Antisemitism – Overview of data available in the European Union 2006–2016

November 27, 2017

New extremely important report recently published by the EU Agency for Fundamental rights.
This report provides an overview of data on antisemitism as recorded by international organisations and by official and unofficial sources in the 28 European Union (EU) Member States, based on their own definitions and categorisations.
Antisemitism can be expressed in the form of verbal and physical attacks, threats, harassment, property damage and graffiti or other forms of speech or text, including on the internet. Antisemitic incidents and hate crime violate fundamental rights, including the right to human dignity, the right to equality of treatment and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
This annual overview compiles the available evidence on antisemitic incidents collected by governmental and non-governmental sources, covering the period 1 January 2006– 31 December 2016, where data are available. In addition, it includes a section that presents evidence from international organisations. No official data on reported antisemitic incidents in 2016 were available for 11 Member States by the time this report was compiled in September 2017.
‘Official data’ are understood here as those collected by law enforcement agencies, other authorities that are part of criminal justice systems and relevant state ministries at the national level. ‘Unofficial data’ refers to data collected by civil society organisations.
for the full report click HERE

Additional Articles

Declaration Against Jew Hatred Sparks Hope Among Dutch Jewish Community: Chief Rabbi's Emotional Response

To the signatories (and their supporters) of the Declaration Against Jew Hatred. With tears of gratitude and emotion, I have taken note of your clear condemnation of anti-Semitism. Hopefully, the Netherlands will take in your message in its full breadth, because aftershooting, honking, threats and deadly looks are now part of the normal everyday for me. Fortunately, I also hear warm shalom much, much more often, but the ratio between a positive wish and a criminal hateful curse has clearly changed to the detriment of shalom since 7 October.

 

This evening, I received your anti-Jewish hate statement dozens of times from members of the Jewish Community who wanted to draw my attention to your brave words. Sign, then, that your words have landed with the Jewish Community. Prof Presser, the historian, indicated in his book “Ondergang” that 5% of the Dutch population committed resistance, 5% collaborated with the Nazis and 90% saw it and let it happen. It is about this 90% of the Dutch that I worry. Their direction is not determined by thought and reason but solely by emotions.

Your Declaration, which leaves no room for ambiguity, will hopefully, with G’d’s help, influence the direction of the 90% herd for the better and quell expressions of anti-Semitism. Whether this will eliminate anti-Semitism, I doubt, but at the very least, I can again just walk the streets without extra alertness and use Public Transport again. Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs.

Labour councillor under investigation over pictures of him in an Adolf Hitler costume for children's hospice fancy dress fundraiser

Labour has launched an inquiry into a councillor pictured at a fundraiser dressed as Adolf Hitler.

Photographs of Seve Gomez-Aspron show him wearing a German Army uniform, complete with swastika, and a fake moustache.

They were taken at a fancy dress dinner in aid of Claire House Hospice, which supports seriously and terminally ill children, in 2009 – around three years before he was elected to St Helens Council in Merseyside.

Mr Gomez-Aspron, 33, who represents the Newton-le-Willows ward, said the outfit was inspired by Mel Brooks’ satirical comedy The Producers. He described the decision to wear it as ‘clumsy’.

The councillor told the Liverpool Echothe photos were taken in his early twenties, before he was a Labour Party member, adding: ‘I have matured and learnt a lot since then, and it goes without saying that I would not do this now.

‘I know how this could be seen as insensitive and how it could cause hurt and offence.

‘That was not at all my intention and I sincerely apologise.

‘I have part-Jewish ancestry and I recently visited Israel to commemorate those killed in the Holocaust and the war.’

Labour confirmed it had launched an inquiry but said it was unable to comment on individual cases due to data protection issues.

The scandal is not Mr Gomez-Aspron’s first.

Earlier this month, Merseyside Police confirmed they had received a complaint about a tweet he posted referring to the ‘Aryan race’.

Officers concluded no offence had been committed.

In December 2017, he was censured by the council’s standards committee after insinuating residents were ‘halfwits’ on Facebook.


