Many factors have contributed toward an increase in European anti-Semitism
Credit: Frederick Florin/AFP/ Getty
Anti-Semitism is back in Europe. Cries of “dirty Jew” during Yellow Jackets protests in France, anti-Semitic posters condemning Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros in Hungary, a row over anti-Semitic remarks that threatens to tear the Labour Party apart in the U.K. — these are all part of the same worrying trend.
This particularly European pathology never truly went away, of course, but it had been confined, after the Holocaust, to the far-right fringes of society. Now the numbers of high-profile incidents and violent attacks are multiplying. Not only is this disease back; it is being weaponized by nationalist governments and parties on both sides of the political spectrum.
The collapse of Europe’s center-right, center-left political consensus plays an important role. As the center has dissolved, the fringes have expanded. The rise of extremist parties has acted like a green light for the Continent’s anti-Semitism, much like U.S. President Donald […]
Stephan, I am moved finally to reach out to you, I think for the first time, because of how right-on I feel you are in your thinking and In the quality of your writing in your today’s (3/6/19) newsletter piece about the surge in anti-Semitism. I have been following your Schwartzreport newsletter for quite a while now and am very much enjoying and finding useful much of what you are sharing through it, and I especially respect the quality of your own thinking and writing in it. Beyond this newsletter context, I have followed and had real respect for the work you have done on a wider scale, everything from your years of involvement with the Parapsychological Association (I too am a member), through reading quite a bit of your published writing, including your “Opening to the Infinite” book (which I own). We are about the same age and seem to me to think along quite similar lines and share similar values. We met very briefly decades ago at a PA conference; we were introduced by our friend Jerry Solvin, though I doubt you would remember that. Now long overdue, I will shortly be making a contribution to your newsletter (and hopefully do more than just that). By the way, it is certainly not my intention that anyone other than you be also reading what I am writing to you here in this ‘comment.’ to you. I very much avoid social media such as Facebook and other public venues; in my naïveté I may be writing all this to a lot of total strangers as well, which is certainly not my intention. I wish you well, Stephan.
Jon Klimo
Thank you for your gracious words, Jon. I do remember you, although I had forgotten Jerry introduced us. I wish you well and hope our paths cross again soon.