European antisemitism today

Very bad news out of today's Germany: if you want to demonstrate while screaming 'Death to the Jews,' that's fine. If you want to hang an Israeli flag in your bedroom window on a street where such a demonstration is passing, the police will come in and rip it down - and classify you as 'anti-German' or 'extremist'. As Clemens Heni puts it here:

'Germany witnesses probably the biggest anti-Jewish rallies since 1045 during the Gaza war. Meanwhile research centers keep silent, refusing even to discuss such events with Jewish journalists, focusing instead on "Islamophobia." Why? Are Muslims threatened on German streets by Jewish gangsters screaming, "Death to all Muslims?" The reality is the opposite, yet no one is listening.'

To put German developments in context, more than 240 antisemitic incidents were reported around the world during the Israeli attack on Gaza. The bulk of them occurred in Western Europe and were led by local Muslims, including 100 each in France and Britain, according to a report released by the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism. As this article in the Jerusalem Post notes, 'During that time, a Vatical official, a Norwegian foreign ministry official and a British MP have all compared Israel's actions to those of the Nazis.'

Good transatlantic relations are important to the United States, but they don't occur in a vacuum. We can't just ignore what's going on in Europe - especially as it begins to pollute our discourse and our streets as well.