Political Reasons for Increased Hatred towards Jews
There are those who claim that the reasons for the flaring up of hatred actually lie in politics. Up until the last decade, left wing parties have been in power in most European countries – today right wing parties have dramatically increased in strength and they are in power in many European countries. The unification of European states and demographic trends of mass immigration from the Third World to Western countries – have caused significant changes, which have in turn lead to changes in the political arena. These processes influence the attitude towards Jews worldwide.

Ha’aretz Newspaper journalist, Avirama Golan, writes about this: “Before Israel starts shouting that France has returned to the eve of the Holocaust, it is worthwhile to check what the nature of the current phenomenon is: Hatred of Israel was and is likely to remain, but part of the recent violence is, apparently, an French internal social issue…”

Roger Cukierman – president of the umbrella organization of French Jewish organizations claims the following: The distorted European attitude towards Israel is due to their own interests and not hatred. The Europeans, due to the absence of their own independent sources of energy – feel dependent on Arab states, which produce oil. No less than this interest, there is the internal interest of European states, within which there is a growing percentage of immigrants from Moslem countries.

The Role of the Extreme Right and the Radical Left in Fanning the Flames of Tensions
In contrast to the situation before World War II – the extreme right does not provoke the acts of violence against Jewish targets worldwide. In addition, these days, their hatred is mainly directed against the many immigrants living in Western countries. The irony is that it is specifically these immigrants that are the spearhead of those who carry out the acts of violence these days. Due to the Western fear of being “taken over by foreigners” and due to the fear of a loss of national identity after the unification of Europe – these groups are gaining much political power – for example, the significant success of Le-Pen in France and Fortuyn’s political party in Holland.

Dr Tom McCalk, a lecturer in Political History from London, explains in an interview to the Ha’aretz newspaper – “All these politicians relate to the problem of immigration in terms of an all out cultural war. Fortuyn was a member of the extreme right and one cannot deny this. He spoke of stopping Moslem immigration and this was specifically Moslem, as an all-inclusive definition, and he customarily used many racist stigmas in his rhetoric. He always emphasized “our” superiority in contrast to Islamic culture.

The emphasis of the word ‘our’ is not co-incidental. Despite the fact that the activities of these parties are directed mainly against immigrants – we cannot forget that the hatred of strangers does not stop with hatred against Moslem immigrants. The extreme right wing movement - whether openly or hidden – do not see Jews as part of the European collective. The Jews are not “from ours”. And occasionally the hatred for Jews is even greater specifically because the Jews do not stand out and have long ago integrated into general society.

Johannes Gerstner, a former member of the German Parliament, describes the role of the supporters of the extreme right, in the atmosphere of hatred towards Israel: “Germany has created for itself a strange threefold coalition, for which Israel acts as the only scapegoat on which she does her soul searching – “sworn” leftists who have supported the P.L.O. since the 1970’s… supporters of the extreme right who deny the existence of the Holocaust and point an accusing finger at the “international Jewish conspiracy” as a source of new and evil in the field, ordinary citizens who are involved in the labor of clearing their conscience and purifying their sins. Since, if Israel is guilty of everything, the historical guilt which has been placed on the shoulders of Germany, is no longer that heavy…”

As you read in the words of Johannes Gerstner – the atmosphere and actions against the Jews involve many parties – among them supporters of radical left wing parties.

Certain of the extremist left wing organizations have been supporting the P.L.O. since the 1970’s, such as the Baader Meinhof, which also participated in attacks against Israel. However, in recent times we are witnesses to a link being forged between the struggle of these organizations against globalization and the “new colonialism” of Israel in the Middle East. These organizations see the Israeli conquest (of Judea, Samaria and Gaza or alternatively all if the territory of the State of Israel) as the source of all evil in the world. An example of this is the anti-globalization protests of the left wing, where signs condemning Israel are seen being waved.

Also we must remember that the classical anti-Semitic claims of the rich Jews who exploit their environment, fall on receptive ears of poor immigrants, who are looking for someone to blame for their miserable situation.