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European Officials Refuse to Release Anti-Semitism Report
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| imokruok |
From another article on the subject:
LONDON - A German sociologist who led an unprecendented, comprehensive research study on the causes of anti-Semitism in Europe, has charged that an "overly-politically correct" European Union, which commissioned the research, "buried" the report for fear that it could spark civil war.
The report on anti-Semitism in Europe was shelved by the EU's racism watchdog after it found that Muslims and pro-Palestinian groups were behind many of the incidents, the London-based Financial Times reported last week.
This just about says it all, because there's no reason that the study shouldn't be released. Who exactly did the Europeans think were committing anti-Semitic acts? The Jews?
They got a result they didn't like, and they're worried about backlash. Not about knowledge, research, or the pursuit of the truth.
To be quite honest, if I were a European politician, I would worry about backlash. Pim Fortuyn was the only politician to seriously address immigration, and he was brutally murdered by a crazed leftist. But this is not a reason to embargo an entire study.
Living in Paris for about 6 months, I saw first-hand the complete disdain that the immigrant Muslim population has for the West, Christians, and Jews. The fact that there has been such an increase in anti-Semitism is a testament to the failure to integrate these immigrants into Western society.
It's about time the EU stopped ignoring the issue.
--If you want a good read of what I saw first-hand, this article does a really good job: http://www.city-journal.org/html/12...barbarians.html |
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| Renegade |
There's been a bit of a kerfuffle about anti-semitism in Europe recently. I read this in the paper a few days ago:
| quote: | Sixty years after the Holocaust, European Jews and Israelis are increasingly wondering if Europe is being sucked into the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II.
In the past few weeks, a German MP was forced to resign after saying that Jews were responsible for Soviet atrocities, and the commander of the German army's special forces was sacked for agreeing with him.
Then Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis said that Jews were at the root of all evil and a Jewish school in Paris was fire-bombed.
Israelis felt their fears were confirmed by an opinion poll of EU citizens that placed Israel as the greatest danger to peace - ahead of North Korea or Iran. |
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2...9825835317.html
Also, according to the article you presented, it seems that France has the biggest problem with "anti-semitic" sentiment but the number of racially motivated crimes against Jews have dropped sharply this year:
| quote: | ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS IN FRANCE
Jan-Aug 2002: 647
Jan-Aug 2003: 247 |
Is the problem being blown out of proportion?
I don't know why the EU would try to censor a report about anti-semitism. I would suggest it would have more to do with the fact that "the report was below quality standards" than because there is implicit support for anti-semitism amongst European leaders, or anything like that. |
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| Magnetonium |
I am not Jewish, ... andd I don't have any Jewish connections or anything , but .. When will this anti-semitism end??? Jewish people have been persecuted for thousands of years ... Just because Jews are often well-educated and usually are able to get better jobs than others? Nuff said. Those others should develop better schools and traditional values to overcome the strong Jewish culture. That would be a better way to beat them. Destroying the minds that contribute to improving our society would only bring more anarchy, and is that what those discriminative people want???
Anyways, it's in the human nature to be jealous of other people who are doing better than you I guess ...
This post has no relevance to the current/previous middle eastern conflicts, ok! |
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| Galapidate |
| quote: | Originally posted by Magnetonium
I am not Jewish, ... andd I don't have any Jewish connections or anything , but .. When will this anti-semitism end??? Jewish people have been persecuted for thousands of years ... Just because Jews are often well-educated and usually are able to get better jobs than others? Nuff said. Those others should develop better schools and traditional values to overcome the strong Jewish culture. That would be a better way to beat them. Destroying the minds that contribute to improving our society would only bring more anarchy, and is that what those discriminative people want???
Anyways, it's in the human nature to be jealous of other people who are doing better than you I guess ...
