It’s an exaggeration to say Jews are fleeing France en masse but it’s true that the greatest numbers have relocated to Israel in the last year, according to Abe Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, who appeared Wednesday on "America’s Forum" on
Newsmax TV.
Foxman, joined by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, discussed Islamic extremism and the increasing sense of anti-Semitism in France and throughout Europe.
A mass exodus "would give Adolf Hitler a posthumous victory of creating a Europe without Jews," Foxman said. "It would be horrific and horrendous, but if Jews don't feel safe, they'll find other places to go like Israel, Canada, the U.S., Australia wherever.
"I hope that the French authorities, the Belgium authorities and Norwegian authorities will understand that they have a responsibility not only to protect the Jewish community, but to stand up seriously against terrorism and anti-Semitism."
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The reason
Jews are leaving is simple: fear, according to Foxman.
"There was a poll taken, by ADL, six months ago that said 34 percent of French people are infected seriously with anti-Semitism," he said. "If one of three of your neighbors don't like you because you're Jewish, that feeling communicates.
"Plus, there have been attacks against Jews and harassments."
Fear has translated to Jews trying to hide their identity, he said, by not wearing skullcaps or the star of David and "they're told not to speak Hebrew or read a Hebrew newspaper in a subway or a bus."
While it’s upsetting that Paris synagogues were closed Friday for the first time since the Holocaust, Foxman said anti-Semitism is still not what it was in the 1930s.
"This is the worst that it's been since World War II, but this is not World War II," he said.
"America is different and there's a Jewish state. During the Holocaust, Jews had nowhere else to go. The U.S. was closed and there was no Israel. Thank God today Jews who want out have a place to go. The issue is France and Belgium. Will they survive?"
According to Dershowitz, anti-Semitism comes in three forms, all of which are melding in France today: Extreme Muslim anti-Semitism; hard-left anti-Zionism "that often melds into anti-Semitism and gives extremist justification for attacking Jews every time they disagree with Israel's policy"; and "traditional hard-right anti-Semitism that led to France turning over more Jews for deportation to Nazi death camps than even the Nazis asked for."
"So these three are coming together in modern-day France, which explains why so many Jews are wondering whether France is the home, the future home of the large Jewish community it now has," Dershowitz said.
"So the situation is quite different, but obviously one can never forget the past."
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