Apologies for the rather controversial title and for its placement here-I’m rather uncertain where to put this so the mods should fell free to transfer the thread elsewhere.
The Atlantic published a lengthy article on a phenomenon which many others have already noted, that is to say the migration of Jews out of advanced European countries especially France to Israel or (in more limited cases) the United States of America. Reading these articles, while there certainly in no immediate danger of a mass wave of pogroms but less outright ethnic cleansing or mass murder, Jews are certainly being targeted at disproportionate rates for vandalisms and assaults while anti-Semitic sentiments are common among fairly large portions of the populace. Additionally, according to statistics such hate crimes have risen greatly in recent years further contributing to the sense of an inhospitable climate. That said, is Israel necessarily the safest country for Jews? While obviously there is little danger of societal anti-Semitism due to its society being Jewish, it suffers from dangers unique amongst advanced countries including instances of Islamist terrorism, rocket attacks by Hamas, harassment of improperly observant Jews by the ultra-Orthodox, and more recently attacks by ultra-nationalistic/fascistic groups against people protesting Israeli operations in Gaza last summer. The United States, on the other hand, is far less anti-Semitic in culture than Europe without the rather unique dangers present in Israel. Obviously this must be affected by the fact that crime in general in the United States is far higher than in most advanced countries but this is not uniquely targeted at Jews and is heavily concentrated in certain areas of socioeconomic deprivation. By contrast, the Jewish population of America is more prosperous than average and thus more likely to live in affluent areas with low crime-suburbs in general come to mind but even among urban areas cities and districts which are fairly safe such as Upper East Side in Manhattan or Westside Los Angeles. The other Anglo-American democracies outside of Britain (Canada, Australia, New Zealand) also seem to be possible candidates for this distinction. As a final note, Germany apparently is one of the few European countries where the Jewish population has grown and additionally I’ve read that Berlin has seen a growth in Israeli expatriates due to its comparatively lower costs of living. Perhaps this suggests that for obvious historical reasons, anti-Semitic attitudes are weaker or at least better suppressed in Germany compared to other European countries?
The closer to NYC, the better. Seriously, that’s the only place I would unconditionally say it’s safe to be Jewish (I’m nonpracticing, if that makes a difference). Los Angeles, etc, are also good, of course. Stockholm is one of the better Europeans cities, along with London; Paris and Budapest are terrible. Israel isn’t safe for anyone these days . . .
Japan? Unlike Europe it doesn’t have the baggage of the centuries of antisemitic slander. When Anne Frank’s Diaries were defaced in Tokyo libraries people were rightly baffled, turns out it was a lone nutter.
I thought the basic idea is that even the US is no forever guarantee pogroms won’t someday breakout. I think there’s a saying about keeping a bag packed. Israel at least, isn’t going to suffer anti-semitic pogroms. They might get nuked and invaded, but the nation of Israel isn’t going to devolve into pogroms.
OTOH, Japan is a very homogeneous country who aren’t fond of foreigners in general in the sense of welcoming large numbers of them as immigrants. Also, there’s an odd fondness for Nazi aesthetics in at least some parts of Japanese pop culture.
Should that apply to other ethnic groups? After all you might never know when they might start burning down Chinatowns again.
That would be up to each group to decide. The US is a melting pot and everyone is supposed to be protected, but as far as I know, no one specific group gets a forever guarantee about anything in particular. I’m not up on Native American laws and treaties.
I would say the US but I have no idea if a city like nyc is safer than a city like Minneapolis or Tallahassee.
As far as Anti semitism in europe, how much of that is due to immigrats from Africa and the Middle East? Is it from born and bred French people or the immigrants? I thought the immigrants in France were not acclimated well.
Maybe that’s why, they’re just treated as another *gaijin *rather than with any specific vitriol that has developed in the west as the result of toxic antisemitism (not that the Japanese are completely immune from said poison, but it certainly hasn’t…caught on as it had in Europe). On the Nazis, at the time Japan, no stranger to massacres and outrages, did not march in step with its nominal ally when it came to treatment of the Jews that fell under its domain.
Everything I’ve read lately says it’s mostly Muslim immigrants. The right-wing types don’t like immigrants or Jews, although Marine Le Pen for instance, claims she’s not anti-semitic. At the moment.
It depends. A Hasidic Jew will stand out anywhere they go. Just like a Nun in a habit or a woman in a burka. I guess NY is the biggest city with Hasidic Jewish populations. I’d like to say they are safe anyplace in the US, but they would draw a few stares in my city.
Otherwise it seems that any American city is safe for Jewish people. I see men with yamakas at the mall and never give it a second thought.
The U.S. is probably the safest place in the world for Jews. The simple fact, as I tried to explain to a friend concerned about visiting the Midwest, is that other than a crazy shooter once a decade, there are almost no acts of violence against Jews (based on their being Jewish) in this country. Organizations that track anti-Semitism find several thousand acts of vandalism against property, along with a few incidents of name-calling, each year. And yes, the fear is that the situation could change at any time. The scariest thing about the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany that ultimately lead to the Holocaust is that Jews had previously been more respected and felt safer in Germany than in most other places.
I was really thinking primarily about Europe, but you may be right about those other countries. I would definitely put Canada in the same category as the U.S.
Strange as it might seem, maybe Germany would be very safe? The country will remain hyper-sensitive to anti-Semitism for a long, long time, due to Nazi history.
It is impression that anti-semitism is widespread among the intellectual classes in Europe. They are trying to enforce a boycott of relations with Israelis whom they claim practice apartheid. They include few Moslems.
Yeah, that would be my guess - the US or any of those countries.
But who knows if this is even true? Dictionary.com says a pogrom is “an organized massacre, especially of Jews.” Frankly I have an easier time imagining that happening somewhere in Israel sooner than it happens in the US or one of the other countries mentioned.