This post has no relevance to the current/previous middle eastern conflicts, ok! |
Considering I am Jewish, I praise your comments and see you truly do understand the predicament the Jewish population has been in for thousands of years. |
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| cfyoung4 |
| Well, France has a very large Arab community. I believe more than 10 percent of the population is comprised of Arabs. Could the censoring of this report be a result of France trying to placate the Arab opinion within the country so as not to cause dissention? Moreover, I read--I'll have to find the source again and post it here--that France said the releasing of this report on anti-Semitism would be too divisive and they wouldn't want to stir up anger and resentment with its release; hence, they suppressed it. Or rather, they aided in its suppression along with others in the EU. Furthermore, French politicians are becoming increasingly aware of the political power Arabs wield and it would be counter-productive for a politician to start pointing fingers at them. I am not saying by any means that Arabs are leading the re-establishment of the anti-Semitic base in Europe. However, rightly or wrongly, the cultural tendency is to think of them--due to the Israeli/Palestinian issue--as having a hand in this form of hatred. That said, I am very well aware that a large percentage of these crimes are committed by "Westerner" Europeans and not Arab Europeans. I'm just positing one possibility why this report would be suppressed. Lastly, I would just say it's wrong to give the EU a pass on this. Any form of hatred against a group of people needs to be rooted out because such resentments will only fester in time and be the undoing of a collective body, like the EU, that prides itself on diversity and fairness. I am surprised how people in the international community are willing to let this slip by without comment. Were the report one of anti-Arab activities in the US and it was supressed, I can just hear the outrage that would rise up over such a supression. No one would suggest it was being supressed due to a sub-par report that had inaccuracies in it. No one would give the US a pass on this. It would be deemed a "Government cover-up" and evidence that real problems exist in the U.S. Well, I'm sorry to say, real problems likewise exist in the EU. Let's just deal with them and get back to the business of the day. Don't hide them away in a corner. Resolve the issue, don't ignore it. |
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| imokruok |
| quote: | Originally posted by Renegade
Is the problem being blown out of proportion? |
Here's some more information on that, from a recent article in the Weekly Standard entitled "The Decline of France."
Tariq Ramadan raised questions at the European Social Forum about the "soft Islam of Turkey." It was bad timing. His remarks came only hours before al Qaeda set off two bombs in front of an Istanbul synagogue. On the same night in Gagny, north of Paris, a mammoth fire destroyed the Merkaz Hatorah Jewish day school.
It was striking how thoroughly the two events were twinned in the minds of most French people, and President Chirac reacted swiftly. He called a meeting of Jewish representatives at the Elysée Palace, where, "solemnly, in the name of the nation," he stated that "when one attacks a Jew in France, it is all of France one attacks." Clearly Chirac feared a repeat of April 2002, when such acts were occurring at the rate of several per day. If anti-Jewish aggression has abated since then, it has never stopped.
In the first 10 months of 2002 there were 184 such incidents, versus 96 this year; over the same period, anti-Semitic threats fell from 685 to 295. But a representative of the CRIF (the council of Jewish institutions in France) told Le Monde that the decline in vandalism reflects only a heightened vigilance over Jewish sites. Aggression and insults are now part of the fabric of daily life, according to Jews who live in metropolitan Paris, even if they take the form of harassment rather than outright violence.
The case of Rabbi Michel Serfaty is instructive. It made headlines when Serfaty was knocked down and punched in the face by anti-Semitic youths in Essonne on October 19. But it is also worth knowing that Serfaty had previously been spit on while walking to synagogue.
Shortly after the meeting with Chirac, Joseph Sitruk, the chief rabbi of France, pled with his community not to wear yarmulkes in public. "The chief rabbi has always said that head covering is an important commandment," one of Sitruk's aides told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. But "in the current climate, there is no point waving a red flag in public places." Sitruk suggested that France's Jews wear baseball caps instead.
