Demonstrators from across Europe converged on Belgium today, to protest a surge of anti-Semitic attacks. Brussels police say about 4,000 people were there demanding European support for Israel, and denouncing violence against Jews and vandalism against Jewish institutions in France and elsewhere.
... A synagogue bombed in Lyon. A cemetery in Strasbourg desecrated. To some in France, recent violent attacks on a series of Jewish targets are looking less like random isolated crimes of anger, more like an alarming pattern.
Serge Cwagenbaum of the European Jewish Congress was shown saying, "We are concerned. We are concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism. In the last three weeks, only three weeks, we have been confronted with over 350 attacks."
CBS continues:
While one government official described the violence -- or dismissed it -- as 'spillover' from hostilities in the Middle East, France's President calls it 'unpardonable.' But there've been few arrests, and French Jews aren't all feeling reassured.
... And not just Jews in France. This is a synagogue in Kiev. This one's in London. For many Jews in Europe, feeling vulnerable is not a completely foreign experience; more like memory than history. What is different is the worry, there's a new twist to an old threat. Among Europe's growing groups of North African and Muslim immigrants, anger at Israel and sympathy for Palestinians is rekindling religious hate, says one man who relishes the turmoil.
... So far, say European experts, there's no evidence any new alliance or conspiracy is behind these crimes against Jews and their property; a reassurance that's providing little comfort.
UPDATE: The European Jewish Congress organized a big rally in Brussels, timed to coincide with some EU parliamentary vote.
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