jewish people worldwide. The statement listed “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” and “drawing comparisons between Israel and Nazis” as examples of anti-Semitism, which seemed almost too good to be true, given the European Union’s (EU) prevailing anti-Israel bias.
The definition was constantly being updated so that every aspect of the changing face of bigotry against Israel and the Jewish people was covered. One of the goals was to provide law enforcement and judicial officials a guideline so that anti-Semitic crimes could be readily identified as racially motivated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But in 2013, the definition was dropped without explanation. Today, the EU’s agency for combating racism says they are unable to define the term “anti-Semitism.”
Unfortunately, this mysterious turn of events is symptomatic of an alarming increase in anti-Semitism worldwide. Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett calls 2013 the year “an atmosphere of anti-Semitism swept the globe.”
Studies indicate a dramatic increase in reported incidents in countries from Denmark to Italy, Canada to Kyrgyzstan, Mexico to Argentina. This is particularly alarming since a survey done in November of 2013 noted that 77% of victims of anti-Semitic harassment don’t even report the most serious incidents to police or other agencies. Experts believe that for every known attack, dozens go unreported. This might explain why the same study found that over 30% of Jews surveyed are considering aliyah (immigration to Israel).
www.wikipedia.org/ Robert Friend Weber Whitlock Although all eyes are on the Ukraine and the potential danger the current explosive situation there poses to the Jewish people, Ukrainians are not alone. In Denmark, 2013 was a particularly disturbing year, with Jewish people deciding to hide their Jewishness, even refraining from wearing religious symbols in public. Incidents of vandalism and verbal harassment were on the increase but were accompanied by attacks of physical violence as well. Many families removed their children from public schools for their protection, enrolling them instead in Jewish schools which are surrounded by barbed wire, sophisticated security cameras and armed guards. Because of this reprehensible growth in anti-Semitism, Denmark, a country known for protecting its Jewish citizens during WWII, may well see a mass exodus of that same demographic in the not too distant future.
Hungary has a population of over 120,000 Jewish people. It is the home of the largest synagogue in the Eastern Hemisphere, the second largest in the entire world. Jews have lived there since the second century and are prominent in all areas of society. Yet in 2013, lawmakers and public officials who hold dual Hungarian–Israeli passports were called upon to resign from all public office; and Hungary topped the rest of Europe as far as anti-Semitism in the media. In June, Chief Rabbi Emeritus Jozsef Schweitzer, 89, was attacked in broad daylight on a busy street in Budapest. In a survey conducted in 2009, 47% of Hungarians expressed anti-Semitic views; in 2013, the number had risen to an alarming 65%.
www.wikipedia.org/Takver While many individual EU governments are making efforts to combat anti-Semitism, obviously much remains to be done. France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the UK all saw increases in anti-Semitic activity in 2013 ranging from vandalism, internet propaganda and harassment to violence involving muggings, shootings and stabbings…even the use of Molotov cocktails. This situation is dire enough that Front Page Magazine had this to say:
“It is clear from the events of 2013 that Jews continue to serve as a convenient scapegoat for Europeans. And while the new “religion” in Europe is a combination of multiculturalism and human rights, the old anti-Semitic strains are still embedded in the European character 75 years after Kristallnacht, and 68 years after the liberation of Auschwitz. Europe for Jews has once again become increasingly inhospitable.”
www.wikipedia.org/ k763 Perhaps even more alarming, however, is the emergence of anti-Semitic activity in other parts of the world. In Australia, 2013 saw the second highest number of reported anti-Semitic incidents on record. A report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry revealed a 21% increase in vandalism and harassment over the year before. Particularly worrisome to the authors of the report is the fact that the anti-Israel movement is attracting “hard-core anti-Semites, from neo-Nazis to radical Islamists, which both openly advocate genocide against Jews.” The report concluded by instructing Jews in Australia to “worship, study and work under the protection of high fences, armed guards and other security facilities.”
arindambanerjee /Shutterstock.com Vitriolic anti-Semitism in the Arab world is unfortunately nothing new. However, even the experts were surprised to see a dramatic increase in vandalism, graffiti, internet propaganda and harassment in countries such as Paraguay, Panama, Mexico and Venezuela. In Argentina, a number of violent physical attacks on Jews were reported, some on children resulting in serious injuries. Pro-Nazi, anti-Jewish statements were painted on buildings, bridges, houses and synagogues, including swastikas and statements such as, “I sell soap made of Jews.” A municipal ballot distributed during a local election in Generale Campos in March of 2013 read, “Be a patriot, kill a Jew.”
www.wikipedia.org/ Gedalya Gottdenger In December, the Simon Wiesenthal Center released its “Top Ten” anti-Semitic, anti-Israel slurs list from 2013. First place was reserved for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei who repeatedly made genocidal threats against the Jewish state throughout the year. In November, he described Israel as the “rabid dog in the region,” adding, “Its leaders look like beasts and cannot be called human.”
That a global leader could spew forth such anti-Semitic hatred with impunity is a disgrace to the international community. And the fact that no contradicting voices were heard is an indictment of the church.
Can those who love and serve the One and Only God, Lord of the universe, again stand silently by as voices of violence blatantly threaten His first love, the people of Israel? Will we as believers in Yeshua allow Israel to, again, stand alone or will we stand in the gap and be voices in opposition to prevailing winds of hate?
Source: By Cheryl Hauer, International Development Director
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