THE NEW POGROMS OF EUROPE

Love Park failed to live up to its name when 2,500 Philadelphia Jews gathered there last month to support Israel’s invasion of Gaza. From the sidewalk, 50 pro-Arab demonstrators chanted, “We don’t want this racist war!”

Police kept the two factions separate from one another. From my experience, the pro-Arab side in this country can behave unseemly at rallies, not that Israel supporters are faultless. However, advocates for the Gazans are tame compared to those in Europe. Jews across Europe face a pattern of violence that compares to the pogroms which victimized their ancestors through the centuries.

It is a grave issue that must rise close to the top not only of the Jewish communal agenda but of the human agenda. The severity of such concerns becomes evident from a check of reports on Web sites for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the Anti-Defamation League. A New York Times article places Paris as Ground Zero for this domestic terror spree.

Jews in France contended with at least 60 offenses during the three weeks since Israel attacked Gaza on Dec. 27. A gang of youths beat up a 15-year-old Jewish teen near Paris on Jan. 7 as they vowed revenge for the people of Gaza. As a rabbi led a class inside a synagogue in Toulouse, a burning car with a Molotov cocktail was rammed into the door of the building. A rabbi in Vincennes, a Paris suburb, received a death threat directed at all Jews.

In the days since the Gaza cease-fire began, I spotted two more JTA reports of such incidents in Europe. The terrorism struck even closer to home - in Venezuela - when a group of thugs on Saturday, Jan. 31, broke into a Caracas synagogue and left Torah scrolls strewn around the floor.

The first shot in the European terror war was fired, literally, by a Dane of Arab descent at two Israelis in a shopping mall in Odense, Denmark. In Norway, 1,000 pro-Arab demonstrators caused injuries to six people when they attacked a pro-Israel rally of 500 people in Oslo on Jan. 9; 31 people were arrested. Vandals sacked the central London office of a pro-Israel advocacy group. Arsonists attempted to burn synagogues in Belgium, Sweden and England, mostly with Molotov cocktails.

Police in Duisburg, West Germany said they were trying to defuse tensions when they broke into an apartment on Jan. 10 and removed Israeli flags from the tenant’s window, which overlooked an anti-Israel demonstration. Police entered the apartment after they saw protestors toss snowballs and other objects at the apartment window, according to JTA.

Duisburg police actually had honorable intentions, but they took the easy way out instead of performing their duties. They should have commanded of the pro-Arab group: Protest, yes, but disturb anyone and we will arrest you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

The Duisburg response reflects what might be enabling the violence. In the United States, illegal activity by supporters of the Arabs has been minimal. “They are coming after us in France because they can’t get us in Israel,” an unidentified Jewish woman in Paris told a New York Times reporter.

Exactly. They know they can get away with bullying and harming Jews in European countries. I have witnessed pro-Arab demonstrators push the limits in the past, especially at a rally in Times Square on Jan. 3. New York’s Finest moved on the pro-Arab crowd when a few objects were tossed at a pro-Israel counter-protest. In most American towns, especially big cities, they could not get away with the modern-day pogroms perfected by their brethren in Europe.

Law enforcement in America has been superb for Jews. Anti-Semitic acts will occur, and when they do police move swiftly to investigate and enforce the law. Arabs in America know this because the same system benefits them so well.

Police in Duisburg were downright timid when they acted against the family instead of the activists. If law enforcement in Europe operates like this, it is no wonder that pro-Arab advocates are so bold there. European police could be so lax that offenders never experience a deterrent effect. However, French Jews praised the quick and firm response of French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s government, according to The Forward, a Jewish weekly newspaper.

Reticence among European police is understandable. Europe is more vulnerable to terrorism due to proximity to the Middle East and the greater number of Arab residents, and Europeans are concerned about the cost and supply of oil. Jews who live outside the United States will be more vulnerable to anti-Semitic acts so long as their numbers are smaller and their influence is limited. Jews in America, Israel and more tolerant countries must stand in solidarity with European Jews and urge action to minimize harassment and violence. Of course, they should be joined by anyone else, regardless of their Israel views, who believe in civil discourse.

Worse is the attitude in Venezuala. Like Hitler, President Hugo Chavez has whipped up anti-Semitic fervor by consistently attacking Israel and making anti-Semitic comments himself. European leaders cannot be accused of sponsoring criminal activity against Jews while, in an indirect way, Chavez clearly encourages such acts.

Anyone who still doubts the severity of conditions in Europe might wish to consider the words of Enis Chabchoub in the Times: “It’s good that the fighting has stopped, but that doesn’t mean we will forget. This war will be remembered, and not only in Gaza.” His family members are Tunisian immigrants.

Or the rationalizing of M’hammed Henniche, of the Union of Muslim Associations in a Paris suburb: “Yes, there is anger, but it’s not against Jews, it’s against Israel.” So why do these hoods attack Jews who live not in Israel, but Paris, Duisburg, Odense and London?