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| Flotser |
| quote: | Originally posted by cfyoung4
Well, France has a very large Arab community. I believe more than 10 percent of the population is comprised of Arabs. Could the censoring of this report be a result of France trying to placate the Arab opinion within the country so as not to cause dissention? Moreover, I read--I'll have to find the source again and post it here--that France said the releasing of this report on anti-Semitism would be too divisive and they wouldn't want to stir up anger and resentment with its release; hence, they suppressed it. Or rather, they aided in its suppression along with others in the EU. Furthermore, French politicians are becoming increasingly aware of the political power Arabs wield and it would be counter-productive for a politician to start pointing fingers at them. I am not saying by any means that Arabs are leading the re-establishment of the anti-Semitic base in Europe. However, rightly or wrongly, the cultural tendency is to think of them--due to the Israeli/Palestinian issue--as having a hand in this form of hatred. That said, I am very well aware that a large percentage of these crimes are committed by "Westerner" Europeans and not Arab Europeans. I'm just positing one possibility why this report would be suppressed. Lastly, I would just say it's wrong to give the EU a pass on this. Any form of hatred against a group of people needs to be rooted out because such resentments will only fester in time and be the undoing of a collective body, like the EU, that prides itself on diversity and fairness. I am surprised how people in the international community are willing to let this slip by without comment. Were the report one of anti-Arab activities in the US and it was supressed, I can just hear the outrage that would rise up over such a supression. No one would suggest it was being supressed due to a sub-par report that had inaccuracies in it. No one would give the US a pass on this. It would be deemed a "Government cover-up" and evidence that real problems exist in the U.S. Well, I'm sorry to say, real problems likewise exist in the EU. Let's just deal with them and get back to the business of the day. Don't hide them away in a corner. Resolve the issue, don't ignore it. |
Exactly, well said!
| quote: | Originally posted by imokruok
Shortly after the meeting with Chirac, Joseph Sitruk, the chief rabbi of France, pled with his community not to wear yarmulkes in public. "The chief rabbi has always said that head covering is an important commandment," one of Sitruk's aides told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. But "in the current climate, there is no point waving a red flag in public places." Sitruk suggested that France's Jews wear baseball caps instead.
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its horrible!
how can a continent - that great parts of it are\were directly responsible for the Hollocust that happend only 60 years, can allow this to happen?? |
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| Yoepus |
| quote: | Originally posted by Renegade
Also, according to the article you presented, it seems that France has the biggest problem with "anti-semitic" sentiment but the number of racially motivated crimes against Jews have dropped sharply this year:
ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS IN FRANCE
Jan-Aug 2002: 647
Jan-Aug 2003: 247
Is the problem being blown out of proportion?
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I don't think so, I think it might even be the opposite.
As the weekly standard article indicated the continuing harrasement and threatening of Jews.
Tell me, if you heard the Pope annouce that in all of France Christans should not wear the cross as it would endager their lives would you not be concerened?
This is a Rabbi, and if you know the type they do not go lightly to the change of tradition. I remember similar instances like this in Europe of this hatered, they were taught to me (alone apparently and not the Europeans) in my history class, but those instances of hatered were all prior to WWII.
And I do feel European society is quiet anti-semetic, as we do not see at all any such attitudes of feelings to arabs or muslims in Europe, I have not heard of one mosque or muslims school arsoned.
| quote: | | I don't know why the EU would try to censor a report about anti-semitism. I would suggest it would have more to do with the fact that "the report was below quality standards" than because there is implicit support for anti-semitism amongst European leaders, or anything like that. |
Well there are several reasons they would try to do this; Political Correctness, and winning Political votes are just two of the easier ones to point out.
However, why then was the report below quality standards? why don't they tell us this information at least - according to the article the only point they state is that it was for the period of "may-june" and therefore unrepersentative. Ok so it was for that period so what? Say it was for the period, thats not a fallacy of quality - unless the author did a bad report scholarly then releasing a report on anti semitism for "May June 2002" is not below quality standards. People should be wise enough to understand it is not repersentative as a whole, and that the problem might be better or worse and that perhaps a longer term and more intense study needs to be made.
For this reason alone right now I am tending to side with the scientist who believes this was done completely for political reasons. Unless they cite me specific reaons why it was "below quality standards" than I will more likely come to agreement with the offical side.
I will add one point however, that since it was an EU report one shoudl specualte that the offical side has no interest in the regards of say France, or the politics of just one country. The EU is quiet isolated from daily and interal European politics. The counterpoint to this might be raised by the fact that this Buearu is small and insignificant and that high ups at a French government probably could have exerted some pressure onto it. |
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| imokruok |
| quote: | Originally posted by Flotser
its horrible!
how can a continent - that great parts of it are\were directly responsible for the Hollocust that happend only 60 years, can allow this to happen?? |
There is an increasing problem with people being able to distinguish between right and wrong.
