Reports from 15 countries.
(by http://emperorsclothes.com/docs/euredata.htm)
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France [121]

Jews in France (total population: 60 million) – the biggest such community in Western Europe (600,000-700,000, half of them living in the Paris area) – are generally well respected, socially assimilated and well represented in politics. [122]

Anti-Semitic prejudices in France were already virulent during the Six Day War and the anti-Zionist campaign of the 1970s and 1980s. With the successes achieved by the extreme right-wing Front National and an increasing denial of the Holocaust in the 1990s such stereotypes once again received strong acceptance. At the same time, in the mid-1990s began the critical engagement with National Socialism, collaboration and the responsibility of the Vichy Regime. 

As the second Intifada began, the number of anti-Semitic criminal offences rose drastically; out of 216 racist acts recorded in 2000 146 were motivated by anti-Semitism. [123] The peak was reached during the Jewish High Holidays in October 2000; one third of the anti-Semitic attacks committed worldwide took place in France (between 1 September 2000 and 31 January 2002 405 anti-Semitic incidents were documented). [124] The perpetrators were only seldom from the extreme right milieu, coming instead mainly from non-organised Maghrebian and North African youths. [125] After interrogating 42 suspects, the police concluded that these are “predominantly delinquents without ideology, motivated by a diffuse hostility to Israel, exacerbated by the media representation of the Middle East conflict (…) a conflict which, they see, reproduces the picture of exclusion and failure of which they feel victims in France”. [126] Beginning in January 2002, but mainly from the end of March till the middle of April 2002 [127] , there was a wave of anti-Semitic attacks. In the first half of April attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions in Paris and surrounding areas were daily occurrences. This was a repeat of the situation of October 2000. [128] In reaction to the anti-Semitic mood the number of the French Jews who immigrated to Israel in 2002 doubled to 2,566, the highest number since 1972. [129]

In addition, there was an almost polemical debate on the nature as well as the denunciation of anti-Semitism linked to the situation in the Middle East and to Islam, a debate, which led to divisions between prominent participants and anti-racist groups. Anti-Semitism and security questions specific to the Jewish community were almost absent from public debate during this period. In fact, the main ideological themes in the public debate at a time of both Presidential (12 April and 5 May 2002) and national (9 and 16 June 2002) elections were law and order and the unexpectedly strong support for the Front National and its leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who played on anti-Semitic resentments. [130] Viewed from a later perspective, there is an obvious connection with anti-Semitism. During that same period there was a renewed outbreak of anti-Muslim acts and speech attributed to the far right.

1. Physical acts of violence [131]

Indications are that there was a significant decrease in May and June 2002 in observed acts in relation to the period from 29 March to 17 April 2002, a period in which police sources recorded 395 events, ranging from graffiti to assaults. Sixty-three percent of these events involved anti-Semitic graffiti, while 16 cases of assault and 14 of arson or attempted arson against synagogues were reported to the police. These acts principally took place in large urban areas (Ile-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Alsace). Many of the violent incidents occurred around the pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the end of March in Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseille and Toulouse. While the hypothesis of a détente needs to be confirmed by time, it is true that hostility displayed towards Jews was still observed, in particular by new Jewish victim support groups. The people in charge of the help lines « SOS Vérité et Sécurité » or « SOS antisémitisme » estimated an average of 8 to 12 reports of this kind every day.

On 10 May eight Arabs who studied with him in the same school attacked a 16-year-old Jewish youth in Bordeaux. The attack was accompanied by curses and threats. [132]

On 12 May 2002 in Saint-Maur des Fossés (a Paris suburb), three young Jews who were playing football stated that they were insulted and attacked by about fifteen young people “of North African origin”. They lodged a complaint against them for assault and racist remarks. [133]

2. Verbal aggression/hate speech

Indirect threats

On 18 May 2002 at a demonstration organised in the XIX^th district of Paris by the Parti des Musulmans de France against the “Naqba”, [134] hostile slogans towards Jews were shouted without any attempt from the organisers to intervene.

On 26 May 2002 during a demonstration organised in Paris against George W. Bush’s trip to France by groups such as the French Communist Party, the Green party “Les Verts”, the Revolutionary Communist League (“Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire”, LCR) and others such as the MRAP (“Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples” - Movement against racism and for friendship between peoples) and the Human Rights League, about thirty teenagers chanted anti-Jewish and pro-Bin Laden slogans. The organisers expelled them. Ethnic minority activists were then forced to intervene to prevent some youths from attacking a young couple on a scooter in the belief that they were Jewish. [135]

The anti-Semitic atmosphere also found expression in verbal attacks at schools and universities. [136]

Graffiti

On 21 May 2002 the police questioned an 18-year-old female student who was suspected of drawing anti-Semitic slogans and symbols on a kosher butcher’s shop front in Pré Saint-Gervais (Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris suburb).

In June 2002 advertising posters in various metro stations as well as election posters were defaced by graffiti showing the Star of David and the swastika connected by an “=” sign. It should be noted that many Front National and RPF (Rassemblement pour la France) [137] election posters were also defaced by graffiti with such terms as “racist” or “Fascist”.

