Although the murders of Jews in recent attacks in Paris and Copenhagen were clearly motivated by jihadist ideology, they were abetted, writes Emanuele Ottolenghi, by a deep-seated, European culture of Israel-related anti-Semitism:
Fanned by an obsessive and irrational hatred for Israel, a significant part of the progressive press and commentariat in Western Europe has laid the blame for unrest in the Middle East squarely at Israel’s door, often choosing to downplay, ignore, and effectively excuse Palestinian atrocities. Their near-monopoly over the press and airwaves has pushed the dial of public opinion accordingly.
[Europeans’] obsession with Israel has often led them to explain away physical and verbal abuse, or even murder, of their own Jewish citizens as a lamentable but understandable byproduct of Muslim and Arab rage at “Israeli policies.” Never mind that European Jews have no say in Israeli policies; never mind that no one would ever justify anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment on account of what Arab governments or Islamic movements perpetrate, daily, across Arab lands and the Islamic world; and never mind that Israeli policies are often milder, by comparison, than what Western governments do in similar circumstances.
Read more on Standpoint: http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/5937/full