The flight of Jews from mainland Europe following a sharp rise in anti-Semitism should be a warning to the rest of the population, a prominent Jewish organisation has warned. Jewish migration to Israel has doubled in the last two years, with many more opting to flee to America and even Britain in the wake of a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.
While all eyes have been on the massive influx of migrants from Islamic countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, comparatively little attention has been paid to the equally historic movement of Jews out of Europe, and France in particular.
In fact, as Breitbart News pointed out in January, the ongoing exodus of French Jews comprises the largest trans-migration of Jews since the formation of Israel in 1948. Some 8,000 headed for Israel in 2015, while many others migrated to the UK or the US.
In a newly released video, the Campaign for Antisemitism has said that this is not just a problem for Jews, but is a problem for the whole of European society, chillingly warning: “the Islamists and Nazis attacking Europe’s Jews hate you too.
“History shows us time and again – hate that starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews.”
Taking a snapshot of anti-Semitism from across Europe in just one month between mid-December 2015 and mid-January 2016, the campaign highlights a range of anti-Semitic incidents including:
- A Dutch Jewish family who were attacked at home by a gang of youths shouting “cancer Jews” and “Free Palestine”
- Jewish shoppers who were pelted with gas canisters in London by men shouting “Heil Hitler!”
- A man stabbed outside his synagogue in France – the third such stabbing in Marseille by Islamic State supporters since October
- A Jewish man who was set upon by a Syrian and an Afghan migrant in Germany. The men were shouting ‘Yahud’, a classical Arabic term synonymous with ‘Jew’.
The number of Jews leaving Europe for Israel has been slowly increasing for the last 15 years, but in 2014 the number doubled, and in 2015 it rose again. Meanwhile the number of French Jews in London is now so great that in January the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St. John’s Wood began offering services in French.
Yet statistics show that anti-Semitism in the UK is at an historic high; 924 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded across the UK in 2015, some five incidents every two days, on average. The figure is the third highest recorded by Jewish charity the Community Security Trust.
However, the Trust notes: “2014’s record high of 1,179 incidents, [was] caused by antisemitic reactions to the conflict in Israel and Gaza during July 2014 (316 incidents) and August 2014 (228 incidents).
“The second-highest annual total of 931 incidents came in 2009, also a year when there was a major conflict in Israel and Gaza. In contrast, there was no similar ‘trigger event’ in 2015 to explain the relatively high annual total.”
In London, the 2015 total actually showed an increase on 2014’s figures, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The picture is the same across Europe. In November, while Brussels went on lockdown a four days shortly after the Paris massacre while police searched for Islamic terrorist suspects, the chief Rabbi of Brussels warned: “there is no future for Jews in Europe.”
Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the Brussels-based Transatlantic Institute commented at the time: “You know something has gone awfully wrong when you get phone calls from friends and family in Israel who are worried about your personal safety in Europe’s capital.”