Media

In the edition of the daily Le Figaro from 7 June 2002, Oriana Fallaci [138] , who is the Italian author of a polemical book entitled “La rage et l'orgueil” (Rage and Pride), wrote a similarly polemical article entitled “Sur l'antisémitisme” (“On anti-Semitism”).

On 10 June 2002 the MRAP (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples) lodged a complaint against Oriana Fallaci’s book, calling it “a despicable work where slander, vulgarity and confusion intermingle with contempt. This book is an ‘asserted call’ to racist hatred and violence against all Muslims.” The request for it to be banned proved unsuccessful. [139]

Internet

On 7 June 2002, the publication on the website Indymedia-France of a text in which the “Israeli concentration camps” were compared to the Nazi camps in Germany during the Second World War provoked the resignation of two editorial team members. One of the founding members of this anti-globalisation site, which was created after the Seattle summit, demanded the expulsion of the author of the article, “to prevent Indymedia-France from falling under revisionist influence”. [140] The incriminated article also pondered whether Israel might be equated with Nazi Germany. On the other hand, another website contributor stated that, “in parallel, there is a debate on the website to determine whether the [Israeli] government is a Nazi government or not.”

3. Research studies

Between 28 January and 1 February 2002, the Sofres Institute [141] surveyed 400 people aged between 15 and 24 living in France. A massive majority rejected anti-Semitic acts: 87% of the respondents considered that “anti-Semitic acts against synagogues in France” are “scandalous; the state must punish the culprits very severely”; 11% of them considered that “if the Jews did not support Israel as much, these attacks would not take place”; 88% of the respondents considered that “the Jews should be allowed to follow their usual customs without risking to get into a fight”; in contrast, 11% considered that “if the Jews did not seek to make themselves conspicuous in wearing the kipah, this kind of fight would not take place”; 99% of respondents judged that defacing synagogues is “very serious” or “rather serious” (against 1% of them who consider this is “not very serious or not serious at all”); 97% of respondents judged that writing anti-Semitic graffiti is “very serious” or “rather serious” (against 3%); 91% of respondents judged that joking about gas chambers is “very serious” or “rather serious” (against 9%); but 11% allocate “a share of responsibility for these acts to the Jewish community, because of its support to Israel”. To the question “do the Jews have too much influence…?” in France, 77% answered that they “rather disagree” or “do not agree at all”; specifically in the media, 79% responded that they “rather disagree” or “do not agree at all”; and in politics, 80% answered that they “rather disagree” or “do not agree at all”. These figures are much weaker than those collected by Sofres during a previous survey, which covered the whole population, conducted in May 2000 for the Nouveau Mensuel magazine. Then 45% of the respondents had agreed with the statement that Jews have “too much influence”.

To the question “regarding people who say that the Holocaust and the gas chambers did not exist, what is your position?”, 51% estimated that “these people should not be condemned because everyone is free to think whatever they want”; against which 48% said “these people must be condemned because they deny a serious historical fact”. The figures suggest that the Holocaust is to some extent trivialised, in so far as “freedom of thought” (and expression) is often placed above the other issues at stake.

Several observers believe that far-right anti-Semitic violence has shifted towards anti-Semitism of the suburbs. In this respect, the survey provided new information on the state of mind of the youth of North African origin “towards the Jews and anti-Semitism”. As a matter of fact, they were asked the same questions as above. Thus, 86% of them judged that “defacing synagogues” is “very serious” or “rather serious”; 95% of them thought that the Jews have the “right to follow their usual habits without risking to get into a fight”; and only 5% of them thought that “if the Jews did not seek to make themselves conspicuous in wearing the kipah, this kind of fight would not take place”. In the end, 54% of them underlined the seriousness of “insulting the Jews, even if it is a joke”. Compared with the overall group of people between 15 and 24, such answers tend to show that the youth of North African origin is more tolerant than the average, an attitude that can undoubtedly be explained by the fact that anti-Semitic acts or attitudes remind them more or less directly of how they themselves have suffered from racial or cultural discrimination as Muslims or children of North African parents.

On the other hand, according to this survey the tendency is reversed concerning traditional anti-Semitic prejudices. The question relating to the Jews’ alleged influence shows that “respectively 35%, 38% and 24% of the youth of North African origin (against only 22%, 21% and 18% of the whole group of young people) completely or rather think that the Jews have too much influence in the economic and political fields and in the media”. Strangely enough, the poll did not say anything about their answers to the questions concerning the Holocaust.

According to an exclusive survey carried out on 3 and 4 April 2002 by the CSA poll institute and the weekly Marianne [142] of a 1000 people aged over 18, 10% of the French dislike the Jews (while 23% of them dislike North Africans and 24% of them dislike young French people of North African origin), which is the case with 52% of far-right voters (whether for Le Pen or Mégret). 

