Stern: Jew hatred in Europe: When do we do something about it?

It took just 72 years before people of Jewish faith had to entrench themselves again in their church in Europe, because at the door a mob openly demands their deaths. It happened last night in Gothenburg, Sweden, when an angry mob hurled burning objects into the courtyard of the synagogue and issued death threats. A group of Jewish youths took refuge in the cellar until the police released them. In Amsterdam, a kosher restaurant was attacked on the Friday night, a flag was burned in Berlin with a Star of David, in Vienna, Malmö, Paris open calls for the murder of Jews in general and of Israelis in particular.

We cannot get used to it
These pictures are not new. We have been used to it for years. But we must not get used to it. Once again, the Jew-haters come in a political garb, take the – undoubtedly extremely critical – decision of the US government to want to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, to call for human exploitation. That a youth group in the synagogue of any city in Sweden has nothing to do with Trump’s decision was certainly clear to this mob. But the calculation “Jew is equal to Israel” is the formula according to which the new antisemites operate in Europe.

According to a report in the “Juedische Allgemeine”, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) is now calling for tougher punitive measures. “It is no longer acceptable for Jews to be attacked on the streets of Europe,” the newspaper quoted the president of the EJC, Moshe Kantor, “whether by terrorists hurling Molotov cocktails or openly and shamelessly mass murdering Jews in Malmö, Vienna and Paris. ” The EJC is now calling on European governments to “take strong punitive measures against those who perpetrated these acts and call for the immediate arrest of those who incite murderous slogans.”

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Statements

European Jewish Congress calls on EU and UN leaders to cease its one-sided Israel bashing that has direct consequences for Jews in Europe

“The constant flow of Israel-bashing by senior leaders in the EU and the UN with little to no criticism of Hamas terror is clearly the main contributory factor to huge growth in antisemitism recorded by all European Jewish communities since October 7 last year,” said EJC President Dr Ariel Muzicant.