Jewish responses to the European elections

It’s no secret that Jewish organizations have been strongly in favor of the EU and its policies promoting immigration and multiculturalism. So it’s no surprise that they are quite negative about the results of the elections for the European Parliament. A Jerusalem Post article gives some reactions (“Far-right’s election success worries European Jewry“). Hungary’s Jobbik and Greece’s Golden Dawn are seen as the most worrisome.

The [American Jewish Committee] bemoaned the fact that Jobbik is now the second largest Hungarian party in the continental legislature, while Greece’s Golden Dawn, a party which utilizes Nazi imagery and whose leaders are open in their admiration of Adolf Hitler, is now in the parliament for the first time and that Austria’s hard right FPO party came in third with just over a fifth of the vote, obtaining four seats. Daniel Schwammenthal, Director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute said that while the “extent to which these parties will be able to unite to influence European policy remains to be seen,” their presence in the legislature will still “at a minimum, provide a soapbox from which to propagate their vile hatred.” …

Without endorsing the imagery of the Golden Dawn, the problem is that there is no recognition in any of the comments that immigration and multiculturalism are resulting in legitimate fears that the traditional peoples and cultures are being displaced throughout the continent. Blame is placed on governments for not being aggressive enough against these parties (suggesting an ominous scenario where governments aggressively impose sanctions on these parties, as happened in Greece), or the entire phenomenon is blamed on a poor economy:

“The alarming successes of extremist parties in these elections is the result of the passivity of European leaders and governments to deal with real issues facing European citizens,” European Jewish Congress President Dr. Moshe Kantor said. …

According to Roger Cukierman, the head of CRIF, a French Jewish umbrella body, the election results are especially worrying in light of the anti-Semitic attacks in Brussels and Créteil (southeast of Paris) where two Jewish men were attacked on Saturday.

“We are very worried,” he said. “While the strong result of the FN can be explained with the economic crisis in France, which must be overcome, it is also of critical importance that the mainstream republican parties reestablish trust with French citizens.”

Any form of nationalism by Europeans is automatically associated with National Socialism and the Holocaust:

Benjamin Albalas, the head of the Central Board of Greek Jewish Communities, also warned of the results, envisaging the specter of the pre-Holocaust surge in European anti-Semitism. “It is not only very disappointing that Golden Dawn saw a significant rise in its share of the vote, winning three seats in the European Parliament, but also that other extreme-right parties in Greece and beyond did so well in the elections. A great number of European citizens seem to have forgotten what happened during the Holocaust and World War II. Racism and anti-Semitism are again hitting Europe,” he stated. “It is time for immediate action.” The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Efraim Zuroff [stated]  that the elections could be “the beginning of a new and very dangerous era in which openly fascist and anti-Semitic parties might attain entrée into government coalitions, which would significantly change the current constellation of political power in such a way that could seriously jeopardize the future of European Jewish communities.”

As in the U.S., Jewish groups  have strongly encouraged non-White immigration. And just as in the U.S., they are looking to non-White immigrants as allies in their struggle against the nationalism of European peoples. Muslim groups are more than happy to oblige:

Some Jewish leaders see a silver living in the election results, however, postulating that the rise of the far right may catalyze European Jews and Muslims to work together.

After the vote, the Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders, an interfaith group affiliated with the American Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, vowed to “work closely together to fight Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and xenophobia and prevent the far right parties from realizing their goal of passing a common legislative agenda in the European Parliament severely restricting the rights of religious minorities.”

“Just as European Muslim and Jewish leaders joined forces in recent months in successfully combating an effort by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to outlaw circumcision and to protest Denmark’s new law banning kosher and halal slaughtering, we will now stand together and speak with one voice against efforts by the extremist parties to implement their hateful agenda,” FFEU founder Rabbi Marc Schneier said.

Imam Ahmed Miktar, president of the Association of the Imams of France and a member of the GEMJL, agreed, stating that to succeed in protecting the rights of religious minorities, “we must learn to work together effectively on the both grass roots and leadership levels. Muslims and Jews Our communities can no longer afford the luxury of standing apart

Jewish opposition to national cultures has a long history — reviewed, e.g., in Yuri Slezkine’s The Jewish Century (see here, p. 73ff).

Again, what is missing in this opposition is any glimmering that native Europeans have a legitimate interest in preserving their culture and their demographic dominance in areas they have inhabited for thousands of years. The policies advocated by Jewish organizations will result in the death of European civilization.

Needless to say, there is no similar sentiment among Jewish organizations for multiculturalism and non-Jewish immigration in Israel.