Anti-Semitic Parties on the Rise in Europe

May 21, 2014

Anti-Israel march in London
Jacqueline Abromeit/shutterstock.com The rise of far-right politics in Europe reached new heights in the April 7th elections in Hungary when “Jobbik,” the self-professed “radical right-wing” political party which has often been accused of blatant anti-Semitism, won 20.54% of votes, making it the third largest party in the country and the single largest extreme right party in Europe.

Hungary however, is not alone. In the last decade, in particular in the wake of the EU's economic crisis and ongoing influx of immigrants into Europe, the continent's far-right parties' popularity has made dramatic leaps.

“Anti-Semitism and xenophobia in Europe are always connected to citizen's financial difficulties,” Professor of Political Science at Bar Ilan University Shmuel Sandler told Ynet. Sandler, added that: “When life is hard, people look for someone to blame, and populist parties know how to use this momentum to ride the wave of racism.”

“The large amount of immigration into Europe scares the local population, especially when coupled with a low birth rate. There is a fear of letting in different cultures, different religions, and people who are generally different,” said the professor.

“Europe is mostly secular, and suddenly immigrants for whom religion is extremely important are coming in, for example Jews and Muslims. The far-right hates everyone, and their hatred of foreigners manifests differently for different groups.

Source: Excerpts of article by Lital Gana and Itay Blumenthal, Ynetnews