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Antisemitic Perceptions and Jewish Sense of Belonging

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Antisemitic Perceptions and Jewish Sense of Belonging Haim Fireberg Antisemitic Perceptions and JewishSense of Belonging The beginning of 2017 was characterized by asurge of bomb threats to Jewish community centers and synagogues throughout the United States. The count was in the hundreds. “‘These are regular occurrences now,with afrequency that’sbeen increased and on ascale that’sbeen increased,’ Elise Jarvis, associ- ate director for lawenforcement outreach and communal securityatthe Anti- Defamation League [ADL], told the Guardian.”¹ The Jewish publicattitude was that “incidents of hate targeting JewishAmericans have been on the rise since the November election, as have incidentstargeting Muslims, Mexicans, black Americans and immigrants. [Even though the ADL still] hesitated to link the re- cent threats … to election results.”² But manyAmerican Jews were panicked and pointed to the extreme right as responsible, although without anyproof, because of theirsupport of the newlyelected president,Donald Trump.³ It wasnot asecretthatthe majorityofAmerican Jews weresupporters of the Democratic Party and wereinfavor of Hillary Clinton for presidencyover Trump.⁴ So the burst of threatscould onlyconfirm their presumptions that lib- eral life in the US was fading away under the new administration.⁵ An ADLre- port claimed of asharp increase in antisemitic violent manifestations—especially of bomb threats and desecration of cemeteries—since Trump was elected in No- vember 2016,apparentlyproved their fears. But this report was criticized as lean- ing on unreliable data thatonlyincurred and caused panic about daily antisem- J. Lartey, “Jewish Community Centers in US Receive nearly50Bomb Threats in 2017 so far,” TheGuardian,February 4, 2017,https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/04/us-jewish- community-centers-bomb-threats. Ibid. Cf. E. Strauss, “The JCCBomb Threats Confirm That Jewish Parents AreRight to Be Afraid,” Slate,January 19,2017, https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/01/the-jcc-bomb-threats-confirm- that-jewish-parents-are-right-to-be-afraid.html. Cf. R. Shimoni Stoil, “American Jews Voted70%–25%infavor of Clinton over Trump, Poll Shows,” TheTimes of Israel,November 10,2016,https://www.timesofisrael.com/american- jews-voted-70 -25-in-favor-of-clinton-over-trump-poll-shows/. Cf. M. Smith, “Anonymous Bomb Threats Rattle Jewish Centers Across Eastern U.S.,” New York Times,January 9, 2017,https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/us/bomb-threats-jewish-centers. html. OpenAccess. ©2021Haim Fireberg, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110671995-020 394 Haim Fireberg itic threats among Jews.⁶ The American JewishCommittee’s(AJC) extensive sur- veyfrom April 2019 reveals that the vast majority of American Jews feel that an- tisemitism in the US is in its peak over the lastdecade, even though most of the participants testified thatpersonally they had not experienced anyantisemitic manifestations, neither physicallynor online.⁷ The Kantor Center,atTel Aviv University(TAU), which has analyzed antisemitism worldwide over the lasttwen- ty-five years, has not identifiedany major differences in violent antisemitism in the US over the last few years.⁸ This kind of paradoxshould be studied in depth, and Ihavechosen to do so by analyzingthe well-documented European Jewry’s experience. Reviewing antisemitic violent incidents worldwide reveals that the aftermath of Jewish hatred is constantlythriving.Whilst studying and comparing contem- porary antisemitism in EU Member States, several peculiarities, almost paradox- es, can be identified. One of them hints that the level of violent antisemitism, as shown by the number of violent incidents, does not necessarilyindicate the level of antisemitic sentiment.Itcould be considered as anecessary condition in de- fining antisemitismbut undoubtedlynot asufficient one. This article analyzes the contradictory factors that influencethe understanding of antisemitism by in- dividuals,organizations, and states using the latest empirical evidence available. In late 2012,the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)con- ducted asurvey on antisemitism in eight EU Member States (the United King- dom, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, and Latvia).