Chris, this is the sort of reason many Jews are hyper-sensitive about possible signs of anti-Semitism. Many Jews are hyper-sensitive about possible anti-semitism because of great familiarity with three thousand years of history of it leading to pogroms, lynchings, murder, and expulsions. The Jews in Germany in the 1920’s were no less secure in the most civilized nation on the continent, and most of them had no worries that a few random anti-Semites here and there could possible pose any danger. The idea was garbage, absurd! But the history of anti-Semitism is hardly limited to the 20th century. That’s a mere blip on the screen, a second in the long passage of the history of anti-semitism. And you’re asking that people not worry because of a mini-blip of some peaceful years in Europe on the blip of history of the 20th century? While, meanwhile, in the last sixty, post-war, years alone, Jews have been expelled from over twenty countries, hundreds of thousands forced to move, wars of a dozen countries were launched to exterminate the Jews in a particular country, and countless terrorist acts of mass murder were carried out, many in the past thirty years? But you want no one to worry or be upset, because that’s an insult to Europe (I take it). That’s absurd. And while I’m entirely biased here (I’m Jewish, for those unaware), I’m rather inclined to favor not insulting the feelings of alarmed Jews by telling them their alarm is “garbage,” than to favor not insulting the feelings of Europeans/Britons who feel that their Union is being insulted when people point to such signs as the most prominent rabbi in France warning Jews it’s not safe to wear dress identifying one’s self as a Jew in public, or that it’s necessary to have armed guards in front of synagogues, and so on.

In the public domain in Spain, France, Italy and Sweden, sections of the political left and Arab-Muslim groups unified to stage pro-Palestinian demonstrations. While the right to demonstrate is of course a civil right, and these demonstrations are not intrinsically anti-Semitic, at some of these anti-Semitic slogans could be heard and placards seen; and some demonstrations resulted in attacks upon Jews or Jewish institutions. In the Netherlands pro-Palestine demonstrators of Moroccan origin used anti-Semitic symbols and slogans. In Finland however, pro-Palestinian demonstrations passed without any anti-Semitic incidents. In Germany, and less so in Austria, public political discourse was dominated by a debate on the link between Israeli policy in the Middle East conflict and anti-Semitism, a debate in which the cultural and political elite were involved. In Germany and the United Kingdom the critical reporting of the media was also a topic for controversy. In other countries such as Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Finland there was no such heated public discussion on the theme of criticism of Israel/anti-Semitism (see country reports). [...] The following forms of anti-Semitic activities have been experienced: –Desecration of synagogues, cemeteries, swastika graffiti, threatening and insulting mail as well as the denial of the Holocaust as a theme, particularly on the Internet. These are the forms of action to be primarily assigned to the far-right. –Physical attacks on Jews and the desecration and destruction of synagogues were acts often committed by young Muslim perpetrators in the monitoring period. Many of these attacks occurred either during or after pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which were also used by radical Islamists for hurling verbal abuse. In addition, radical Islamist circles were responsible for placing anti-Semitic propaganda on the Internet and in Arab-language media. –Anti-Semitism on the streets also appears to be expressed by young people without any specific anti-Semitic prejudices, so that “many incidents are committed just for fun”. Other cases where young people were the perpetrators could be classified as “thrill hate crimes”, a well-known type of xenophobic attack. –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 “Zionist lobby”, and the United States are depicted as the evildoers in the Middle East conflict as well as exerting negative influence on global affairs. The convergence of these motives served both critics of colonialism and globalisation from the extreme left and the traditional anti-Semitic right-wing extremism as well as parts of the radical Islamists in some European countries. –More difficult to record and to evaluate in its scale than the “street-level violence” against Jews is “salon anti-Semitism” as it is manifested “in the media, university common rooms, and at dinner parties of the chattering classes”. –In the heated public debate on Israeli politics and the boundary between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism, individuals who are not politically active and do not belong to one of the ideological camps mentioned above become motivated to voice their latent anti-Semitic attitudes (mostly in the form of telephone calls and insulting letters). Opinion polls prove that in some European countries a large percentage of the population harbours anti-Semitic attitudes and views, but that these usually remain latent.