The article was published on mail online

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Les Juifs français les plus inquiets quant à leur sécurité parmi 12 pays européens

La France est le pays dont la communauté juive se sent le moins en sécurité, en dépit des actions menées par l’État, selon un index portant sur 12 pays européens publié mardi dans le cadre d’une rencontre organisée par l’Association juive européenne (EJA).

Cet index de la « qualité de vie juive », réalisé à partir de sondages et études, croise quatre ensembles de données : le sentiment de sécurité ressenti par la communauté juive, l’attitude de la population vis-à-vis des Juifs et Israël, l’antisémitisme et enfin la « performance du gouvernement » (statistiques sur les incidents antisémites, lieux de mémoire de la Shoah, budget destiné à la sécurité des sites juifs, liberté de culte et préservation des pratiques juives telles que la circoncision et l’abattage rituel, etc…)

Les études ont été menées par l’Institute for Jewish Policy Research de Londres et par la European Union Agency for Fondamental Rights, auprès de 16 000 Juifs européens en 2018.

Il en ressort que la France, qui comprend la plus forte communauté juive d’Europe avec un peu moins de 500 000 Juifs, arrive à la 10e position (68/100) de cet index qui concerne également l’Italie (1ère place avec 79/100), la Hongrie (2e), la Pologne (11e), la Belgique (12e place avec 60/100), mais aussi l’Allemagne, l’Espagne, le Danemark, le Royaume-Uni, la Suède, les Pays-Bas.

« L’une des conclusions, surprenante, est que le gouvernement de la France a une bonne performance » par les actions menées par l’État (score de 83/100), « mais en dépit de cela, la communauté juive exprime un fort sentiment d’inquiétude » pour sa sécurité (31/100), a déclaré à l’AFP Daniel Staetsky, auteur de cet index, statisticien à l’Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

Comme possibles explications, il a cité les « attaques terroristes antisémites » comme la tuerie de l’école juive Otzar Hatorah à Toulouse en 2012 ou l’attaque contre l’Hypercacher dans l’Est parisien en janvier 2015.

Autres enseignements de ces études : c’est au Danemark que la population juive se sent le plus en sécurité. La Hongrie arrive au premier rang concernant l’antisémitisme. Et la Belgique est dernière pour les actions menées par le pays en faveur de sa communauté juive.

Selon l’EJA, la rencontre, qui se tient à Budapest depuis lundi et se termine mardi, réunit quelque 250 personnes, dont 120 représentants et dirigeants des communautés juives d’Europe.

Dans un autre rapport publié plus tôt ce mois-ci, le rapport national des mesures gouvernementales pour lutter contre l’antisémitisme et encourager la vie juive en Belgique, le CEJI (Contribution juive à une Europe inclusive) a demandé à la Belgique de mieux enseigner la Shoah, a rapporté la presse belge.

La conclusion de ce rapport interpellait sur le fait que, dans l’ensemble, l’État belge avait peu fait pour lutter contre l’antisémitisme en tant que type spécifique de racisme. Il demandait des interventions ciblées ainsi que des efforts publics plus importants – le domaine où les politiques ayant obtenu le score le plus bas, et de loin, étant l’éducation.

« Il n’y a pas de guidance officielle par rapport à l’antisémitisme. La Shoah est enseignée, mais pas de manière consistante. Il y a des élèves à qui on n’a jamais parlé de la Shoah. Du côté francophone, il y a de nouvelles lois pour couvrir le nazisme qui vont être mises en place dans les années à venir », a déclaré Robin Sclafani, directrice du CEJI. « Les enseignants doivent être mieux formés. Il faut savoir comment enseigner l’antisémitisme par l’éducation à la Shoah contemporaine », a-t-elle ajouté.

L’idée de nommer un coordonnateur national pour la lutte contre l’antisémitisme et la promotion de la vie juive a ainsi été évoquée. L’organisation a aussi demandé à l’État d’apporter le soutien nécessaire à la mise en œuvre de la politique. Il a aussi été recommandé de mettre en place un groupe de travail interministériel durable afin de faciliter la communication et la coopération au sein du gouvernement ainsi qu’une table ronde, nationale, durable et participative, réunissant les parties prenantes dans le but de faciliter la communication et la coopération avec les organisations de la société civile afin de mettre en œuvre des plans d’action nationaux de lutte contre le racisme et l’antisémitisme.

