In Europe, for the last 80 years (myself the last 56 years), Jewish leaders have been fostering Jewish life, strengthening security, fighting antisemitism and supporting the State of Israel. The enemies came from all directions: Right, Left and lately from Islamists.
Today, 1.5 million Jews in Europe are asking themselves: “Do we have a future in Europe?”
Many Jewish leaders are fighting back, believe that they can, must win. It is a battle against Holocaust denial, against Israel's enemies (“colonial, genocidal, apartheid state”), against anti-Zionism, against old and new forms of antisemitism. Every year, statistics show that antisemitism keeps increasing – in some countries of Europe (Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Norway, etc.) by 200%-300% over the past 27 months. Some of these countries have migrants from the Middle East. Others have a sizeable antisemitic far Right. Currently in Austria and Germany, for example, representatives of the extreme Right (AfD and FPÖ) are in court or in jail, often for crimes such as Holocaust denial, hate speech, and incitement.
Following October 7, 2023, masses (especially from the Left, Palestinians, and migrants) were demonstrating in the streets. But the financing of all these demonstrations, including BDS-activities, allegedly came from Qatar, Turkey, and pro-Palestinian groups.
A public attack on Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt
In a shocking turn of events that has sent ripples through Jewish communities, the newly appointed US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun has launched a public attack on Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis. This was in response to a World Economic Forum panel on antisemitism, where Goldschmidt addressed the complex drivers of rising hatred in Europe, explaining the surge in far-right movements as being due to insecurities among "old Europeans" regarding immigration from the Middle East, while emphasizing that antisemitism arises from multiple sources, including the far Right, far Left, and radical Islamist elements.
Kaploun, in a hasty post on X, accused Goldschmidt of "blaming ‘old Europe’ for the present surge in antisemitism," calling it "disgraceful" and pivoting to blame "mass migration" as the primary culprit. This was not just a disagreement; it was a distortion.
This episode is a symptom of the broader downfall of some Jewish leaders, who become "Envoy for Far-Right Parties," in the spirit of Elon Musk and Miri Regev. Kaploun's emphasis on mass migration as the root of antisemitism aligns neatly with right-wing narratives that often overlook other drivers of hatred, such as homegrown extremism. The invitation and reception of these neo-Nazis (or “Nazis of the basement” as we call them in Austria, because they only divulge their ideology in their fraternities, where they believe nobody sees or hears them) by the Israeli government and the Kaploun's attack is nothing less than stabbing European Jewry in the back. We have been fighting to keep the memory of Holocaust, to protect the victims and their descendants. Getting into bed with the extreme Right is destroying our moral position and supporting the enemies of the Jewish people.
Antisemitism is a scourge that demands sober, collaborative action against all our enemies – not Jewish infighting. Jewish communities deserve better.
The writer is the former president of the European Jewish Congress.