The surveys commissioned by the ADL conducted between 16 May and 4 June 2002 and between 9 and 29 September concerning “European Attitudes towards Jews, Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” (see Table: Report on Belgium) established that 17% of respondents agreed to at least three of the four anti-Semitic statements presented. Forty-two percent agreed to the statements that “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country” and “Jews have too much power in the business world”, whereby amongst youths the agreement was far higher with 61% and 64%, respectively. With regard to the current conflict in the Middle East, 29% expressed that they sympathised with the Palestinians and only 10% sympathised with Israel. 37% had no preference for one side or the other. [143]

4. Good practices for reducing prejudice, violence and aggression

The publishing of documents such as the Sofres public opinion poll entitled “Youth and the Jewish Image”, as well as the public meetings organised to accompany them, maintain a feeling of hope with regard to both the growing tolerance towards the Jews and to their “normalisation” in French society. The situation also seems to be encouraging concerning the attitude of children of North African parents towards the Jews, in a time when the global geopolitical situation remains very shaky.

The educational information campaigns within Muslim groups, such as on the theme “to burn a synagogue is like burning a mosque”, have encouraged people to talk again and have improved solidarity between the different communities in this field. Thus, the gesture of a local Muslim group in Aubervilliers (northern suburb of Paris) is particularly symbolic: it lent its school bus to a Jewish school of the same area as its buses were destroyed during an attack. 

Beyond inter-religious dialogue, the spontaneous or organised mobilisation of civil society against the far right has reaffirmed the Republic’s common values. Such reactions have at least reminded us that the fight against racism, xenophobia and discrimination remains a common struggle.

The fact that anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish acts in France are presently being committed mainly by youngsters from North African immigration, apparently acting in an isolated manner, brought many observers to the conclusion that a far right anti-Semitism has been superseded by a form of anti-Semitism rooted in urban decay and social deprivation. The French term for this combination of urban decay and social deprivation is “banlieue”, literally “suburb”, which functions in roughly the same way as “inner city” in English. Beyond the local character of this observation, some, like the philosopher Pierre-André Taguieff – during his highly publicised book launch in spring 2002 –, spoke of a “new planetary judeophobia” ("nouvelle judéophobie planétaire”) that explains “all world problems by the existence of Israel”. [144] This “new judeophobia”, which he sees as initially brought about by radical Islamic activists, by the heirs of “third-worldism” and by far-left anti-globalisation activists, accuse the Jews of being themselves racist. Thus, according to Taguieff, there seems to be an “anti-Jewish anti-racism”. In this way, it can appear that “the fight against racism and the fight against anti-Semitism have been dissociated from one another”, as Shmuel Trigano wrote in the weekly newspaper Actualité Juive (25 April 2002), adding that “suburb anti-Semitism has indeed broken the “united front” strategy, revealing that the victims of racism (Arab Muslims) could be anti-Semites”. This point of view, which is shared by some Jewish personalities and groups, can extend to an exclusively Jewish conception of the fight against anti-Semitism and a tendency to link it to support for Israel and its current government.

5. Reactions by politicians and other opinion leaders

The current political climate, which has been dominated by the growth of the far right and the renewed Republican mobilisation since 21 April 2002, eclipsed anti-Semitism and tensions between Jews and Muslims in France and removed them from the political agenda. It resulted in the abandonment of the large demonstration against racism and anti-Semitism, for peace in the Middle East and for the union of all communities, planned for Sunday, 12 May 2002, to run parallel to the “Peace Now” demonstration in Israel. Many trade unions, politicians of both left and right organisations and numerous personalities had organised this demonstration.

Representatives from Jewish organisations criticised the French Government for being inactive. [145] President Chirac, who was re-elected on 5 May 2002, reacted officially to the accusations that he had denied the gravity of the threats against Jews coming mainly from abroad, in particular from Israel and the United States, on several occasions. He stated that he “has protested against the ‘anti-French campaign’, which took place in Israel and which aimed at presenting France as an anti-Semitic country”. “France is not an anti-Semitic country”, he repeated the day before the 55^th Cannes Film Festival, in response to the American Jewish Congress, which had sought to dissuade Jewish celebrities from participating in the film festival. During his discussions with President George W. Bush, who was in France on 26 and 27 May 2002, President Chirac “protested strongly” against the idea conveyed in the United States that France is seized by a kind of anti-Semitic fever.

On 19 April the French Interior Minister Daniel Viallant, together with his colleagues from Belgium, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, issued a joint declaration on “Racism, Xenophobia and Anti-Semitism” that appealed for an undertaking of preventive measures and a European-wide coordination of the responsible agencies and offices. [146]

On 29 May 2002, Nicolas Sarkozy, the new Interior Minister, went to the synagogue of Clichy-sous-Bois, which was attacked with a petrol bomb on 10 August 2000, and launched the slogan “zero tolerance for anti-Semitism”. On 2 June 2002, he welcomed representatives from the Jewish community at the Ministry of the Interior. The Minister promised to improve the coordination of the suitable preventive or educational safety measures and to follow up regularly the files indexing complaints, particularly those submitted by “SOS Vérité et Sécurité”. The participants agreed that similar meetings would take place periodically in Ile de France and in the provinces. Moreover, the Minister is said to have committed himself to work in partnership with the Ministries of Justice and of Education. [147]

