Israel Matzav

Europe's blind spot

We have to stop fooling ourselves. There is anti-Semitism in Europe. It's practitioners are both Muslims and Christians - new Muslim anti-Semites and old Nazi sympathizers. And it's not going away. If anything, it's getting worse. Now, it even comes with an excuse: As long as it invokes the 'Palestinians' it gets a free pass.

What would prompt a 23-year-old man, born and raised in France, to chase a small, terrified Jewish girl into a school courtyard, look her in the eye and shoot her in the head?

The very idea brings back memories of the 1940s, of an era that many Europeans have worked diligently, with considerable success, to put behind them. But the echoes of history should not be silenced. The tragedy of Toulouse is a call to take another look at that crucial fight against the poisonous prejudice that ultimately devastated Europe in the middle of the 20th century.

I believe an honest examination will reveal a blind spot among those fighting prejudice that has allowed the ancient Jew hatred that infected Europe for centuries to survive. The blind spot is this: When the prejudice -- and even the call for murder -- is made in connection with the Palestinian cause, people look the other way and give it a pass.

Read the whole thing. I think it's the best article I saw on what the real lessons of this past week are.

Labels: European anti-Semitism, Islamist, Nazis

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:30 AM