The arrivals of large numbers of migrants with pre-existing prejudices against Jews has been credited with the rise in anti-Semitism in countries like Germany, but in their report on the phenomenon USA Today was careful to point the finger at “Right-wing nationalist movements”.
USA Today discovered that Germany’s Jewish community faces a “disturbing” level of discrimination — a phenomenon the Breitbart News Network has covered at length in recent years.
“I never thought that could happen in the middle of Berlin,” said Mikhail Tanaev, a Jewish telecommunications manager, after witnessing thousands of mostly Muslim protestors burning Israeli flags on the streets of Berlin following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.
“That’s something you see in other parts of the world. It’s really disturbing,” added the 32-year-old, who immigrated to Germany from Russia as a teenager.
“It feels like we’re being threatened because you never know how people will react further when something like this occurs.”
The USA Today report, however, was keen to claim “a resurgent right-wing nationalist movement spawned by the arrival of so many immigrants” was a key part of this rise.
The rise in anti-Semitic incidents — which stood at 1,468 in 2016 — has been attributed to Muslim migrant communities harbouring anti-Semitic sentiments.
USA Today cites a Bielefeld University survey which found 62 per cent of Jewish respondents said they experience anti-Semitism in their everyday lives, while another 28 per cent said they were victims of verbal attacks or harassment in the past year.
“There’s a lot of evidence from our studies that the Internet and young Muslim men in public are threatening [Jews],” commented Andreas Zick, who led the Bielefeld study.
“Refugees coming in don’t perceive that there’s a strong norm against anti-Semitism.”
The increasing prevalence of anti-Semitism in Germany will come as no surprise to Breitbart readers, who will have read reports that the expression “You Jew!” has lately become a common insult in Berlin schools, and that observant Jews in some Germany towns have been advised to stop wearing religious garments in order to avoid being attacked by “Muslim youths”.