The 2013 FRA study and other data show that Muslims in the European Union account for a disproportionately large percentage of anti-Semitic incidents. The study found that in the European countries surveyed, 27 percent of incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, 51 percent of negative statements about Jews heard by respondents in 2012, and 40 percent of anti-Semitic physical violence were perpetrated by someone with a Muslim extremist view.1
Muslim anti-Semitism is rife in Western societies. Yet European governments often avoid exposing this anti-Semitism. In colonial times, Western racism far exceeded any other form of discrimination. With these guilt feelings about the European past, it is difficult to accuse current minority immigrant groups of having a relatively high percentage of members who promote hate against another minority. The Western reluctance to confront the truth is even greater because there is substantial discrimination against Muslims in Western societies. Furthermore, officially accusing large parts of the Muslim community of anti-Semitism could disrupt a country’s “social peace.”
The few studies on Muslim anti-Semitism in European countries all point in the same direction. In 2011, Belgian sociologist Mark Elchardus published a report on Dutch-language secondary schools in Brussels. He found that about 50 percent of Muslim students in second and third grade could be considered anti-Semites, versus 10 percent of others.2 It is logical to assume, in view of the age of these children, that their parents imbued them with most if not all of their Jew-hatred.
Elchardus says about the studies he undertook in Brussels, Antwerp, and Gent:
Anti-Semitism among non-Muslims occurs mainly among the socially weaker segments of society. Yet anti-Semitism among Muslim students is not a function of social and cultural factors, such as parents’ income and education, or the type of school the youths visit. The sole relevant factor is Muslim traditionalism. For instance, 12% of progressive Muslims agree with the statement “it is best to avoid Jews.” Among conservative Muslims, this percentage rises to 46%. There are however few progressive Muslims. For every 8 progressive Muslims, one finds 100 conservatives.
Elchardus further observes:
From the Muslim community, we received extremely negative reactions. The same was the case from a number of non-Muslims who present themselves as “defenders” or “spokespeople” for the Muslim communities. Some even said that I was a racist. A Muslim organization complained about me to the Center for Equal Chances and the Fight against Racism. This complaint was thrown out. Yet it took their legal expert about a month to reach that conclusion.
Muslim organizations are meant to play a major role in the integration of Muslims in society. It is regrettable that none of these organizations condemn anti-Semitism, or the very negative attitudes toward homosexuals our studies in Antwerp and Gent found. Nor did any of them announce that they would provide informal education for the Muslim youngsters who have these prejudices. In short: Muslim organizations either denied our studies’ findings, or remained silent about them.
This denial is always expressed in the same way: “Muslims cannot be anti-Semites, as Israel’s behavior justifies all Muslim attitudes toward Jews.”
After the publication of the second study, a new form of denial appeared concerning both anti-Semitism and hatred of homosexuals. An absurd claim was made that the findings of the studies are false, because when one talks to Muslims, one finds that they have no prejudices and are well integrated in society. This denial of truth by Muslim leaders who are responsible for helping build society is discouraging and also alarming.3
More Studies
In 2011, Günther Jikeli published his findings from 117 interviews he conducted with Muslim male youngsters of an average age of nineteen in Berlin, Paris, and London. The differences in attitudes between the cities were minor. The majority of the interviewees voiced some, or strong anti-Semitic feelings. They expressed them openly and often aggressively.4
Although anti-Semitism cannot be eliminated, educational programs can reduce it. In thirteen Amsterdam trade schools, a pilot project with Moroccan students was carried out concerning World War II and the Middle East conflict. The aim was to counteract their discriminatory attitudes and, in particular, anti-Semitic expressions. The findings showed a decrease in such attitudes after the project. Previously, 32 percent of the young Moroccans thought Jews were “as nice as other people.” Subsequently, this increased to 50 percent.5 For others, data was only available after the project: 43 percent of Turkish students, 83 percent of Dutch students, and 77 percent of Surinamese students thought Jews were “as nice as other people.”6
