Last week, Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Ministry released a report titled "Anti-Semitism in 2013: Trends and Events."
Yet, there was barely a
scarce mention about it in the media and Jewish community, perhaps
because this was the umpteenth report released in recent times about the
state of anti-Semitism around the world, and in particular in Europe.
In essence, the report
underscores what we have known for some time now: that anti-Semitism in
Europe has reached alarming levels, in many parts, such as Hungary and
France especially, even unprecedented since the end of the Holocaust, a
point also stressed this week by Anti-Defamation League chief Abe
Foxman.
Many Jews across Europe
are increasingly being forced to change their way of life, hide their
identities and even step away from their Judaism out of fear of
anti-Semitism.
One of the most
disconcerting parts of the report was a suggestion that "most of
Europe's Jews have come to terms with anti-Semitism as a chronic disease
that has no hope of treatment or eradication," citing that 77 percent
of European Jews do not even bother reporting anti-Semitic incidents to
any organization, Jewish or otherwise, "due to their belief that the
complaints will not be dealt with and that the attackers will not be
identified."
Tragically, merely 69
years after the end of the Holocaust, virtually no part of Europe is
free of the evil of anti-Semitism and hatred that led to its darkest
period in history.
The difference,
however, is that today's anti-Semitism is being directed not only
against Jews as individuals, but also in the vilification and assault on
Israel's legitimacy, as the Jew among the nations, with false claims
and malicious distortions of truth cloaked as acceptable criticism of
Zionism and Israel. This is being waged by a dangerous union of radical
Islam, the far Left and the neo-Nazi far Right.
Today, we don't need
any more reports to tell us, and the Jews of Europe, that anti-Semitism
is a problem; what is needed are concrete steps to combat it.
As such, the following six action items are proposed for consideration as a blueprint for combating anti-Semitism in Europe:
1. As European Council
President Herman Van Rompuy recently said, anti-Semitism is "a crime
against Europe and its culture, against man and its humanity. To be
anti-Semitic is to reject Europe." Therefore, anti-Semitism must not be
seen solely a "Jewish problem," but a human problem, and in particular,
one going against the very culture and ethos of Europe.
2. Europe must have a
comprehensive definition of anti-Semitism. In this regard, it was most
unfortunate to see last year the decision of the EU Fundamental Rights
Agency, the central European body charged with combating anti-Semitism,
to remove its working definition of anti-Semitism, and inexplicably,
only weeks after releasing a major report about the record level of
anti-Semitism in Europe.
Importantly, the FRA
definition also included calls for the delegitimization of Israel as a
form of anti-Semitism. This full definition of anti-Semitism should
immediately be reinstated as law in Europe. Without defining what it is
we are trying to combat, how can we ever defeat it?
3. The European Union
should establish a full-time EU special envoy to monitor and combat
anti-Semitism, to be modeled on a similar position in the United States,
currently held by Ira Forman.
4. European governments
must also be pressed separately to monitor anti-Semitism. Despite being
required to do so under accords reached between the EU and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, many have failed to
do so.
In fact, in the most
recent report of the OSCE, which is tasked with, among other matters,
requiring its member states to collect information and monitor
anti-Semitic incidents in their home states, only 27 of the 57 OSCE
member states submitted official statistics. Among the countries that
did not submit the required data: France, Hungary, Greece, Russia and
Belgium -- some of the worst offenders with regard to anti-Semitism in
Europe today.
5. All EU states must
outlaw Holocaust denial. Under current EU law, Holocaust denial is
punishable by a jail sentence of up to three years, but EU countries
that do not have such a prohibition in their own domestic legislation
are not bound to enforce the EU law.
At present, only 13 of
the 28 EU member states have laws specifically criminalizing Holocaust
denial. This anomaly in unacceptable.
Legislation must be
enacted and enforced across each country in the EU, outlawing racist
hate speech, use of Nazi symbols, and specifically, the denial of the
Holocaust.
6. Education,
education, education. People are not born to hate; they learn it. All EU
member states should make study of the Holocaust and its implications
mandatory in all high schools.
It is high time we
stopped just talking about anti-Semitism and started taking concrete
steps to fight this oldest form of hatred.
Arsen Ostrovsky is an
international human rights lawyer and freelance journalist, and has
written extensively on anti-Semitism in Europe.
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