European jews unaffected by "anti-semitism" - in fact, the more the better

[yankeedoodle]

Which European countries are best for Jews? A new study offers unexpected answers.
https://www.jta.org/2022/06/21/global/which-european-countries-are-best-for-jews-a-new-study-offers-unexpected-answers

Antisemitic sentiment is especially prevalent in Italy and Hungary, according to multiple surveys. But a first-of-its-kind index combining different measures of Jewish experience found that they are also the best countries in Europe for Jews to live in.

The index, unveiled Monday, is based on a study that combines polling data and policy information to create a single quality-of-life metric for Jews in the 12 European Union countries with sizable Jewish communities, according to Daniel Staetsky, a statistician with the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research who wrote the report for the European Jewish Association in Brussels.

"The goal with this report is to take the excellent data we already have about how Jews feel, about how prevalent antisemitism is, and combine it with government policy measurables," Staetsky said during a conference held by the European Jewish Association in Budapest.

He said the results may challenge preconceptions about which EU countries are most hospitable to Jews. For example, Germany scored high when it came to government policies relating to Jews. But Jews there report a weak sense of security, leading to an overall middling score.

ADVERTISING

The index is primarily a tool "to demand concrete action from European leaders," Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association. "We welcome statements against antisemitism by European leaders. But more than statements is needed."

The European Jewish Association will make individual recommendations to each country surveyed, Margolin added at the press event. It was part of a two-day event sponsored by multiple Jewish organizations, including the Consistoire in France, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli government, about how European Jewish communities can aid the one in Ukraine.

Titled "Europe and Jews, a country index of respect and tolerance towards Jews," the study ranks the 12 countries surveyed as follows: Italy: 79, Hungary: 76, Denmark: 75, the United Kingdom: 75, Austria: 75, the Netherlands: 74, Sweden: 73, Germany: 72, Spain: 70, France: 68, Poland: 66, Belgium: 60.

To come up with the ranking, Staetsky gave each surveyed country grades on multiple subjects, including the Jewish sense of security, public attitudes to Jews and the number of Jews who said they'd expereinced antisemitism. The grades were based on major opinion polls in recent years, including those conducted by the Action and Protection League, a group that monitors hate crimes against Jews in several European countries, and the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency.

The study combined those scores with scores the author gave to countries' government policies, including their funding for Jewish communities, whether they had adopted a definition of antisemitism, and the status of Holocaust education and freedom of worship.

Under that scoring system, Germany received an overall score of 72 despite having the best score (89) on government performance on issues related to Jews and a solid 92 when it came to the prevalence of antisemitism. But a relatively low score on Jewish sense of security (46) hurt its overall score, among other factors.

In the case of Hungary, "the score it received reflects the reality on the ground," according to Shlomo Koves, the head of the Chabad-affiliated EMIH umbrella group of Jewish communities in Hungary. "Jews can walk around here, go to synagogue, without the slightest fear of harassment," he said.

But the prevalence of antisemitic sentiments in Hungarian society — an Anti-Defamation League survey from 2015 found that about 30% of the population hold them — "shows there is work to be done here, too, in education and outreach," Koves said.

[yankeedoodle]

  'Freedom to Thrive': CAM Joins European Jewish Association Policy Conference in Budapest   
https://combatantisemitism.org/latest-news/freedom-to-thrive-cam-joins-european-jewish-association-policy-conference-in-budapest/


The European Jewish Association (EJA) held its annual policy conference this week, in Budapest, Hungary, under the banner of — "Freedom to Live. Freedom From Hate. Freedom to Thrive."

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) was represented at the two-day event by Director of European Affairs Oriana Krüger.

The distinguished gathering brought together Jewish leaders from across Europe to discuss antisemitism, freedom of religion, and the fostering of Jewish life on the continent.

Opening the conference, EJA Chair Rabbi Menachem Margolin declared, "We are all here because we care."

Another featured speaker was European Parliament Vice President Nicola Beer, who heads the legislative body's Working Group on Antisemitism. In her remarks, MEP Beer emphasized that protecting and nurturing European Jewish communities was a top priority for both her working group and the European Parliament as a whole.

One area of focus at the conference was the ongoing war in Ukraine and how Jewish organizations can provide practical aid to Ukrainian Jews and other refugees. Rabbi Raphael Rotman — Vice President of Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine — provided insights into the horrifying situation facing the Jews of Ukraine, recalling perilous evacuations under Russian fire.

"Families are being separated, wives from husbands, children from fathers," he said.

Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér was recognized at the conference for his dedication to fighting antisemitism.

A new report ranking the quality of life for Jews in 12 different European countries was also presented.

Furthermore, a vote was held on recommendations to be forwarded by the EJA to national parliaments, including calls for a "zero-tolerance policy toward antisemitism" and the adoption of the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism.

