Comparative hatreds

That anti-Semitism has been revitalized, after a long phase during which it was pressed to the margins - or into the sewers - of European public life by a realization of the enormity of what was done to the Jewish people between 1933 and 1945, is now denied by fewer people than it was even perhaps a year ago. There are voices like those of Mikis Theodorakis and Noam Chomsky (see 'Simply breathtaking' - old normblog site, December 4 2003) according to which anti-Semitism no longer, or 'scarcely', exists. But the evidence grows by the day, in statements like Theodorakis's own and attacks on Jewish sites and Jewish people, that those who deny the existence of anti-Semitism don't know what they're talking about. In any case, that there is also prejudice against Muslims in the European countries in which anti-Semitism has re-emerged into the open is rarely denied. One European country of particular interest in respect of both things is France. Here is one - and note that I only say one - comparative indicator with respect to anti-Semitism and hostility towards Muslims in that country.

According to these sources, there are five to six hundred thousand Jews in France and six million Muslims: so roughly ten times as many Muslims as Jews. It was reported last month:

The ministry [the French Interior Ministry] tallied 135 anti-Jewish acts through June 30, as well as 375 threats. The figure was nearly as high as the numbers from all of last year, when a total of 593 anti-Jewish acts or threats were registered.

Racist attacks, often against Muslims, also rose. There were 95 such attacks and 161 threats through June, compared to a total of 232 such crimes reported last year.

(See also here.) Using the comparative figures for attacks and threats respectively (135 as against 95, 375 as against 161), on a rough calculation Jews in France are over 14 times more likely to be attacked than Muslims and over 23 times more likely to be threatened. I was advised of this conclusion by a reader and friend some weeks ago. Now it is reported here.