Why does the West have an increasing anti-semitism issue?

weaviemx5

Now I'm really confused?  Are you saying that I'm a knuckle-dragging neanderthal because I've suggested that BG didn't feel that UKIP were racist because he's maybe not the easy target demographic for their rhetoric?  I get that you're out again but it would be good have a discussion instead.

I take it you're talking about Sonic's post and not mine?

nabby

So how many Jews did the Soviets expel or kill because they were Jewish?  This is a gap in my 20th century historical knowledge as I never studied it in school.

We all know what various far right regimes have done on this front.

nabby

Whilst an interesting tangent along which to head, it doesn't seem to explain how anti-Semitism is on the rise in the UK.  I'm no fan of Farage or UKIP but I can't see how they or the referendum would directly lead to more anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish acts being carried out.

springtide

We agree and have very similar opinions that I am sure about.

weaviemx5

Apologies, I think the thread was leading towards a generic hate crime tangent rather than specifically anti-Semitic.  However, I do feel that the growth in open racial/religion based anger across social media etc (through sharing memes etc) does lead to more, previously hidden, nasty people feeling able to express their distorted views due to feeling less isolated.  I don't know, or have any statistics, to confirm if this means a rise in targeted hate towards Jewish people specifically but I do feel that it's a general factor.

nabby

Fro those who don't know anything about coffeehouse.com or The Spectator.

From wikipedia:  Like its sister publication The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator is generally Atlanticist and Eurosceptic in outlook, favouring close ties with the United States rather than with the European Union, and supportive of Israel.[citation needed] It also strongly opposes Scottish independence.

IronGiant

The implication is that certain racist elements were stoked up by the Leave vote to carry out hate crime. Whether this is anecdotal or actual remains to be seen, but if correct then Jews wouldn't have been singled out.

robel

You do have to ask yourselves what kind of **** would smash up gravestones at Jewish cemeteries and only Jewish cemeteries. Obviously a special kind of ****.

nabby

Now this is something worth debating.  Is the rise in people's ability to get hate messages out there fuelling the rise in hate?  After all, no-one doubts the link between ISIS propaganda online and vulnerable people seeing this and becoming supportive of them, often with violent consequences.  Conversely, countries like Germany have strong laws on anti-Semitism but these haven't deterred a rise in anti-Semitism there in recent years.

weaviemx5

Surely, if someone feels that they have been wronged due to their race/religion/colour they are within their rights to report it as such?  I'm sure, as with any crime, there will be some people abusing the system and claiming something that may not be true but I don't think it's right to simply ignore the statistics.

It could be argued that 'schroedinger's immigrant' is used in the same way to justify stronger borders etc.  If an immigrant is both taking your job and sitting on their sofa claiming our benefits, which one is true or do we simply ignore everything?