On 21 July 2002 French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin declared at a meeting held on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the roundup of French Jews for deportation: “to harm the Jewish community is to harm France, harm the values of our republic.” [148] A new government’s hard line on crime and North African juvenile gangs in the second half of 2002 led to a remarkable decrease of anti-Semitic incidents. Besides the conspicuous presence of police protecting Jewish institutions the initiatives of the new Minister of Interior Nicolas Sarkozy promoting an active dialogue with different sections of the Muslim community changed the situation in a positive way. [149]

Italy [150]

The 35,000 Jews, of whom 25,000 are members of the various Jewish communities, are completely integrated into the Italian population (total population: 56.3 million). Since the Second World War, anti-Semitic prejudice in Italy has seldom taken on aggressive forms; violent attacks have been rare. However, with the increase in the number of far-right groups since the beginning of the 1990s, the picture has altered. Although anti-Semitic traditions are hardly virulent in Italian society, the networking of the international far-right scene, which uses anti-Semitism to create such networks, has also led to a strong anti-Semitic orientation in the Italian far-right spectrum. In 1995 anti-Semitic incidents rose from 30 to 50 a year; since the middle of 2000 (30-40% rise) to March-April 2002 a sharp increase of 100% has been recorded. [151] In the first instance this is due to the conflict in the Middle East. However, besides this factor, a high level of xenophobic attitudes and views is noticeable in the population, which are supported in turn by racist remarks in public discourse (politics and print media). [152] Above all the socially marginalized working migrants, numbering ca. 700,000 (510,000 migrants mainly from Morocco, Tunisia and Albania), are affected. During the 1990s, not only Jewish culture itself but also the history of Israel, its literature and cinema enjoyed a period of success in Italy, a surprising development for those who had experienced the troubled years of the 1970s and 1980s in which anti-Israeli resentment was virulent, particularly on the left. The crisis that started at the turn into 2001 has accelerated an unforeseen and unpredictable process that in other countries, especially in France, is already evident; in Italy, this process has left a number of options open for the future and these are not immediately clear. In Italy, the second Intifada has set in motion unexpected mechanisms, whereby traditional anti-Jewish prejudices are mixed with politically based stereotypes. It is important to bear in mind that the so-called “spiritual (or psychological) anti-Semitism” has had a greater impact on the overall phenomenon in Italian cultural history during the course of the 20^th century (see Julius Evola). [153]

In contrast to France and Belgium, anti-Semitic attacks in Italy have up to now been limited to verbal abuse, graffiti and the like. But since the start of the second Intifada incidents now include death threats against Jews and carry both anti-Semitic as well as anti-Israeli stereotypes, often in a synonymous context. The perpetrators are local Italians and till now, in contrast to Belgium, France and the Netherlands, hardly any person from the milieu of Muslim migrants. In contrast to other countries, in Italy there is rather a revival of anti-Judaist topoi coupled with traditional anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist stereotypes rooted in the left. It became particularly visible during the events, which took place at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. [154] The worsening of the Israeli-Arab conflict and, in particular, the question of Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity once again led to ambiguous positions being taken in some contexts and witnessed the use of potentially dangerous language.

1. Physical acts of violence

There were a few attacks at the beginning of the year, for example in January, a Jewish lawyer was attacked came in his office by two thugs who hit him with a club on his head and shoulders. It appears that right-wing extremists were responsible for this attack. [155] A number of the incidents occurred in April, but in the following months there was a reduction. The incidents recorded coincided with the heightening in international tension, thus creating entirely predictable peaks. Italian commentators assess that the rise in the scope of anti-Semitism is the result of Israel’s governmental policy towards the Arabs since the outbreak of the Intifada. [156]  

There are however some exceptions. These can be linked to the specific Italian situation and there is often the feeling that the lack of public attention or dwindling of public interest in such incidents is the result of the national political situation, its internal crisis and the strong political divisions between government and opposition parties, a factor exerting a severe impact on different spheres of public life. Demonstrations, marches and other political actions were recorded at the end of March, but without doubt the climax was reached in the period beginning with the Israeli occupation of Bethlehem, the stalemate at the Church of Nativity (2 April) and the attack against Jenin refugee camp (10 April). By the end of April tension as well as media attention had again decreased, leaving behind a few consequences and some rather feeble polemics.

4 April: destruction of the research work and the archives on the Holocaust and the resistance created by the students of Liceo Galileo Ferraris High School in Varese, where billboards were destroyed and the school walls were painted in red with graffiti such as “burn the Jews”. [157] Varese belongs to one of the strongholds of far-right groups in Italy, especially right-wing skinheads. [158]

2 June: some newspapers reported that two right-wing extremists were arrested for planning an attack in the Venice ghetto. [159] In addition, powerful weapons and a map with the borders of the Venice ghetto clearly marked were seized. 

