U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today released a statement on the growing acts of anti-Semitism in Western Europe. Most recently, a Jewish man was killed while guarding a Jewish synagogue during a bat-mitzvah service in Copenhagen. In January, a kosher supermarket in France was the target of a deadly terrorist attack that killed four hostages. Also in France, hundreds of gravestones were recently desecrated at a Jewish cemetery. In addition, Schumer pointed to a video of a Jewish journalist who filmed his personal encounter with anti-Semitism while walking through the streets of Paris. Schumer cited a poll conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in May that surveyed the anti-Semitic attitudes in different countries and regions. As a result of this survey, the ADL estimates that 79 million individuals in Western Europe harbor anti-Semitic attitudes.

“There is an evil stew right now in Europe. It is a combination of Islamic fundamentalist, the far Left, and the far Right – and they are not just being anti-Israel, they are being outright anti-Semitic. Just as racism has been the poison of America for centuries, anti-Semitism has been, just as strongly and just as equally, the poison of Europe for a millennium. For centuries, Jewish people have been perniciously targeted because of their faith, and in recent years it seems that this primitive, hateful feeling towards Jews has tragically regenerated and grown.

“History is too painful to even pause a minute when the level of anti-Semitism reaches the level it has in Europe. With the rampant growth of anti-Semitism and deadly anti-Semitic attacks abroad, European governments must do more to protect their fellow Jewish citizens, while also providing leadership to call out, confront and beat back a rising current of anti-Semitism. I am calling on European leaders to go to extra lengths to make sure everyone is protected, and ensure solidarity. European leaders should tell those who would try to perpetrate anti-Semitic acts that they will be fully prosecuted. The bottom-line is that, like all ethnic groups and religious minorities, Jewish people, no matter where they call home, should not have to live in fear.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)