For much of France, the problem is not that Arabs are committing violence against Jews. Mostly left-wing anti-Zionists who still permeate government ranks seem to have this the idea that Arab culture in France cannot be changed. So the problem then becomes Jews, because they are the reason the Arabs are committing violence. For the French, it is easy to deal with the Jews, because they are a small percentage of the population. The Arab population is now over 10%.
In the 1940's, it was the same problem. But instead of Arabs, it was the occupation government perpetuating the violence, because the Jews were "causing problems." 750,000 Jews were thus shipped away to Germany, never to return.
The population trends are clear. It is only going to get worse. And it's why Jews are leaving France in record numbers, to go to Israel or the USA.
(One side-note: I know several French Jews who voted for Jean-Marie Le Pen in the last election, despite his favorable comments towards Hitler. They were willing to put up with the anti-Semitism, because Le Pen was an ardent French nationalist. He would have seriously curtailed immigration, and would have actually tried to police the immigrant community.) |
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| Magnetonium |
| quote: | Originally posted by Galapidate
Considering I am Jewish, I praise your comments and see you truly do understand the predicament the Jewish population has been in for thousands of years. |
I know quite enough info on the main religious institutions around the world ... personally, I don't really like any Jews that I met, cause they didn't trust non-Jewish people and weren't too nice or opening.However, none have done anything incriminating or inappropriate towards me, so I am fine with that. I understand their situation, and that they can only trust other Jews.
Personally, no offense to anyone, I think that Muslims are the group that poses severe danger to the worst peace today. Surely Israelis are doing a lot of nasty things to Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza that would make any young Jewish woman 60 years ago faint in disbelief, back when they were treated similarly ... and Palestinians who hate Jewish people and do a lot of nasty things themselves, will never find peace with Jews. But Islam, as a religion, is a very dangerous fanatical force that can one day take over our world and turn in into some deep religious messed-up place, the way the things are going ... Heck, if Koran say that if a Moslem dies killing an enemy, and by so he'd go to heaven, how insane is that?? If you have noticed, the communities that have focused strongly on religion have fallen behind in technology and education, spending great portions of their lives with religion. What kind of life is that? Life is given to a person once in a lifetime, and he's got to make the best of it, not praying to some icon twice a day or sacrificing bulls or whatever ....
Religion should only be learned, and used as a reference in a person's daily routines, as there are a lot of good deeds religion can teach a person in life. (Christianity) |
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| cfyoung4 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Yoepus
The EU is quiet isolated from daily and interal European politics. The counterpoint to this might be raised by the fact that this Buearu is small and insignificant and that high ups at a French government probably could have exerted some pressure onto it. |
I take your point Yoepus, but I would suggest there is a definite possibility France leverages an uncommon amount of power and control within the EU. While this does not concern me much because I am not a European citizen, I think it would be most troubling if I were a member of the European Community living in a country other than France or perhaps Germany, which also claims distinctive power. In a conglomeration of nation states, all of which are supposedly equal in rank, France appears to view itself as First Among Equals. That's not a criticism, merely an observation. However, this becomes a problem once policy needs to be enforced. Take the instance of a nation's deficits within the EU. Recently, both France and Germany admitted they are breaking the EU rules which state that nations must not create a budget deficit of more than 3 percent of the gross domestic product per year. While some within the EU were upset about France and Germany's willingness to bypass these rules, for the most part, EU members turned a blind eye on the situation and voted not to put sanctions on the two, thereby allowing France and Germany to continue running at a deficit for the 4th year in a row. Now, that's fine and they should be allowed to fix their economies, etc. But earlier this year, France was insistant about expressing its concerns of having certain eastern European countries joining the EU because they didn't want budget deficits to affect the strength of the European economy. So my question is, why is it okay if France does it, but not okay if...say...Poland does it? That, to me, smacks of unfairness considering all are equal within the EU. Anyway, I just feel that there is a definite slant in the European Union and it tilts toward France. That is why I feel France can "influence" certain outcomes such as the release of this report. But that's just my opinion. This is probably why I hear a lot of my European friends utter the familiar quote in relation to the EU, "France is the rider and Germany is the horse," meaning France holds the intellectual power to make things happen and Germany is the industrialized strength that enables France to achieve its desires. |
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