Anti-semitism yes, cultural suicide perhaps not

The Jerusalem Post reports that Jewish leaders have again appealed to the European Union to take a lead in stamping out anti-semitism on the continent. Nobel Peace Prize winner and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel stated the “Jewish communities in Europe live in fear.” If the experiences of members of my wife’s family in France are any guide, Wiesel’s statement is no exaggeration. The situation results from a combination of the virulent and lawless anti-semitism of the growing Arab population in Europe and the indifference, or worse, of Europe’s authorities, who hate Israel and don’t particularly care for Jews.
At the same time, though, Lorenzo Vidino and Erick Stakelbeck tell us, in a piece for National Review Online, that Muslim immigrants “are creating a crisis of conscience” within the European left. This crisis has nothing to do with anti-semitism or with the general terror that Muslim youths inflict on the population of the low income areas where they reside. Rather, say Vidino and Stakelbeck, “leftists have begun to notice that many of the Muslim immigrants arriving in Europe have little respect for values sacrosanct to the Left, like women’s rights and separation of Church and State.” Indeed, except for resenting the U.S. and hating Israel, European Muslims oppose virtually everything that the European left holds dear, including gay rights, abortion rights, multiculturalism, and opposition to the death penalty. In short, while it may be too late for European Jews, there is a chance that Europe will step back from the abyss and act to protect its liberal, secularist tradition.