Un consortium de recherche interdisciplinaire a aussi été recommandé, dans le but de rassembler des connaissances permettant d’éclairer la définition des politiques afin de contribuer à prévenir et à combattre l’antisémitisme et à promouvoir la vie juive. Il a enfin été demandé de fournir des ressources financières et humaines pour assurer la mise en œuvre durable de ces mesures générales.

https://fr.timesofisrael.com/les-juifs-francais-les-plus-inquiets-quant-a-leur-securite-parmi-12-pays-europeens/

Opinion Piece by Rabbi Margolin: The Palestinians’ all or nothing approach will get them nothing

There is a thin line between aspiration and delusion.
All of us seek to encourage aspiration, but we also regard it as a duty to tell others that they are being deluded. And yet nobody in the international community is willing to have this conversation with the Palestinian Leadership. What is this delusion? It is the “all or nothing” Palestinian demands for peace.

Israelis want peace. But there is zero chance of successful negotiations with a bar set too high for Israel to accept. The bar is a return to pre- 67 borders and the ‘right of return’.
It is time to be blunt. Nobody knows better than Israel what its security needs are. Israel has made it clear that 67 borders are not defendable and would pose an existential threat to the country and its citizens. In short, it’s not going to happen.
Israel may be a young state but it has a long memory. Those who ask it to compromise its borders and security are many of the same voices who left her on her own during wars when her needs were greatest. It will not compromise security for promises and words.
On the ‘right to return’ the bluntness must continue. The Palestinians are not only demanding a smaller Israeli State, and a Palestinian state free of Jews, but for the absorption of millions of Palestinians into Israel.
In short, Israel would simply cease to be a Jewish State – the world’s only one. It’s not going to happen.
Let’s keep it even more simple: A future Palestinian State can have the luxury of malleable borders, Israel cannot.
This is the reality. The Palestinians demands are not credible or achievable. And yet the international community continues to pay lip-service to their delusion.
This is a dereliction of duty. We need to rip up the current playbook that the international community is sticking to. It is a playbook that has not advanced the prospects of peace by a single millimetre. It enables Palestinian stasis. It removes any motivation for them to move forwards. It keeps them in their comfort zone of perpetual grievance.
The Trump plan on the other hand represents the first real attempt by any negotiators to understand and put Israeli security as the starting position and build from there. Previous attempts have always made this an afterthought.
The plan also offers Palestinians a real pathway to statehood, underpinned with a 50 billion investment in infrastructure and state-building – around a third, in today’s money – of the entire Marshall plan budget that was given to 16 countries.
The Palestinians rejected it.
Why? The official line is because of annexation, and because they lost trust in Trump.
Let’s take annexation first. In the past, and most recently in Gaza, but also including the return of Sinai and other territory, Israel has shown its willingness to trade land for Peace as long as it can safeguard its security. And there is no reason to believe that this would not be the case again. Annexation does not represent a final settling of borders. It can represent an opportunity for Palestinians to get back round the table, even if they are historically averse to doing so.
Which brings us to the issue of trust. The Peace process to date is a litany of failure to budge on the Palestinian side, even after significant and often painful moves by Israel, such as the withdrawal from territories that we just touched upon.
Their reaction to this plan is more of the same. The refusal to Trump is the same refusal given to Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Obama. The same refusal of 48, 67, 73, in the 80’s, 90’s, and OO’s. The terms of reference only change.
Which takes us back to where we started. Aspiration and delusion. A Palestinian state in an aspiration. 67 lines and the right to return is delusion. Annexation is not a final settling of borders, but can be part of negotiations.
It is time to get serious. To get real. To disavow delusion and face reality.
If we fail to do this, we will never get the Palestinians back around the negotiating table, allowing them to perpetuate ad-infinitum the suffering of the people that they represent.
And It’s time for the international community to finally choose between the two and get things moving again.
The article was published in The Times of Israel

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