2.      Verbal aggression/hate speech

Politics [160]

On 2 April some Jews from Rome staged a protest in front of the headquarters of the political party Rifondazione Comunista. Although peaceful, the protest still caused some trouble with passers-by: some passing cars reacted to the traffic jam in Corso Italia by shouting anti-Semitic slogans at the protesters. During an event organised by the Social Forum of Bologna in support of the Palestinians, the recurrent words against Israel were “genocide”; “deportation”; “fanatic and racist Zionists” and these were accompanied by the proposal for a vast boycott of Israeli products, which “could be associated to genocide”.

The period in question has been marked by a long and bitter dispute between the trade unions and the government over a proposed revision of a decree stipulating the cancellation of Article 18 of the Workers’ Statute. This crisis resulted in a general strike (16 April), overlapping exactly with the week in which the Middle East crisis reached its climax. During the strike and the accompanying street demonstrations and on the Liberation Day celebrations (25 April), the empathy generated by pro-Palestinian sentiments overtook the trade union issues or historical affiliations which had rallied thousands to protest in the squares, transforming, in some cases but not all, the above events into forms of explicit anti-Israeli propaganda.

4 April: Rifondazione Comunista opened its national congress. Some observers were struck by the opening of the conference: a video showing images of a Palestinian child being protected in vain by his father from shooting (stills from the video have also been placed on a whole series of international far-right websites inferring that the child has been shot by Israeli soldiers) was screened together with a scene from the film Roma città aperta (Rome, an Open City). The scene from the film shows a Nazi soldier shooting the actress Anna Magnani with a machine gun. The secretary-general of the party, preoccupied by the reactions to the party’s marked pro-Palestinian policy, closed the congress three days later, saying that the party supported all minorities and proclaimed: “We are Jews”. During the congress, a number of objects explicitly referred to Palestine: the Palestinian flag, a book by the representative of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in Italy, Diario segreto (Secret Diary; with a foreword by a former President of Italy), as well as other texts by Palestinian leaders and the kefiah, the traditional Arab head gear. During the general strike on 16 April, in Turin many demonstrators were wearing the kefiah. The kefiah is also present in the Italian and European far-right political movements. Some participants in pro-Palestinian demonstrations openly displayed their radical attitude: they dressed as suicide bombers with all the trappings.

6 April: an imposing crowd of anti-globalisation protesters marched through Rome and young people dressed as kamikaze shouted slogans against Israel. The leadership of the political parties Democratici di Sinistra (Democrats of the Left) and Margherita dissociated themselves from the protest, which had been promoted by all the trade unions and opposition political parties; for the first time political parties on the left split over issues relating to the Middle East. A number of banners directed against Israel and the Israeli Prime Minister Sharon included the following slogans: “State of Israel, State of murderers”; “Sharon executioner” (with the Nazi “S”), “Bush, Sharon, Peres” (with the “S” styled as a swastika); “Zionists and fascists are the terrorists”; “Against the racist terrorism of USA, Europe and Israel, on the side of the Palestinian masses”; “Holocaust, no thank you. Free Palestine”; “Palestinian Holocaust, Europe, where are you?” [161]

Public discourse

25 April: the Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC) was informed that during a demonstration in Milan marking the anniversary of the liberation of Italy from the Nazis, many pro-Palestinian banners were displayed, reading for example “Murderers, Nazist Sharon, Intifada until victory”; others assimilated the Star of David to the swastika or surrounded the star with barbed wire and broken by a closed fist. [162]

Graffiti

31 March: anti-Semitic graffiti and a swastika were found on a synagogue in Modena. [163]

7 April: anti-Semitic graffiti was found in several places in the old Venice ghetto. [164]

6 May: large graffiti in bold characters saying “Jews murderers” was seen in an underground pass in the city of Prato (central Italy). On the same day, the CDEC of Milan received an anonymous phone call from someone who said, “We will burn you all”. [165]

22 May: anti-Semitic slogans were written on the walls of the town of Marrucini in Abruzzo.

In addition, in Milan messages such as “Jews out of the neighbourhood” re-appeared on public walls (Via Venini).

Media

There seems to be a return of abusive language towards Jews [166] ; an example of which is the use of the attribute “perfidious” when referring to the Israeli government - a term that used to be in the Catholic Good Friday prayers and was condemned by Pope John XXIII. [167] There is an outpouring of anti-Israel statements on state radio and television and also in some Catholic circles, lamenting the deaths of Palestinians while glossing over Israel deaths. [168] It is absolutely essential to make a clear distinction between the language used by the Pope and that, which appears in the media and in the declarations of some Catholics. Even in some of the politically moderate press there are scattered references to the murder of Christ, showing that, after decades of absence, such stereotypes are also being revived in secular circles.

3 April: the front page of the national daily newspaper La Stampa carried a cartoon by Giorgio Forattini as a comment on the occupation of Bethlehem. At the sight of an Israeli tank a baby Jesus in a crèche asks: “Are they going to kill me for a second time?” [169] A heated debate followed in the papers. Many resentful letters were sent to the editor and numerous Catholic readers filed protests. The president of the Union of Jewish Communities, Amos Luzzatto, strongly criticised the return of the accusation of deicide, cancelled by the Second Vatican Council. The director of La Stampa distanced himself from the author of the cartoon. The same day someone wrote “Israelis Murderers” on the walls of a synagogue in Siena.