The conference also included a memorial service – with a candle-lighting ceremony and the reciting of the Kaddish prayer — on the banks of the Danube River to honor the tens of thousands of Jews who were murdered there by Nazi collaborators during the Holocaust.

[yankeedoodle]

The Hungarian paradox: Jews thrive despite the strongman regime
There is renaissance of Jewish life in the country despite Viktor Orbán's authoritarian rule
https://www.thejc.com/news/news/the-hungarian-paradox-jews-thrive-despite-the-strongman-regime-52mgnLT7T2pNdhWzDVrMpD?reloadTime=1655991362436

It was just a few days until Passover and Hungary's Chief Rabbi had a problem. A lorry load of matzah destined for Ukrainian refugees had been impounded, and the London rabbis in charge of delivery had no idea where it had gone.

The problem, he recalled this week, seemed intractable to the Brits. But Rabbi Slomó Köves rang up the interior minister, who he knows personally, and the matzah was released the very next day.

It is a minor episode in the recent history of Hungarian Jewry, but indicative of the friendly relationship enjoyed by communal leadership and the government. In Budapest for a few days, I was gripped by an apparent paradox: a thriving Jewish community under one of Europe's most authoritarian leaders.

Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz-led government, which won re-election in April, stand accused of kneecapping the courts, restricting media freedom, and breaching the rule of law.

Horrified detractors have pointed to his ties to Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, the Board of Deputies is among many critics who accuse Orbán of employing antisemitic tropes for electoral gain in the government's campaign against Jewish-Hungarian billionaire George Soros.

In Budapest, however, I heard again and again from Hungarian Jews of a "renaissance" of Jewish life in the country. I spoke to Rabbi Köves, a Hungarian-born Chabadnik who was raised in a secular family before studying at yeshivot abroad.

As a visibly Jewish man, does he experience antisemitism on the streets of Budapest?

"No, not at all," he answers. "Actually I get much more positive remarks than I get negative remarks.

"I'm not saying that there's no antisemitism at all in Hungary. But when it comes to antisemitic assaults in the last few years, it has totally disappeared from Hungarian public life."

In Western Europe, by contrast, a Belgian Holocaust survivor attending the European Jewish Association (EJA) conference in Budapest tells me that Antwerp's Jews have been told to cover their kippot with baseball caps to avoid attacks.

The government's defenders point to Hungary's strong relationship with Israel. In particular there is Orbán's bond with Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called his Hungarian counterpart "a true friend of Israel".

Israel's ambassador to Hungary, Yacov Hadas-Handelsman, issued praise this week for the country's supportive stance on kosher slaughter and circumcision. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén emphasised Hungary's growing business ties with Israel.

History casts a long shadow here. The wartime regime deported and murdered Jews even before German occupation began, yet even today still has its admirers.

Walking through the streets around my hotel the contradictions are readily apparent. A nearby square features a statue of Archangel Gabriel, a Hungarian national symbol. Above swoops an eagle, talons extended. The statue's perceived depiction of Hungarian innocence led one Shoah survivor to say he would return an award from the government, so angry was he at its historical "whitewashing".

Just a few streets from there, however, sits the recently restored Rumbach Street Synagogue.

The Moorish-style building was recently restored with a £9.2million grant from the Hungarian state. Around the corner is a Jewish theatre, Golem, dedicated to pushing contemporary Jewish culture forward.

Rabbi Köves is optimistic about the future of Hungarian remembrance. "Hungary has a lot to do, but do not forget there were 40 years of Communist regime, so Hungary is 40 years behind."

Outside communal leadership, however, Jewish opinion is less sanguine. I walked through Buda with a Jewish-Hungarian woman who asked that I not use her name.

She told me: "Antisemitism is in the atmosphere." She had experienced it only online, but her friend, a visibly religious man, was recently a victim of an antisemitic attack.

"Before Fidesz antisemitism was not so open.

"I am from a Jewish family myself. We believe in education, in learning, and free debate. Now we are not a democracy. Orbán himself said we are an illiberal democracy."

Before leaving, I visit Hungary's Deputy State Secretary Vince Szalay-Bobrovniczky, an Orbán ally responsible for civil society relations.

On a visit to the UK in 2019, he responded to the accusation that Fidesz was antisemitic, saying it was "a simple lie" and insists they have backed compensation for Holocaust survivors and their descendants, and paid for the renewal of synagogues.

"The Jewish community is in security in Hungary," he continued: "Jewish people leave countries like France, Belgium, or even maybe the UK because of atrocities from Muslim communities there."

Jews are publicly backed by the state while other migrants are demonised; the strictly Orthodox are content, but others worry about creeping authoritarianism. Leaving Mr Szalay-Bobrovniczky's office, I felt that Hungary's contradictions remained unresolved.