Antisemitism is rising in Europe. Blame immigrants…and everyone else too.

Europe has never been clear of racism and bigotry, especially antisemitism. The Holocaust didn’t just spring up out of nowhere and, while the decades since World War II have been unprecedentedly peaceful, the ugliness was still present, if hidden. I lived all over Western Europe for most of my life and between what I saw there and what my friends and family still there tell me, the ugliness is returning. There are three main reasons why antisemitism is resurgent in Europe right now.

Immigration. Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. The last three decades have radically changed the demographics of most of Western Europe. Low-income and traditionally minded immigrants from Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union and then North Africa and the Middle East, over the last ten years especially. These people brought their attitudes with them. There is no way to not notice that the last 5 years have seen a definite increase in violence against Jews in Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, etc. and the vast majority of it is from immigrants…