Reporter's hidden-camera video shows rampant anti-Semitism on Paris streets

[barbos]

You need to have a nondescript person walk around for 10 hours as a control for the experiment.

LOL, you are right.

 

[Axulus]

You need to have a nondescript person walk around for 10 hours as a control for the experiment.

True - are Jews in particular targeted more frequently, or does everyone experience semi-regular harassment?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Which leads me back to my original question,

And the point of this is what? That Parisians are rude?

Not just any kind of rude, but antisemetic/bigoted rude. It appears to be a frequent occurance, and other sources of data claim that such incidents are on the rise. That is a cause of concern for France and Europe in general. This is a big blow to multiculturalism in Europe for the problem to be worsening like this.

Worsening?

 

[Axulus]

Not just any kind of rude, but antisemetic/bigoted rude. It appears to be a frequent occurance, and other sources of data claim that such incidents are on the rise. That is a cause of concern for France and Europe in general. This is a big blow to multiculturalism in Europe for the problem to be worsening like this.

Worsening?

I posted a bit on that in post #2, but here is something more in depth:

Antisemitism on rise across Europe 'in worst times since the Nazis'

In the space of just one week last month, according to Crif, the umbrella group for France's Jewish organisations, eight synagogues were attacked. One, in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, was firebombed by a 400-strong mob. A kosher supermarket and pharmacy were smashed and looted; the crowd's chants and banners included "Death to Jews" and "Slit Jews' throats". That same weekend, in the Barbes neighbourhood of the capital, stone-throwing protesters burned Israeli flags: "Israhell", read one banner.

In Germany last month, molotov cocktails were lobbed into the Bergische synagogue in Wuppertal – previously destroyed on Kristallnacht – and a Berlin imam, Abu Bilal Ismail, called on Allah to "destroy the Zionist Jews … Count them and kill them, to the very last one." Bottles were thrown through the window of an antisemitism campaigner in Frankfurt; an elderly Jewish man was beaten up at a pro-Israel rally in Hamburg; an Orthodox Jewish teenager punched in the face in Berlin. In several cities, chants at pro-Palestinian protests compared Israel's actions to the Holocaust; other notable slogans included: "Jew, coward pig, come out and fight alone," and "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas."

...

The Netherlands' main antisemitism watchdog, Cidi, had more than 70 calls from alarmed Jewish citizens in one week last month; the average is normally three to five. An Amsterdam rabbi, Binjamin Jacobs, had his front door stoned, and two Jewish women were attacked – one beaten, the other the victim of arson – after they hung Israeli flags from their balconies. In Belgium, a woman was reportedly turned away from a shop with the words: "We don't currently sell to Jews."

...
Studies suggest antisemitism may indeed be mounting. A 2012 survey by the EU's by the Fundamental Rights agency of some 6,000 Jews in eight European countries – between them, home to 90% of Europe's Jewish population – found 66% of respondents felt antisemitism in Europe was on the rise; 76% said antisemitism had increased in their country over the past five years. In the 12 months after the survey, nearly half said they worried about being verbally insulted or attacked in public because they were Jewish.

Jewish organisations that record antisemitic incidents say the trend is inexorable: France's Society for the Protection of the Jewish Community says annual totals of antisemitic acts in the 2000s are seven times higher than in the 1990s. French Jews are leaving for Israel in greater numbers, too, for reasons they say include antisemitism and the electoral success of the hard-right Front National. The Jewish Agency for Israel said 3,288 French Jews left for Israel in 2013, a 72% rise on the previous year. Between January and May this year, 2,254 left, against 580 in the same period last year.

In a study completed in February, America's Anti-Defamation League surveyed 332,000 Europeans using an index of 11 questions designed to reveal strength of anti-Jewish stereotypes. It found that 24% of Europeans – 37% in France, 27% in Germany, 20% in Italy – harboured some kind of anti-Jewish attitude.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/07/antisemitism-rise-europe-worst-since-nazis

 

[Axulus]

Just to summarize the incidents:

"Are you all right? Are you Jewish?" - odd comment - mildly threatening
"I'm joking - the dog will not eat you" - somewhat threatening as this appears to be a response to bringing the dog closer to him
"dude, he came here to fuck from the front and the back" - threatening verbal harassment
yells "Jew" - threatening
*spits on the ground* - an action showing disdain/hatred, is threatening
"Viva Palestine" - mild harassment - there is no indication about the guy's politics, only his religion
"homo" *spits on the ground* - slightly more threatening and hateful than the above

As someone who has been the recipient of similar confrontations, IMO, one has to be pretty sensitive to think most of those are "threatening". There is a big difference between unacceptable or vulgur or disquieting behavior and threatening behavior. None of the behavior is acceptable. And it is cause for concern.

I had a similar initial reaction to the catcalling video, although that one did have far more incidents over the 10 hour period, and included the creepy guy following the girl for several blocks. I agree these aren't particularly severe, but what do you classify as severe? Getting in their face and trying to start a fight? Actual violence? None of that occurred in the catcalling video.

 

[dismal]

You need to have a nondescript person walk around for 10 hours as a control for the experiment.

I have walked around Paris without a yarmulke and never had any remark like this hurled at me.

 

[J842P]

Reporter Zvika Klein of Israeli outlet NRG posted a video that showed verbal abuse and physical threats aimed at him as he walked around the French capital wearing a yarmulke.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AltyhmrIFgo[/youtube]

Interestingly enough, the youtube comments echo a similar vain to the catcalling video: it's not "real" harassment/antisemitism.

What do you guys think?

So you are telling me Europe has a problem with antisemitism?

