American Jews are not pleased with the recent rise of xenophobia in the U.S., which seems to have been refueled by Donald Trump's presidency. But xenophobia is not limited to the U.S.; it has already become predominant in Europe. Jews are well aware of the historical roots of anti-Semitism in Europe. Apart from the holocaust, European Jews were severely discriminated against in the European Middle Ages. Thus, Adolf Hitler was just the worst in a long history of European anti-Semitism.
The statistical data about xenophobia in Europe, which had been monitored by the Austrian government and published annually, was not published in 2016. Although the research covers all forms of xenophobia, their main goal is to calculate the sociological magnitude of anti-Semitism in Europe. Although the results on European anti-Semitism were not presented to the public, the given research demonstrates that 67 percent of European people are currently xenophobic. The results of the research are simply terrifying.
We neglect the significance of religion in the modern world, but the fundamental ideas and morals of societies are significantly determined by religious thought. Although religion was suppressed in Western Europe during the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment, the rise of scientific thought did not abolish religion from public life in Europe. The Christian faith rejects Islam as a "pagan" religion, while Jews are interpreted as the archenemies of Jesus Christ. During the European Middle Ages, Jews had always been seen as the main source of all evil, including the devastating plague. Indeed, Jews always lived in the ghettos of Europe. In one of Shakespeare's dramas, the people describe Jews as semi-human. In his "Flesh and Stone," Richard Sennett narrates the history of European anti-Semitism in detail.
On the other hand, as Islam interprets both Judaism and Christianity as divine, the members of the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions coexist peacefully in Muslim cities. In Europe, the emergence of Enlightenment thought and the succeeding European laicism suppressed the discriminatory features of Christianity. The development of European democracy, the shame felt as a result the holocaust and the Jewish struggle allowed the Jews to enjoy a relatively peaceful period of 70 or 80 years. In fact, the struggle of Jewish capitalists and intellectuals for influence in their European states has turned out to be successful. The suppression of racism and xenophobia was good news not only for Jews, but also for Muslims living in Western cities.
Today, the greatest danger in Europe is the rise of xenophobia, which derives not from European intellectuals or statesmen, but from the middle and lower classes. For now, xenophobia appears in Europe in the form of Islamaphobia, but its rise also fuels hidden anti-Semitism. The wave that comes from below is always more dangerous than that which comes from above. Ibn Khaldun said that just like one water drop resembles another, so the histories of nations resemble their futures. Thus, Jews who live in Europe and the U.S. have rightful historical reasons for becoming alarmed about the recent rise of xenophobia in the world.