Yet after the project, only 31 percent of Moroccan students considered it a problem that Jews are discriminated against. That view was held by 43 percent of the Turkish, 58 percent of the Dutch, and 72 percent of the Surinamese students.7 Before the project, 39 percent of the Moroccans thought they could be friends with a Jew; afterward it increased to 50 percent.8 The percentage of Moroccans who thought Jews wanted to rule the world was 32 percent before the project, declining to 11 percent after it. Among Turkish students 26 percent held this opinion, among Surinamese students 10 percent, and among Dutch students 3 percent.9
A study in France in 2005 showed that anti-Jewish prejudice was prevalent particularly among religious Muslims. Forty-six percent held such sentiments compared to 30 percent of non-practicing Muslims. Only 28 percent of religious Muslims in France were found to be totally without such prejudice.10
Already in 2004, Emmanuel Brenner—pseudonym for French historian Georges Bensoussan—and his colleagues had shown that Muslim anti-Semitism and many other manifestations of racism occur in French schools. Brenner does mention that some Muslims are social victims, but points out that this does not place them beyond the law, particularly when their acts have a pogrom-like character.11
British author and journalist Melanie Phillips notes that in 2006, a poll of Muslims commissioned by a coalition of Jewish groups revealed that nearly two-fifths believed that the Jewish community in Britain was a legitimate target “as part of the ongoing struggle for justice in the Middle East.” More than half believed that British Jews had “too much influence over the direction of UK foreign policy.”12
In 2013, the Berlin Social Science Center published a study by Ruud Koopmans titled “Religious fundamentalism and out-group hostility among Muslims and Christians in Western Europe.” The study surveyed Christian natives and Turkish and Moroccan Muslim immigrants in six European countries: the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Austria. One of its findings was that on average, 45 percent of Muslims surveyed in these countries held the view that “Jews cannot be trusted.” The highest figure was found among Austrian
Muslims at 64 percent; the lowest was in Germany at 28 percent.13
These studies and much anecdotal information reveal that anti-Semitism among substantial parts of Muslim communities is much higher than in autochthonous populations. As it manifests itself from a very young age onward, only the extremely gullible will believe that it will disappear in the coming decades.
It may well be that during the Protective Edge campaign the percentage of anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by Muslims increased. Although no reliable statistics are available, one indication was that Esther Voet, director of the Dutch pro-Israeli defense organization CIDI, reported an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the summer of 2014.
The number of anti-Semitic incidents reported that summer was equal to the total number of incidents in the year 2011-2012. Voet estimates that two- thirds of these are perpetrated by non-Western immigrants or their descendants. This was a euphemistic reference to Muslim immigrants, who represent about 7 percent of the population.14
In view of the social climate in many European countries, Jews do not readily state publicly the disproportionately large role of Muslims in anti-Semitic incidents. One exception is Sammy Ghozlan, president of the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism in France. He was quoted as saying, even before Protective Edge, that the vast majority of physical attacks in France are committed by Muslims.15
The 2013 Koopmans study also presents findings that should worry European society at large. It found that around 65 percent of Muslims surveyed in those six countries agreed with the statement that “Religious rules are more important than secular law.” Such attitudes embody potential threats to democracies. Another worrying finding was that 54 percent of Muslims surveyed in all six countries agreed with the statement: “Western countries are out to destroy Islam.”16 This is yet one more indicator of the prevalence of conspiracy theories.
Two surveys in 2014 were conducted by the French IFOP polling company and by the Foundation for Political Innovation. One IFOP poll found that 56 percent of Muslim respondents agreed with the statement, “Jews use to their own benefit their status as victims of the Nazi genocide.” On average among the French population, 32 percent agreed with the statement. Sixteen percent of the general population believed that there was “an international Zionist conspiracy,” whereas 44 percent of Muslims believed this.17
Muslim Media Incitement
Radical Muslim hate propaganda is of a widespread and international nature outside Muslim countries as well. Some examples will illustrate this. Shimon Samuels, international liaison director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center who participated in the 2002 UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, related:
The evening before the conference we turned on the car radio and heard Radio Islam of Johannesburg (MW1548) broadcasting a hate speech against the Jews. The Imam of Johannesburg attacked the Jewish National Fund and demanded its expulsion from the conference because the JNF “is stealing land from the Palestinians.”
