Recently, a statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam was vandalised with graffiti. The word “Gaza” was scrawled in red paint across the podium of the statue, which has been erected in a park close to where Frank and her family lived before being forced into hiding. In response, the city’s Mayor, Femke Halsema, stated, “No Palestinian has been helped by smearing her so precious statue. … Whoever it was, shame on you! There is no excuse for this.”
Sadly, this is not an isolated incident in Western Europe. Student protests and campus occupations have not stopped short at condemning Israel’s operation in Gaza, but have targeted Jewish students, for example at ULB university in Brussels, where a Jewish student was physically assaulted by campus occupants in May, triggering a large counter protest. The occupation of that particular campus also resulted in massive damages amounting to an estimated €500,000-700,000.
Time and again, those protesting Israel’s actions are also seen to be affiliated with some very dodgy allies. For example, in Belgium and the Netherlands, the extremist pro-Palestinian organization Samidoun, which has been outlawed in Germany due to its sympathy for the terror group Hamas, continues to feature prominently during the protests. Its EU coordinator, Mohammed Khatib, also lives in Belgium, where he enjoys ‘refugee’ status.
A worsening situation
According to a survey undertaken by the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights, almost all European Jews surveyed have declared that they have experienced antisemitism, with such incidents spiking after October 7. Almost 8,000 Jews from across 13 EU countries were involved: in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Sweden. 37% of respondents say they have been harassed because of their Jewish identity. 4% reported being physically attacked. A majority actively fear for their own and for their family’s safety and security.
Worryingly, the survey was conducted in 2023, before the Hamas attacks on 7 October, and Israel’s subsequent military response in Gaza. It does contain information about antisemitism collected from 12 Jewish community organisations more recently; for example, that Jewish people have experienced more antisemitic incidents since October 2023, with some organisations even reporting an increase of more than 400%.
Feminist groups
Many of those protesting the actions of the Israeli government are not antisemitic. Quite a few are actually Jewish themselves. That is why they should become more sensitive to whom they choose as their fellow campaigners. On 10 March 2024, Gaza demonstrators waved Samidoun flags during the highly charged opening of the Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam. Samidoun publicly supports the terrorist group Hamas. The Gaza movement contains some feminist groups, who do not seem to care that the fundamental rights of women and gays are severely violated in Gaza. There, unmarried women are not allowed to leave the territory without the consent of a male guardian, and homosexuality is punishable by torture and death.
In December, German police raided pro-Palestinian feminist group Zora, which had been using emblems of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group which Israel, the EU, and the U.S. have designated a terrorist organization. The raid was apparently prompted by a statement that the group posted on its Instagram account on October 12, right after the October 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel. The statement carried the title: “No liberation of women without the liberation of Palestine.” The group conceded in the communication that, even if Hamas has no interest in fighting the patriarchy, it was important to “strengthen the progressive forces that are also part of the Palestinian resistance,” like the PFLP.
Not a new problem
None of this is particularly new. Back in 2017, during the Lesbian “Chicago Dyke March,” two participants were excluded for carrying a rainbow flag with a Star of David, as this was deemed to be a symbol of Zionism that made other participants feel uncomfortable. Notably, no other national or religious symbols suffered from such a ban. Alarm bells should ring among progressives, when some parts of their movement have simply adopted antisemitism as part of their belief system.
Many left-wing politicians are following a similar path. Far-left French populist politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon refused to condemn the bloody attack by Hamas on October 7. It caused the breakup of “Nupes,” an alliance of left-wing French political parties, which was, however, reconstituted after French President Macron called an early Parliamentary election last month. It must be said that it wasn’t the first incident in which Mélenchon’s party has been found to have questionable double standards whenever Jews are involved.
To be fair, some parts of the Left still denounce antisemitism, at least for now. For example, in response to the American Gaza protests on campuses, well-known leftist American Senator Bernie Sanders said in May that Israel did have the right to defend itself, but that he disagreed with how it was so doing. He explicitly called Hamas a “terrorist” group, stating, “No to antisemitism. No to Islamophobia. No to racism and bigotry in all its forms. Yes to free speech and protest under the 1st Amendment, whether on a college campus or across our nation.” Sanders will be tested on this commitment, however, as he has been asked to hold antisemitism hearings after the Columbia University’s president’s recent resignation over months of antisemitic protests on campus. Bernie cannot be accused of being some kind of fake leftist—the question is whether he will continue to take antisemitism seriously. If he does, his ideological allies should take note.