5 April: one of the main authorities of the state - the President of the Senate - denounced what he described as “the imbalance of Italian public opinion in favour of only the cause of the Palestinians, thus risking feeding an anti-Semitic campaign, of which we have had dangerous and serious examples”. The same day someone wrote “Free Palestine” on the façade of the synagogue in Cuneo.

2 May: the daily La Nazione of Florence reported that some anti-Semitic messages were written on a Catholic Church in the town of Gavinana outside Florence, praising the Holocaust and the twenty years of fascist domination in Italy. [170]

The head of the Rome Jewish Community, Leone Paserman, stated, “The Italian mass media have started a disinformation campaign that nourishes anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred”. [171]

On 12 April the famous Italian journalist and writer, Oriana Fallaci published her condemnation of the media, the church, and the left and their anti-Semitism in the weekly Panorama: “I find it shameful (...) that the government-controlled television stations contribute to the revival of anti-Semitism by crying over Palestinian deaths only, minimising the importance of Israeli deaths, speaking in a brisk and dismissive tone about them”. [172] Fallacis condemnation and fiery indictment was followed by a mostly controversial debate specially because she is known as a controversial left-leaning journalist.

Direct threats

Renowned Jewish journalists have received threatening letters full of insults as well. Some of them received up to fifty such e-mails during the period monitored. Attacks against Jewish students by fellow pupils in schools, at playgrounds and during sports competitions, such as calling them names, including the use of the words “Jew”, “dirty Jew” or “Rabbi” as insults, still persist, as does the hanging of anti-Semitic slogans and banners in stadiums. [173]

Indirect threats

Although they did not increase in the last few months, these remain on a very high level, especially in connection with the football club Lazio Rome. [174]  

Public discourse

Particularly interesting is the emergence, in the month of April, of slogans and comments that referred to the current persecution of the Palestine people by describing the Israeli-Arab conflict in terms of the inversion of the victim/persecutor roles, with clear reference here to the extermination of the Jews. Resorting to terms taken from Nazi vocabulary, such as deportation, extermination, genocide etc., is a constant practice and at times such terms are emphasised in newspapers with very large titles or else they are used scornfully in commentaries. [175]

The Internet

The website that can boast a larger number of participants in their discussion list is that of the extreme right-wing militant group Forza Nuova (New Force). Some of these sites – right-wing or pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian (“Lo Straniero Senza Nome”, “Holy War”, “Radio Islam”, “Associazione Italia-Iraq”, “Oltre la Verità Ufficiale”) [176] – make use of the entire spectrum of anti-Semitic stereotypes and have placed the complete text of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, an anti-Semitic forgery from Tsarist Russia, on the net. The website of Fronte sociale nazionale (National Social Front) carries a pro-Palestinian Intifada appeal which adopts a traditional anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist and anti-American language with hostile references to “Talmudic Judaism”, the “global plutocratic cupola” [177] and the bleeding Star of David. [178] Many other sites deal with the subject of the so-called ritual murder and the accusation of blood shedding; in others the denial of the Holocaust is the central point. The website Che fare (What should be done), part of the far left-wing groups, includes elements of anti-Zionism, pro-Arab fundamentalism, anti-Americanism and recurrent stereotypes against Jews used both in the past and at the present: the Jewish lobby, the relationship with the Masonry, the international plot, world economic power held by Jews, Jews circumcised with a dollar etc. are all examples of the most repeated slogans. It is difficult to know how many people visit these websites as the figures cited seem to be enlarged, for they increase remarkably over short periods to be credible. Between 20 and 29 July, Alfred Olsen, member of a fundamentalist Catholic brotherhood, Holocaust denier and responsible for the anti-Semitic website “Holy War/Tradizione Cattolica”, submitted contributions to the online forum of the daily La Stampa on nine occasions which combined anti-Judaist, traditional anti-Semitic world conspiracy theories and anti-Zionist stereotypes. [179]

3. Research Studies

Among the various surveys carried out during the past few months, [180] it seems interesting to refer to the ones carried out by Ispo/ACNielsen CRA, between 13 April and 13 May, part of which was published in “Il Corriere della Sera”. [181] The survey was inspired by the observation that the rigid positions regarding “who is right” and “who is wrong” in the Israeli-Arab conflict does not include any references to the circumstances giving rise to the conflict. For instance, less than half of the Italian population knows about the foundation of the State of Israel. Only 4% have knowledge about the historical events that preceded and to some extent explain the evolution of the conflict. The level of knowledge does not change meaningfully when the political position changes, although a greater number of both political far-right and far-left supporters are less informed than those who are centre-right and centre-left supporters.