Samuels added, “I immediately wrote a letter to the South African Minister of Home Affairs, Mangosuthu Buthulezi, protesting the Imam’s position and stating that the JNF is an agency that is a model for the advancement of sustainable development.”18
Anti-Semitism scholar Mikael Tossavainen notes that there are also a number of Muslim anti-Semitic websites in Swedish, the best known of which is Radio Islam. Already as a radio station in the 1980s, it broadcast Nazi-like anti-Semitism.19 The content could have been taken from Nazi publications such as Der Stürmer or Mein Kampf, with the Jews accused of being sexually perverted, brazen and greedy, committing ritual murders, having great influence over the media and organizing a world conspiracy aimed at enslaving all other peoples.20
Religious Incitement
Muslim anti-Semitism also has various religious sources. After the September 11 attacks in the United States, Sheikh Muhammad Gemeaha, leader of an important mosque in upper Manhattan, made a series of anti-Semitic remarks including: “there is proof that Jews were the terrorists because only they had the capability to neutralize the automatic pilot, command the control tower, erase the black boxes and infiltrate the White House and Pentagon.”21
Gemeaha also stated:
Muslims do not feel safe even going to the hospitals, because some Jewish doctors in one of the hospitals poisoned sick Muslim children, who then died . . . You see these people [i.e., the Jews] all the time, everywhere, disseminating corruption, heresy, homosexuality, alcoholism, and drugs. [Because of them] there are strip clubs, homosexuals, and lesbians everywhere. They do this to impose their hegemony and colonialism on the world . . . But Hitler annihilated them because they betrayed him and violated their contract with him.22
In 2001, the website of the El Tawheed Mosque in Amsterdam published statements such as: “The Jews own the weapons industry and on the other hand they are the ones who make the wars,” and “The Jews, the Christians and the Communists . . . are working together to destroy the Islamic community.” The president of this mosque was also the principal of a Muslim elementary school.23
During the 2014 Protective Edge campaign there were several cases of extreme religious incitement in Europe. In a Berlin sermon the imam Abu Bilal Ismail called on Allah to “destroy the Zionist Jews . . . Count them and kill them, to the very last one.”24
Also during the campaign Raoudi Aldelbar, an imam from Morocco employed at an Italian mosque near Venice, was filmed during a sermon saying, “Oh Allah, bring upon [Jews] that which will make us happy. Count them one by one, and kill them one by one.” After a video of the sermon was released, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano ordered Aldelbar’s immediate expulsion for “seriously disturbing public order, being a danger to national security and for religious discrimination.”25
Similarly, during a Friday sermon at a mosque near Madrid during Protec- tive Edge, Sheikh Saleheoldine al-Moussaoui declared, “Oh Allah, destroy the plundering Jews . . . Oh Allah, the Most Merciful, count them one by one, and do not spare a single one of them.”26
In November 2014 Tarek al-Swaidan, an imam from Kuwait, was denied entrance to Belgium because he had been preaching for Israel’s destruction and the annihilation of Jews. According to Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, banning him from entering Belgium “was the only possible decision. This preacher makes unacceptable anti-Semitic statements. His presence in Belgium would represent a danger to public order.”27
Extreme Anti-Semitic Attacks
As mentioned earlier, Muslim hate-mongers also stand out compared to native anti-Semites because of the extreme character of some of their anti-Semitic acts. This is particularly clear in France. The 1982 attack on the Jewish Goldenberg restaurant in Paris was carried out by Muslim terrorists coming from Arab countries. Six people were killed, most probably by the Arab Abu Nidal group.28 In the twenty-fi st century, Muslims living in France have committed various murders of Jews. Sebastien Selam, a Jewish disc jockey, was killed by his neighbor Adel Amastaibou in 2003.29 In 2006, the young Jewish man Ilan Halimi was kidnapped and tortured for twenty-four days before being killed. His kidnappers, led by Youssouf Fofana, called themselves the “Gang of Barbarians.” When his court trial began in 2009, Fofana shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). He gave his identity as “Arabs African revolt barbarian Salafist army.”30 The 2012 murders of four Jews, three of them children, in Toulouse by
Mohammed Merah were already mentioned earlier.
As also noted earlier, in 2009 during Israel’s Cast Lead campaign in Gaza, the largest anti-Semitic riots in Norway’s history took place in Oslo. All, or almost all, the participants were Muslims. Attackers wounded a Christian who attended a pro-Israeli demonstration. Life-threatening projectiles were thrown at pro-Israeli demonstrators.31
Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö, is often called “the capital of European anti-Semitism.” The perpetrators of many physical and verbal attacks there are all, or almost all, Muslims.32 A record number of complaints about hate crimes in this city in 2010 and 2011 did not lead to any convictions.33
In 2012, Stephan J. Kramer, secretary-general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that the “willingness to be violent in the Muslim camp is comparable to that in the extreme right-wing camp.”34 Those who publicly shout “Death to the Jews” in street demonstrations seem to be largely Muslim.
