EJP | News | UK | Chief Rabbi warns of anti-Semitism ‘Tsunami’

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Chief Rabbi warns of anti-Semitism ‘Tsunami’

Updated: 04/Jan/2006 15:55

Jonathan Sacks, British Chief rabbi

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British Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks has said he fears that anti-Semitism is threatening to engulf the world in a “tsunami effect”.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Programme at the weekend, Sacks admitted he was “very scared” by the rise of anti-Semitism.

Sacks said it has led to Holocaust denial, attacks on synagogues and a boycott on Jewish groups on university campuses.

University concerns

Boycotts of Jewish academics, student groups and Israeli institutions have become more widespread by groups and individuals opposed to Israeli government policy.

Since 2002, Jewish student groups on 17 campuses have faced the threat of expulsion from fellow students opposed to Israeli government action.

Commenting on the issue of anti-Semitism on campus, Sacks said, “attempts to silence and even ban Jewish student groups were quite extraordinary because most of Britain’s 350,000 Jews regarded themselves primarily as British citizens.”

Globalisation has also led some people to wrongly see Israel as the cause of all the world’s troubles.

Islamic militants have used Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to rally support for their violent campaigns.

Dr Sacks pointed out that wars in Chechnya, the Philippines and Indonesia would be happening even if Israel did not exist and that conflicts around the globe had begun to have uncomfortable repercussions for some Jewish communities in Europe.

He also cited the recent comments made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel should be “wiped off the face of the earth” and that the Holocaust was a “myth”.

“This is all a kind of tsunami of anti-Semitism which is taking place a long way from this country but to which Europe seems unaware,” he said.

Global anti-Semitism

He said that while the Jewish experience of Britain was generally good, British Jews were experiencing a globalised anti-Semitism through satellite television, e-mails and the internet.

Figures produced by the London based Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitic incidents and advises the Jewish community on matters of security, said it had seen a huge rise in incidents last year.

Some 532 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded by the trust in 2004, 83 of which were physical assaults.

Dr Sacks added that he was concerned that more was not being done to change attitudes.

He expressed his concern about attacks on Jews in some Jewish countries such as France and how this is impacting on both himself and others Jews across Europe.

“A number of rabbinical colleagues throughout Europe have been assaulted and attacked on the streets,” he said.

He added, “We have had synagogues desecrated and Jewish schools burn to the ground - not here but in France.”

The interview marked the 350th anniversary year of the re-entry of Jews to England by Oliver Cromwell in 1656.