Home > Newsletter > September 2002

IS EUROPE STILL ANTI-SEMITIC?

Jews have always assumed that European anti-Semitism sprang from Christianity and indeed that is what is taught at most major American universities. However, whether Europe was actually ever Christian is questionable. Kings did indeed declare Christianity as the official religion, but it is doubtful the illiterate and superstitious masses ever really understood and embraced true Christianity. Those few true Christians living in Europe often suffered martyrdom, or else they fled and came to America in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Much of the anti-Semitism in Europe came out of the plagues. Jews were for the most part untouched by the great plagues which swept Medieval Europe. Because of Jewish cleaning rituals and baths, the Jews were spared the horrible deaths of many Europeans caused by trash and human waste cast into the street in front of homes and businesses. The suspicion and hatred for the Jews because they escaped many of the plagues led to anti-Semitism that had little to do with religion other than sometimes in name.

Despite the Holocaust, much of that anti-Semitism inherent to Europe remains today and is displayed in official tolerance of Islamic hate crimes against Jews throughout the world. While there are 175,000 Christians in the West Bank, virtually no funding reaches them from European nations. At the same time Yasser Arafat has amassed a fortune estimated at $1.2 billion dollars just from the money he has skimmed off the top of that given to the Palestinian Authority by the European Union.