Protective Edge
Israel’s Protective Edge campaign led to many protests and anti-Israeli demonstrations all over Europe. There were also violent attacks on Jewish institutions and individuals. Often the participants in the demonstrations were not exclusively Muslims. On some occasions Muslims, neo-Nazis, and leftists worked together. One violent demonstration in Frankfurt had a mix of Islamists and neo-Nazis.35
Many of these demonstrations were presented as anti-Israeli or pro-Gaza. In fact, they also often were anti-Semitic and can be regarded as demonstrations in favor of the genocidal Hamas movement.
One city where that became very clear was Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Green Left parliamentarian Judith Sargentini was unable to finish a speech where she condemned Hamas because of a roaring response of pro-Hamas slogans from the crowd. She later tweeted that she also wanted to condemn Israel but had been interrupted before she had a chance to do so.36
In the Netherlands, the mask also fell from a number of moderate Muslims. Dutch Labour Party politician Fatima Elatik participated in an anti-Israeli dem- onstration where swastikas were flaunted.37 A picture showed her linking arms there with a person wearing a T-shirt saying “Free Palestine, stop genocide.”38
Also in the Netherlands, Yasmina Haifi, a project manager at the Justice Ministry’s Cyber Security Center, asserted on Twitter that “ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. It’s part of a plan by Zionists who are deliberately trying to blacken Islam’s name.” She was suspended from her position for this tweet, pending further disciplinary steps.39
Haifi had been a candidate in a noneligible position on the Labour Party’s 2012 parliamentary list. The issue would not have made many headlines were it not that Haifi worked in the main Dutch counterterrorism unit. A Facebook site was created in support of Haifi’s ideas.40 After a few days this site had more than 6,500 likes. The major Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad published an interview with one of the Facebook site managers in which he explained why Haifi’s ideas were acceptable.41
Analysis
There are very strong indications that the percentage of anti-Semites among Muslim immigrants in Europe and their descendants is substantially higher than in the autochthonous populations. This disproportion is already apparent among many youngsters.42 Furthermore, the most extreme incidents of Muslim anti-Semitism have gone beyond those of native anti-Semitism. A third reality is the unwillingness of many Muslim leaders and organizations to address this problem in their communities.
The nonselective mass immigration of Muslims into the Western world, and particularly into Europe, has been the most troubling development for Jewish communities outside of Israel over the past fifty years. This is not only the fault of segments of the immigrant communities, but also of European governments. Many European authorities must take the blame for their attitudes toward the Jews in this context for two reasons. First, they allowed large numbers of immigrants into their countries in a non-selective way, without taking into ac- count the major cultural differences or considering how these people would be integrated into their societies. They should have known that actively promoting anti-Semitism was part and parcel of the cultures these people came from. Allowing them in unselectively can thus be viewed as an indirect type of state-promoted anti-Semitism.
Second, over the years it has become clear that while far from all Muslims are anti-Semites, a large percentage are, and from a young age. Some of them openly admit that they are willing to commit violent acts. Authorities in Eu- ropean countries have almost intentionally neglected the need to investigate this matter in depth.
The hate phenomena among Western Muslims cannot be analyzed without focusing on the many negative characteristics and attitudes that have perme- ated large parts of the Islamic world. One of these is extreme anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish incitement. They often go hand in hand. This has influenced the prejudiced attitudes against Jews that many Muslim immigrants have brought with them to Europe. These attitudes have sometimes been further intensified in their countries of arrival by local inciters from different circles.
The current and often vicious anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli incitement in parts of the Muslim world also has a continuing influence on some of the im- migrants and their descendants. The effect is enhanced because this ongoing incitement is conveyed from the Middle East to Western Muslims via satellite TV and the internet.
One conclusion is clear: within the framework of future efforts to address anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in European societies, the hatred that emanates from segments of European Muslim communities must be a priority. A lengthy essay by this author in the Journal for the Study of Antisemitism details anti-Semitism among European Muslims.43
Notes
1 “Discrimination and hate crime against Jews in EU Member States: experiences and perceptions of anti-Semitism,” European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, November 2013.
2 Nicole Vettenburg, Mark Elchardus, and Johan Put, eds., Jong in Brussel (Leuven, The Hague: Acco, 2011), 278. (Dutch)
3 Manfred Gerstenfeld, interview with Mark Elchardus, “Belgian anti-Semitism,”
Israel National News, May 21, 2013.
