WE live in bizarre times when bigotry, intimidation and violence are all but ignored while imaginary fears and faked crimes are amplified. The shocking rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, and increasingly in North America, should be ringing alarm bells around the world.
In the past decade, we have seen an unprecedented number of Jews leaving France and a worrying percentage departing Belgium and Italy. The Jewish population is also decreasing in other parts of the continent tarnished by the horrors of the Holocaust.
One in 10 Jews in France has suffered a physical assault, according to a 2016 Ipsos survey, and a 2013 EU poll revealed three in four are so fearful of attacks they no longer publicly display signs of their religion such as wearing the Star of David.
Read the full article by Rita Panahi at The Herald Sun (subscriber only).