Exactly one month after the above survey, “Il Corriere della sera” published the results of a poll carried out at the beginning of April. This second survey showed that the number of people who stated that they had no idea about the situation had decreased, while the opinion of the majority of the population blaming “both parties” for the conflict remained stable and consolidated, although some people on the political centre-left (11% against 6% overall) tended to mostly blame the Israelis for the conflict. In addition, during the same period “sympathy” for the Jewish state seemed to have grown and once again this was linked to the political orientation of the surveyed.

Between 12 and 14 April, a further survey was carried out by Ispo/ACNielsen CRA based on a sample of 5000 telephone interviews. The data has yet to be fully processed. This survey asked respondents whether Italian Jews have common characteristics distinguishing them from the rest of the population: 54% of the interviewed still believe that Italian Jews have distinct characteristics and 68% cited as proof a peculiar relationship with money and a mentality and lifestyle different from those of other Italians. In addition, there is growing number of people who think that Italian Jews are not real Italians and that they should stop playing the role of being a victim of a persecution that dates back fifty years. In particular they mentioned: the need to speak less about the Holocaust; the passage from being the victims of the past to becoming the persecutors of today in the Israeli-Arab conflict; and that the Day of Memory (27 January) should not only be devoted to remembering the victims of the Shoah, but also all the other victims of persecution in the 20^th century. [182]

The survey commissioned by the ADL between 9 and 29 September 2002 concerning “European Attitudes towards Jews, Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” (see Table: Report on Belgium) established that Italian respondents assumed second place behind the Spanish in their agreement to anti-Semitic statements. Next to Spain (72%) Italy also shows the second highest agreement with the statement that “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country” (58%) whereby 42 % agreed to the statement “Jews have too much power in the business world” which places Italy with France in third place after Spain and Belgium. [183]  

4. Good practices for reducing prejudice, violence and aggression

In the months prior to May 2002, good practices to combat anti-Semitism included those numerous initiatives aimed at stimulating an often fragile and poor historical memory organised all over the country on 27 January to mark Memory Day, established by a legislative decree two years ago. Trade unions organised public debates and initiatives in many regions and provinces, showing an interest for a debate that had not received much attention in the previous years within the trade union movement. Beginning in the autumn of 2002, a training programme started in the region of Lombardy that will continue through into 2003 and involve the high schools of the city of Lecco and union delegates from companies operating in the area. Issues to be dealt with are anti-Semitism and the Shoah and the dignity of man. The provisional title is Considerate se questo è un uomo (Consider if this is a man), taken from the famous phrase by Primo Levi. Rather innovative in Italy, trips will be organised to some of the symbolic places in Europe, from Prague to Auschwitz and to Mostar, including the former Nazi concentration camp Risiera di San Sabba in Trieste. The video Promesse (Promises), on tales of Israeli and Palestinian children in war and their fears and hopes beyond the usual stereotypes, had a remarkable impact on public opinion; the video is useful for a balanced understanding of the dramatic situation in the Middle East. Significantly, the video was distributed together with a major weekly magazine, L’Espresso, allowing more copies to be circulated than would have otherwise been the case.

Another initiative aimed at reconciliation after the division that occurred within the left-wing parties following the rally of 6 April (see chronology) was a concert on 19 April at the Colosseum organised by the Mayor of Rome, during which Israeli and Palestinian singers performed in turn on stage. The proposal by the Radical Party to include the State of Israel into the European Union does not seem to have met with the interest of the other political parties. This proposal was also submitted to all Regional Councils, but there, too, not much consensus was reached, nor did it gain much exposure in the media.

There are quite a number of websites dealing with the issue of anti-Semitism in both Europe and in Italy from a historical perspective, with particular focus on the racial laws in Italy and its consequences. There are also websites created for the specific purpose of countering the wave of misunderstanding and of responding to media attacks against Israel, at times with a certain partisan spirit but on the whole impartial in judgment. An example of such a website is http://www.informazionecorretta.com/ which provides a wide range of sources. Another interesting site that can be highlighted is the site of the confederated trade union UIL [184] which, starting from 23 May 2002, presents a position paper by the educational department of the national secretariat of the union under the title: “Schools and the prevention of anti-Semitism”. 

5. Reactions by politicians and other opinion leaders

An appeal by the Israeli writer Abraham Yehoshua to establish a clear boundary between Israel and Palestine, thereby encouraging a unilateral withdrawal of Israel, was signed by prominent Italian writers from across the political spectrum. [185] Political leaders have condemned the anti-Semitic tone of the demonstrations billed as promoting peace or Palestinian rights. [186] The imam of the Italian Islamic Community Abdul Hadi Palazzi maintains contact to the Italian Jewish Community and preaches messages of moderation and even friendship toward Israel. [187]

15 April: some politicians from both the governing and opposition parties called for an “Israeli Day” in Rome; the director of a pro-government daily newspaper - Il Foglio (The Sheet) - acted as promoter of the event. About 3000 people marched through the centre of the city carrying Israeli flags. The participants included militants from a wide range of political parties, acting individually and irrespective of their political affiliations.

