Conservative Europeans have frequently complained that the wave of immigration from the Middle East seems to have gone hand in hand with a new surge of anti-Semitism. Progressive Europeans don’t have the courage to publicly say that those immigrants admit they hate Jews.
German newspaper Bild investigated this matter. The results of the investigation show that although many immigrants have positive thoughts about Germany and its people, they’re also extremely anti-Semitic.
“Until now, this discussion about anti-Semitism among immigrants was based on assumptions,” Deidre Berger, director of the ACJ, comments. “Now we have a science-based picture: anti-Semitic resentments, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and a categorical rejection of Israel are widely held among immigrants from the Middle East.”
She adds that “the problem is bigger than we assumed previously.”
When asked by social scientists whether they believe that it’s bad for Israel to exist, the universal answer was: “yes, obviously.”
Generally, the immigrants believe that Jews are extremely powerful — pulling on every country’s strings to get their way. Manipulating and dishonest. That’s basically the image of Jews that Nazi propaganda wanted to create.
“Israel, especially Jews, are known to be the biggest financial power in the world, so they control the world with their money,” one “refugee” from Iraq told the researchers. It’s important to note that he starts off by saying “Israel” but quickly changes that into “Jews.” Israel and Jews are synonymous for these people. That’s why their “anti-Zionism” is in fact anti-Semitism.
A 26-year-old woman from Syria told researchers she is convinced that Israel is behind the 9/11 attacks. “I heard from my older friends,” she says, “that if someone is truly mean, they call him ‘a Jew’ in Syria.” In other words, anti-Semitism is completely normal in her country.
Most immigrants have very little if any knowledge of the Holocaust. Some of those who do, however, are exceptionally positive about this horrific genocide. “That’s why [the murder of six million Jews] I love Hitler,” Zaim from Raqqa said. He added that Hitler “had the right to do this because the Jews are a deceiving people.”
A Kurdish man from Aleppo explained why Arabs sympathize with Hitler. “At school, they don’t condemn Hitler. Why not? Because he was the enemy of their enemy. The enemy of the Jews,” he said.
It is ironic: German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened her country up for a wave of immigrants from the Middle East out of “tolerance,” but many of those newcomers are extremely intolerant themselves. It’s extremely troubling, and the worst part is that Merkel doesn’t seem to be willing to do anything about it.
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