 

[Axulus]

But are on the decline in the US:

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Which leads me back to my original question,

And the point of this is what? That Parisians are rude?

Not just any kind of rude, but antisemetic/bigoted rude. It appears to be a frequent occurance, and other sources of data claim that such incidents are on the rise. That is a cause of concern for France and Europe in general. This is a big blow to multiculturalism in Europe for the problem to be worsening like this.

But the Jewish people are also European people. What is so different in culture between a French Protestant and a French Jew? What makes this a matter of multiculturalism?

Doesn't sound like a multicultural problem, more like a "nativist"-bigot problem.

 

[Axulus]

Not just any kind of rude, but antisemetic/bigoted rude. It appears to be a frequent occurance, and other sources of data claim that such incidents are on the rise. That is a cause of concern for France and Europe in general. This is a big blow to multiculturalism in Europe for the problem to be worsening like this.

But the Jewish people are also European people. What is so different in culture between a French Protestant and a French Jew? What makes this a matter of multiculturalism?

Doesn't sound like a multicultural problem, more like a "nativist"-bigot problem.

Bigotry and hate are on the rise against Muslims and against Jews especially in Europe and social cohesion is breaking down. France appears to be the epicenter of the trend.

Where did you get from my posts I implied cultural differences among French protestants and Jews?

 

[laughing dog]

As someone who has been the recipient of similar confrontations, IMO, one has to be pretty sensitive to think most of those are "threatening". There is a big difference between unacceptable or vulgur or disquieting behavior and threatening behavior. None of the behavior is acceptable. And it is cause for concern.

I had a similar initial reaction to the catcalling video, although that one did have far more incidents over the 10 hour period, and included the creepy guy following the girl for several blocks. I agree these aren't particularly severe, but what do you classify as severe? Getting in their face and trying to start a fight? Actual violence? None of that occurred in the catcalling video.

The loudness, verocity and tenacity of the verbal harassment play a role in my view. These were all relatively quiet. Plus, I think with the catcalls, it was clear those were harassment and I could see how being followed was perceived as really threatening. Frankly, nothing in the OP video looked even remotely threatening to me. Harassing - yes.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

You need to have a nondescript person walk around for 10 hours as a control for the experiment.

True - are Jews in particular targeted more frequently, or does everyone experience semi-regular harassment?

I was just thinking that, too; it's entirely possible that Paris is the New Jersey of Europe and most of its citizens are just assholes.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

But the Jewish people are also European people. What is so different in culture between a French Protestant and a French Jew? What makes this a matter of multiculturalism?

Doesn't sound like a multicultural problem, more like a "nativist"-bigot problem.

Bigotry and hate are on the rise against Muslims and against Jews especially in Europe and social cohesion is breaking down. France appears to be the epicenter of the trend.

Where did you get from my posts I implied cultural differences among French protestants and Jews?

Nowhere. It is an original question. And I see, unanswered.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

You need to have a nondescript person walk around for 10 hours as a control for the experiment.

True - are Jews in particular targeted more frequently, or does everyone experience semi-regular harassment?

When I am in a kilt.

 

[Axulus]

Bigotry and hate are on the rise against Muslims and against Jews especially in Europe and social cohesion is breaking down. France appears to be the epicenter of the trend.

Where did you get from my posts I implied cultural differences among French protestants and Jews?

Nowhere. It is an original question. And I see, unanswered.

I don't know what differences there are in the two cultures. Maybe you don't like the term I used? Is pluralism a better word?

 

[Shadowy Man]

True - are Jews in particular targeted more frequently, or does everyone experience semi-regular harassment?

When I am in a kilt.

Another variable to control against.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

I find antisemitism kind of ironic, given the holy book of the Jews, how they are said to have treated other tribes, and how they called themselves god's chosen people.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I find antisemitism kind of ironic, given the holy book of the Jews, how they are said to have treated other tribes, and how they called themselves god's chosen people.

In their defense, the book was written over two thousand years ago. I don't recall Israel waging endless wars on every nation around them.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Nowhere. It is an original question. And I see, unanswered.

I don't know what differences there are in the two cultures. Maybe you don't like the term I used? Is pluralism a better word?

Pluralism isn't the problem.

Here's an example that might make it clearer.

When four black girls died in a church bombing in Birmingham Alabama, their blackness wasn't the problem. Dynamite Bob Chambliss's hatred of black folk getting uppity was the problem. A rise in attacks against Semitic people, be they Arab or Jewish, is not about the people being attacked but the attackers and a perception that the broader community will accept those attacks as OK.

Europe has a bigot problem, not a multiculturalism problem.

 

[Axulus]

I don't know what differences there are in the two cultures. Maybe you don't like the term I used? Is pluralism a better word?

Pluralism isn't the problem.

Here's an example that might make it clearer.

When four black girls died in a church bombing in Birmingham Alabama, their blackness wasn't the problem. Dynamite Bob Chambliss's hatred of black folk getting uppity was the problem. A rise in attacks against Semitic people, be they Arab or Jewish, is not about the people being attacked but the attackers and a perception that the broader community will accept those attacks as OK.

Europe has a bigot problem, not a multiculturalism problem.

I never said multiculturalism or pluralism was a problem. I said the rise in hate and bigotry is a "blow" to multiculturalism. What I meant by that is that it makes different groups and cultures living among one another peacefully less likely, there will be more social strife among the groups, and all the problems that brings about, etc.

The economic problems Europe is experiencing is one contributing factor to the rise in hatred and bigotry. The other main contributing factor is terrorist events and geopolitical events (such as Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ISIS, Islamic extremism, etc.)