25 April: during the manifestation of the day of liberation in Milan, participated by about 200,000 people, the leader (general secretary) of the main Italian trade union, Sergio Cofferati insisted “to fight any revisionism of history”. [188]

In September 2002 Gianfranco Fini, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance), the former neo-fascist party, excused himself during his visit to Israel in an interview with the Israelian newspaper “Haaretz” for the anti-Jewish laws in Italy. He said that he would accept historical responsibility for Fascist crimes and would ask the forgiveness of The Jewish People. [189]

Luxembourg [190]

According to a 1979 law, the government may not collect or maintain statistics on religious affiliation. But this is not the only reason why it is difficult for the leaders of the Jewish communities to carry out an accurate census: a great many of the Jews only pass through Luxembourg. Within the Jewish population (1200, 650 of whom are members of the Jewish community) there are nearly no orthodox families and a great many non-practising Jews. Luxembourg is the smallest Jewish community in Europe, in accordance with the overall population (440,000) of the country. The Jewish population is extremely well integrated into the social, community and cultural life of the country. In terms of attitudes towards minority groups Luxembourg meets the European average on the EUMC Eurobarometer, [191] whereby a high rate of agreement for improving the rights of minorities exists side by side with a strong rejection of working migrants. Since 1997 the negative attitudes have increased. But the excellent economic situation, in which the Grand Duchy finds itself, with an unemployment rate below 3%, certainly fosters benevolence among the population.

1. Physical acts of violence

In Luxembourg physical aggression in general and especially against Jews is rather rare. It might be explained by an absence of deeper social conflicts and extreme right parties. According to ASTI, the representative of the Jewish community and the secretary general of the Israelite Consistory, no act of violence or aggression against Jews or their institutions are know of for the period from 15 May to 15 June 2002; indeed for the whole year up to now no aggressive act has been committed.

2. Verbal aggression/hate speeches

Neither the police nor the Jewish community reported any real verbal anti-Semitic aggression during the reference period. In mid-May, an anonymous letter was sent to a representative of the Jewish community with the following content: “Down with Sharon …!” The Jewish community has not deemed this letter to be anti-Semitic, but an expression of rejection of the Sharon policy. At the same time, on a bridge support on the motorway towards France, the inscription “Sharon, assassin” (murderer) appeared. In this case, the Jewish community also stressed that it was a political statement. In their opinion the two acts are to be considered as isolated political incidents, albeit in direct relation to the escalation of violence in the Middle East, but not anti-Semitic.

3. Research studies

No studies have been undertaken regarding anti-Semitism in Luxembourg. The last opinion poll carried out by “Ilres” (National Polling Institute) on behalf of the European Community took place in 1997. It focussed on racism in the broadest sense of the term, thus including xenophobia and anti-Semitism, and revealed that only 2% of Luxembourg people considered themselves to be racist/could be considered as having racist leanings. The Eurobarometer 2000 shows that Luxembourg is one of the countries where many people support policies for improving social coexistence between different ethnic groups. 33% have passively tolerant and 28% actively tolerant attitudes toward minority groups. But negative attitudes have increased over the past years. [192]

4. Good practices for reducing prejudice, violence and aggression

On 16 June 2002 within the context of the European Day of Jewish Culture, the Jewish community invited the population of Luxembourg to discover the Jewish heritage and find out about the traditions of Judaism. The Jewish community registered a higher number of visitors than in previous years. [193] On 10 May the “Service National de la Jeunesse” (National Youth Service) organised a “Journée du Souvenir” (Remembrance Day) on the theme “It is necessary to know history in order to prepare for the future”. In the presence of the Luxembourg Minister of Culture, Luxembourg internees of concentration camps during the Second World War told young people of their experiences. The Minister stressed the fact that the Luxembourg government will be increasing the number of initiatives of this sort. [194] Also in 2002, classes from various educational establishments in Luxembourg will visit concentration camps in the company of their former Luxembourg prisoners. This initiative has made a considerable contribution to increasing the awareness of young people to the problems of anti-Semitism. In fact, each time long reports were published in the press and presented on Luxembourg television. On 15 May a panel dealing more directly with the situation in the Middle East was organised at the capital’s high school on the subject “Without justice and responsibility there will be no peace”. Representatives of religious communities, secular bodies and freemasons explained their points of view. This initiative was a part of the Luxembourg project “Towards a culture of peace” initiated in that school. [195] The only event on the theme “Towards an equitable peace in the Middle East”, organised by the “Friddensbeweegung” (Peace Movement), brought together 250 persons belonging to humanitarian groups and various left-wing parties in Luxembourg at the beginning of April.

5. Reactions by politicians and other opinion leaders

As neither acts of violence nor overt or latent anti-Semitic tendencies have been observed in Luxembourg, the reactions of politicians and opinion leaders is limited to condemning such acts occurring in other European countries. Ministers in the Luxembourg government and members of parliament from all parties, but also many diplomats traditionally attend the religious services held in synagogues for the Luxembourg National Day celebrations. [196] At the same time, the Chief Rabbi and representatives of the Jewish community attend the “Te Deum” for National Day in the Nôtre Dame Cathedral, and other ecumenical services and official events.

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