⁹ An ex- tended follow-up survey and research is taking place in 2018, in which thirteen MemberStates are taking part,includingAustria, who did not partici- As an expert on violent antisemitism and the researcherincharge in the KantorCenter,TAU, for analyzing antisemiticviolence, Ihaveshown that in the five months followingthe elections, therewas no increase in threats or desecration incidents in comparison to the eight previous years of President Obama’sadministration. Our yearlyreportshaveshown that therewereno dramatic changesinviolenceoverthe years. Cf. “Annual Reports on Worldwide Antisemitism,” Kantor Center for the StudyofContemporary European Jewry,last updated 2020,accessed Oc- tober 28,2020, https://en-humanities.tau.ac.il/kantor/rerearch/annual_reports.InMarch 2017, it was alreadyclear that the majority of the bomb threats were ahoax. Cf. “AJCSurvey of American Jews on Antisemitism in America,” American Jewish Committee, issued October 2019,accessed October 28,2020, https://www.ajc.org/sites/default/files/pdf/ 2019-11/2019AntisemitismSurvey-Book_11.19.pdf. Fordata, see the KantorCenter’s “Annual Reports on Worldwide Antisemitism.” Cf. EU Agencyfor Fundamental Rights (FRA), Discrimination and Hate Crime against Jews in EU Member States:Experiences and Perceptions of Antisemitism,issued November 8, 2013,ac- cessed October 28,2020, https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2013-discrimination-hate- crime-against-jews-eu-member-states-0_en.pdf. Antisemitic Perceptions and Jewish Sense of Belonging 395 pate in the original survey.¹⁰ The survey reachedout to 5,847Jews, and the re- sults werepublishedinNovember2013.Sixty-six percent of the participants de- clared that antisemitism in their countries is “abig problem” or “afairlybig problem.” The most concernedgroup to see antisemitism as ahugeproblem werethe Hungarian Jews (90 %), and almost neck-and-neck werethe French Jews (85%). On the otherhand, in the UK (52%) and Latvia(54%), most of the respondents agreed thatantisemitism is “not avery big problem” or “not aproblem at all.”¹¹ The survey has shown that the diversity of antisemitic per- ceptions are not divided along geographic lines. Although country differencesexist,the biggerpicture reveals that more than three-quarters (76%)ofthe overall participants think that antisemitism “has worsened over the past five yearsinthe country wherethey live.”¹² France and Hungary lead this perception—Hungary with 91%and France with 88 %. But alsointhe UK, whereonlyaminoritybelieved that antisemitismisareal problem, 66%ofparticipantsstill agreed thatthe situation has worsened. In Lat- via, only39% claimed so.¹³ In France and Hungary,whereaccordingtothe FRA surveyantisemitism is a considerable problem, the levels of antisemitic violence based on TelAvivUni- versity[TAU] publications¹⁴ sharplydiffer.InFrance, between the years 2009 and 2015,werecorded ayearlyaverage of 142violent incidents. In Hungary, on the other hand, the seven-year averagewas around nine incidentsonly. It seems that violence alone cannot explains the fact that in both countries the sense of insecurity is amajor factor in contemporary Jewish life. In the UK and Latvia, wherethe Jewishpopulation estimatedalmost no problems with antisemitism, TAUdata reveal an even more astonishingsitua- tion: in sharp contrasttoLatvia wherethe recorded averageofviolent incidents from 2009 until 2015 was onlyone, the averageyearlyamount in the UK was 144. The UK infamouslyholds the European record. Cf. EU Agencyfor Fundamental Rights (FRA), “Major EU Antisemitism Survey Planned for 2018,” issued December 13,2017, accessed October 28,2020, https://fra.europa.eu/en/news/ 2017/major-eu-antisemitism-survey-planned-2018. The countries coveredare:Austria, Belgium, Denmark,France, Germany, Hungary,Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. FRA, Discrimination and HateCrime,16. Ibid. Cf. ibid., 17. Data on violent antisemitic events is based mostlyonthe TAUannual analysesthat have been published yearlyfor the last 26 years by the Kantor Center for the StudyofContemporary European Jewry. 396 Haim Fireberg Violent antisemitism is not aproblem in Latvia and matches the FRA survey results. In Hungary,with alarge Jewishpopulation (the third largest in Europe after France and Britain), almost all the targets wereJewish facilities and memo- rial sites and not human beings.Would it be right to assume that neither the total sum of violent cases in Hungary nor their natureshould be considered as an ex- planationtothe outcome of the survey;that is, antisemitism in Hungary is flour- ishing and is “abig problem”?¹⁵ The year 2015 presented anew notorious record in murderous antisemitic vi- olence in Europe. Just to mention three: the attack that occurred in Paris on Jan- uary 9, whereanIslamist killed four Jewishshoppers at akosher supermarket; the attack on the central synagogue in Copenhagen in February whereasecurity guard was murdered and two others wereinjured by an Islamist gunman; and in Manchester in September,four Jewish boys werebrutallybeaten and severelyin- jured in an antisemitic attack. Although the state of violent antisemitism in France and the UK has alot in common, the surveyshows thatthe people
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