European anti-Semitism
: I read this lead in yesterday’s New York Times…
The boys hide their skullcaps under baseball caps. The girls tuck their Star of David necklaces under their sweaters. Their school in this middle-class suburb east of Paris has been scorched by fire and fear, and those are the off-campus rules.
…and I wondered…
If Europe, Old Europe, were truly concerned about its evil ghost of anti-Semitism rising again, I would do something.
If I heard that children are being told to hide their yarmulkes for fear of attacks, I’d go out and get myself a yarmulke and wear it proudly.
If I were Jacques Chirac, I’d go get a yarmulke and wear it. I’d urge all Frenchmen to wear a yarmulke.
But then, I’m not European.
: Here, at last, is the repressed report on anti-Semitism in Old Europe today. Note that it’s not just from Muslims:
In the extreme left-wing scene anti-Semitic remarks were to be found mainly in the context of pro-Palestinian and anti-globalisation rallies and in newspaper articles using anti-Semitic stereotypes in their criticism of Israel. Often this generated a combination of anti-Zionist and anti-American views that formed an important element in the emergence of an anti-Semitic mood in Europe. Israel, seen as a capitalistic, imperialistic power, the
