Discussions of the magnitude of anti-Semitism are fruitless exercises. Anti-Semitism was at its absolute worst during the days when the ovens in Buchwald and Auschwitz were in use. The "next-worst" days were when Europeans rounded up their Jews and turned them over to the Germans. Today, If you attend an anti-Jewish political meeting in Europe, or, if you visit a major US university, you will hear speakers urging that Jews be collected so that the interrupted extermination of Jews can continue. Anti-Semitism hasn't gotten worse. It isn't resurgent. It just never went away. The need for a strong Israel has never been greater.

Because of the Haredim. 3 out of 4 Jewish children being born in the UK are born into Haredi families.

#23 First of all, yes, the UK police report rising anti-Semitic incidents (up 5% in the last 12 months). Second, you are misinterpreting the numbers that you quoted in #23. The numbers indicate that over the last 5 years, over 1/3 of European Jews experienced anti-Semitic harassment at least once. This figure includes those who experienced harassment during the last 1 year. During the last 1 year, over 1/4 of European Jews experienced such harassment. There was no claim about repeated harassment of that 1/4 of the population. The numbers that you quoted make it equally possible (although this is not true) that over 4 years, the rate of harassment was only 8%, after which it jumped to 26% in the last year. The reality is that Jews who live in close proximity to heavily anti-Semitic populations (particularly populations of recent Muslim immigrants from the Arab world and Pakistan) are *frequently* harassed, either verbally, or with threats, or with violence. Most of this harassment does not make it into police blotters; in particular, Jews know that the police are not going to do anything about unnamed anti-Semites singling out Jews for unearned verbal abuse, so it just isn't worth their time to complain until things get really bad. These Jews DO experience frequent attacks or harassment, but for many of them, it is not because of anything that they are doing. It is simply because they live or work in a specific area. You seem to feel somewhat defensive, Tomek. I is not clear why; as far as I can see, Poland has been doing a much better job of addressing anti-Semitism than most western European countries. I am pretty sure that I have read that anti-Semitic incidents have held fairly steady in Poland, and most of the news about Poland that is reported in the Jerusalem Post these days seems to be generally positive from a Jewish perspective (museums opening, klezmer becoming more popular among non-Jews, Polish politicians visiting Israel or vice versa, etc.). Poland historically (1600s-1999) had an extremely high rate of anti-Semitism; but in recent years, there has actually been quite a lot of positive leadership by respected Polish figures, and a lot of creativity on the part of ordinary Poles. It's still important to try to reduce the kind of hatred that still exists among some of your countrymen, but the best way to do that is probably just for Poles and Jews to get to know each other better.

"First of all, yes, the UK police report rising anti-Semitic incidents (up 5% in the last 12 months)." This is irrelevant. What matters is absolute figures. If a third of European Jews claim to have been harassed in the past year, this should be reflected in the absolute number of the relevant police reports, that is, there should be millions of them. If it is not, it means that the claims in this piece are slanderous towards Europeans. Bashing Europeans comes naturally to some but I am sure you know it all too well. Just imagine an article reporting that a third of Europeans claimed to have been cheated by a Jew over the past year. You would be correct to label these people biased.

Are you interested in combating anti-Semitism, finding the causes for anti-Semitism, denying anti-Semitism, blaming Jews for being attacked by anti-Semites or simply conducting an "objective" scientific study on "statistics"? If you say "statistics" -why this particular subject? Why do you feel so angered when Jews accuse Europe of being anti-Semitic? Opinion polls in Poland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, France, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands etc reveal that a large percentage of Europeans hold anti-Semitic views. Believing that the tiny Jewish minority which is vastly outnumbered by Europeans would never be victims of anti-Semitism is naive. When Israel accuses Europeans of being anti-Semites, that's not slanderous. Israel speaks the truth, and the truth hurts. Speaking of police reports on anti-Semitism: why do you assume that the police actually reports anti-Semitic incidents? The Scandinavian countries routinely trivialize and deny anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic hate crimes are just labeled "racism" so that it is impossible to discern general racism from anti-Jewish racism - meaning anti-Semitism. Once the authorities in Europe have access to the exact amount of Jews who have reported anti-Semitic verbal and physical attacks, the authorities are pretty much free to do whatever they wish their numbers - including changing statistics and denying anti-Semitism.

