Blog : Philosémitisme

"A quel moment les Juifs d'Amérique et les Juifs d'Israël diront-ils aux Juifs d''Europe qu'il serait temps de partir'", demande Jeffrey Goldberg, un journaliste juif américain de premier plan.   Il semble que le moment soit venu.

L'Amérique est tout simplement stupéfie de voir ce qui se passe en Europe.

Adam LeBor @ Newsweek: Exodus: Europe's Jews Are Fleeing Once Again

The mob howled for vengeance, the missiles raining down on the synagogue walls as the worshippers huddled inside. It was a scene from Europe in the 1930s ? except this was eastern Paris on the evening of July 13th, 2014.

Thousands had gathered to demonstrate against the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. But the protest soon turned violent ? and against Jews in general. One of those trapped told Israeli television that the streets outside were ?like an intifada', the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

Some of the trapped Jews fought their way out as the riot police dispersed the crowd. Manuel Valls, the French Prime Minister, condemned the attack in ?the strongest possible terms', while Joel Mergei, a community leader, said he was ?profoundly shocked and revolted'. The words had no effect. Two weeks later, 400 protesters attacked a synagogue and Jewish-owned businesses in Sarcelles, in the north of Paris, shouting ?Death to the Jews'. Posters had even advertised the raid in advance, like the pogroms of Tsarist Russia.


France has suffered the worst violence, but anti-Semitism is spiking across Europe, fuelled by the war in Gaza. In Britain, the Community Security Trust (CST) says there were around 100 anti-Semitic incidents in July, double the usual number. The CST has issued a security alert for Jewish institutions. In Berlin a crowd of anti-Israel protesters had to be prevented from attacking a synagogue. In Liege, Belgium, a café owner put up a sign saying dogs were welcome, but Jews were not allowed.

Yet for many French and European Jews, the violence comes as no surprise. Seventy years after the Holocaust, from Amiens to Athens, the world's oldest hatred flourishes anew. For some, opposition to Israeli policies is now a justification for open hatred of Jews ? even though many Jews are strongly opposed to Israel's rightward lurch, and support the establishment of a Palestinian state.


As Stephen Pollard, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, argues: ?These people were not attacked because they were showing their support for the Israeli government. They were attacked because they were Jews, going about their daily business.?  [...]

?At what point,? asked Jeffrey Goldberg, a prominent American Jewish journalist, ?do the Jews of America and the Jews of Israel tell the Jews of Europe that it might be time to get out'? Around now, it seems.

A survey published in November 2013 by the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union found that 29% had considered emigrating as they did not feel safe. Jews across Europe, the survey noted, ?face insults, discrimination and physical violence, which despite concerted efforts by both the EU and its member states, shows no signs of fading into the past'.

Two-thirds considered anti-Semitism to be a problem across the countries surveyed. Overall, 76% said that anti-Semitism had worsened over the past five years in their home countries, with the most marked deteriorations in France, Hungary and Belgium. The European Jewish Congress has now set up a website, sacc.eu, to give advice and contacts in the events of an attack.  [...]

It's difficult to imagine that in France, Belgium and many other countries Jewish people are told not to go out on the streets wearing a kippah.?  [...]

Youths make the "quenelle" gesture outside the a concert hall in Nantes where a banned show by French humorist Dieudonne M'bala M'bala, also known as Dieudonne, was due to take place, January 9, 2014. Critics say the comic's trademark straight-arm gesture is a Nazi salute in reverse. Dieudonne, 46, says it is anti-Zionist and anti-establishment, but not anti-Semitic. [...]

The turning point came in January 2006 with the kidnapping and murder of Ilan Halimi. A 23-year-old mobile telephone salesman, Halimi was lured into a honey-trap, abducted and held for three weeks in Bagneux, outside Paris. There he was tortured while his abductors telephoned his family, so they could hear his screams. Youssouf Fofana, the leader of the gang, was later sentenced to life imprisonment.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the case was that 28 people were involved in the kidnapping and many more living on the housing estate knew about it. ?The murder of Ilan Halimi was the first murder of a Jew because he was a Jew,? says Roger Cukierman, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF). ?The prejudice and lack of humanity were impressive. It is unbelievable that in the 24 days he was held and tortured not one of the people involved even considered making an anonymous call to the police.? [...]

The future of European Jewry is more than a question for Jews themselves, argues Natan Sharansky. ?I would like to see strong Jewish communities in Europe, but they are more and more hesitant about what their future is. Europe's leaders are working hard to convince that Europe is multicultural and post-nationalist. But if the oldest minority in Europe feels uncomfortable and is disappearing, that raises questions of education and citizenship. That is the challenge for Europe's leaders.?