4 Günther Jikeli, Antisemitismus und Diskriminierungswahrnehmungen junger Muslime in Europa, Ergebnisse einer Studie unter jungen muslimischen Männern (Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2012). (German)
5 Gemeente Amsterdam, “Eindrapport project ‘Tweede Wereldoorlog in Perspectief,’” September 23, 2004, 35. (Dutch)
6 Ibid., 31.
7 Ibid., 31.
8 Ibid., 35.
9 Ibid., 31, 35.
10 Cécilia Gabison, “Les musulmans pratiquants ont plus de préjugés,” Le Figaro, December 7, 2005. (French)
11 Emmanuel Brenner, Les territoires perdus de la République: Antisémitisme, racisme et sexisme en milieu scolaire (Paris: Mille et Une Nuits, 2004). (French)
12 Melanie Phillips, Londonistan (New York: Encounter Books, 2006), 114.
13 Ruud Koopmans, “Religious fundamentalism and out-group hostility among Muslims and Christians in Western Europe,” Berlin Social Science Center, June 25-27, 2013.
14 Naama Lansky, “Sakana Berura Umijadit,” Israel Hayom, August 22, 2014. (He- brew)
15 “Report: Gang of youths taser French Jew at Paris monument,” JTA, June 11, 2014.
16 Koopmans, “Religious fundamentalism.”
17 “French Muslims see Jews controlling nation’s economy, media,” JTA, November 16, 2014.
18 Manfred Gerstenfeld, interview with Shimon Samuels, “Anti-Semitism and Jew- ish Defense at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002 Johannesburg, South Africa,” Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism, 6, March 2, 2003.
19 Per Ahlmark, Vänstern och tyranniet: Det galna kvartseeklet (Stockholm: Timbro, 1994), 85. (Swedish)
20 Mikael Tossavainen, “Arab and Muslim Anti-Semitism in Sweden,” Jewish Political Studies Review 17, 3-4 (Fall 2005): 130.
21 “New York Cleric’s Departure from Mosque Leaves Mystery,” The New York Times, October 23, 2001.
22 “A Fair Sheik?” The Wall Street Journal, October 24, 2001.
23 “De ongrijpbare islamitische school,” NRC Handelsblad, October 20, 2001. (Dutch)
24 Jon Henley, “Antisemitism on rise across Europe ‘in worst times since the Nazis,’” The Guardian, August 7, 2014.
25 Josephine Mckenna, “Italy expels imam for preaching hatred against Jews,” The Washington Post, August 5, 2014.
26 “Spanish imam calls for killing Jews,” European Jewish Congress, August 29, 2014.
27 “Anti-Semitic imam barred from attending Islamic conference in Belgium,” JTA, November 5, 2014.
28 New York Times Service, “Terrorist Abu Nidal Reportedly Found Dead,” The Baltimore Sun, August 20, 2012.
29 Brett Kline, “Two Sons of France,” The Jerusalem Post, January 21, 2010.
30 “Trial Begins of French ‘Gang of Barbarians’ Accused of Killing Young Jew after 24-Day Torture,” Daily Mail, April 30, 2009.
31 Eirik Eiglad, The Anti-Jewish Riots in Oslo (Oslo: Communalism, 2010).
32 Cnaan Liphshiz, “In Scandinavia, kipah becomes a symbol of defiance for Mal- mo’s Jews,” JTA, September 24, 2012.
33 “In Malmo, record number of hate crimes complaints but no convictions,” JTA, January 9, 2013.
34 “Hitler gefällt mir,” Zeit Online, June 7, 2007. (German)
35 Benjamin Weinthal, “Neo-Nazis, Islamists declare ‘You Jews are beasts’ during protest of Israeli operation,” The Jerusalem Post, July 14, 2014.
36 “Gaza-demonstratie verloopt rustig,” DeStadUtrecht.nl, August 10, 2014. (Dutch)
37 “Tonen nazivlag bij demo ‘schandalig,’” De Telegraaf, July 14, 2014. (Dutch)
38 “Emoties over Zeeburg,” http://nihs.nl/show-hakehilla/page/2. (Dutch)
39 “Dutch minister suspends official who said Zionists created ISIS,” JTA, August 15, 2014.
40 Alexander Bakker, “Omstreden ambtenaar krijgt bijval,” De Telegraaf, August 17, 2014. (Dutch)
41 Arjen Schreuder, “Zo gek is dat niet, om te denken aan zionistische betrokken- heid bij IS,” NRC Handelsblad, August 25, 2014. (Dutch)
42 Vettenburg, Elchardus, and Put, Jong in Brussel.
43 Manfred Gerstenfeld, “Muslim Anti-Semitism in Europe,” Journal for the Study of Antisemitism 5, 1 (2013).