... shall we? ''You have surpassed all nations in impertinent fables, in bad conduct and in barbarism. You deserve to be punished, for this is your destiny.'' -- ''One Must Take Sides'' (1772) Voltaire "[The Jewish nation] dares spread an irreconcilable hatred against all nations; it revolts against all its masters. Always superstitious, always avid of the well-being enjoyed by others, always barbarous, crawling in misfortune, and insolent in prosperity. Here are what were the Jews in the eyes of the Greeks and the Romans who could read their books." -- "Essai sur les mœurs" (1756) Voltaire ''They are, all of them, born with raging fanaticism in their hearts, just as the Bretons and the Germans are born with blond hair. I would not be in the least bit surprised if these people would not some day become deadly to the human race.'' -- ''Letter of Memmius to Cicero'' (1771) Voltaire "I know that there are some Jews in the English colonies. These marranos go wherever there is money to be made... But whether these circumcised who sell old clothes claim that they are of the tribe of Naphtali or Issachar is not the slightest importance. They are , simply , the biggest scoundrels who have ever dirtied the face of the earth. " -- "Letter to Jean-Baptiste Nicolas de Lisle de Sales" (1773) Voltaire

Quoting Voltaire's opinions on Jews is like asking a blind man to describe what heavens and what the afterlife looks like. Racist lies and political propaganda can never replace facts and the real world. Statements do not change reality. The statements in question collectively accuse Jews of traits and characteristics they don't have and collectively accuse Jews of crimes they haven't committed. Why didn't Voltaire attack another ethnic group and why don't you? INTERESTINGLY, Voltaire and people like him can never point their fingers to hard and concrete evidence that shows that Jews are "genetically" programmed this way nor that there is any statistical proof for such conduct nor that there is any statistical proof that Jews generally behave like this and that non Jews do not. Anyway, the definition of racism is to collectively ascribe an entire racial stock negative or inferior traits and characteristics. You clearly demonize the Jews as a people - you hate them because they are Jewish, and there is nothing on this earth that Jews can do to change your hatred of them since you hate them not because of their supposed "crimes" - you hate them because of their racial stock. But your hatred of Jews is your problem - not mine. It is you and your old Voltaire buddy that carry within you fantasies about us Jews and it is ultimately you who are detached from reality. "Impertinent fables"? What impertinence? What fables? "Bad conduct"? What sort of bad conduct? "You deserve to be punished, for this is your destiny"? Why do Jews deserve to be punished? Our destiny? Does Voltaire claim himself to be God Himself? "Irreconcilable hatred"? Really? What kind of hatred? You mean the hatred that Voltaire and other anti-Semites spread against Jews? Who hates who gird? Who attacks who? Who threatens who and who must fear for their lives? These are just examples that you gird seem to agree with. Care to give examples or some proof? And what is your ethnicity by the way? Or is it a secret?

The reason I posted this is because in other sources - Jews were mentioning that supporters of free speech would undoubtedly quote Voltaire [about free speech being important] - but that Voltaire would be horrified with what free speech can bring about - aka Holocaust. “There is a line in the sand between freedom of speech and the right to use hate speech. Freedom of speech does not guarantee you that right. We live in a democracy and we believe in free speech. People will now quote Voltaire but he never had the benefit of going to the gates of Auschwitz and seeing where unfettered free speech ends up.” So .. I quoted Voltaire. get the chip off your shoulder.. you paranoid loon.

Your REASON for posting Voltaire's repulsive anti-Semitic and racist statements were NOT indicated. You stated: "let us quote Voltaire shall we?" Then you made a long list of racist and anti-Semitic statements by Voltaire. But you didn't answer my question. Anti-Semites seldom do.