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)