Jewish Council: "Ban immigration"
- | 09.11.2003 13:40 | Anti-racism
The Central Jewish Council (CJO) in the Netherlands wants immigration stopped, if that is necessary to control anti-semitism in the Netherlands.
The views of the CJO are not isolated, they are part of a political shift among the Jewish communities in western Europe, towards a political alliance with racist parties such as the Vlaams Blok (Flemish Blok), the Fortuyn party LPF, and its splinter groups. This process has gone further in the Netherlands and Belgium - in Germany co-operation with the racist right is still unthinkable for the Jewish community.
The reason for this shift is, of course, that the major immigrant groups in these countries are Muslim and/or Arab, and often aggressively anti-semitic. In the Netherlands and Belgium Moroccans are by far the most hated immigrants, in Germany Turkish immigrants are the largest and most visible group. For a year, the Dutch media have been full of hostile stories about Moroccan crime, and the Moroccan threat to Jews - Pim Fortuyn opened the floodgates for this sort of journalism. (Asylum seekers are no longer a media target - policies are now so restrictive, that there are almost none arriving). The racist right parties have discovered that complaining about "Moroccan anti-semitism" is an acceptable form of immigrant-bashing.
Among the Jewish communities there was already a long-term shift in attitudes. Jews in western Europe were traditionally hostile to the nationalist right, and politically sympathetic to immigrants. In turn, the nationalist right traditionally saw the Jews as 'alien elements'. Now Jews are faced with a revived anti-semitism which is almost exclusive to immigrant minorities. As a result, there is a re-orientation to a national identity which includes Jews, but rejects 'Islamic values'. Not necessarily anything to do with Islamic culture or theology - "Islamic values" here means hostility to Israel, the Jews and the West. Or it is simply a code word for the Moroccan immigrants. And national identity, 'European values', and hostility to immigration were already the pillars of the new right parties, and politicians such as Pim Fortuyn. Fortuyn himself quoted Moroccan hostility to Jews, as a reason to ban immigration.
So what is happening is a revival of 19-th century ethnic nationalism, stripped of its anti-semitism, and directed mainly at sealing the borders, and restoring the mono-cultural national identity. The Jewish communities can find a common political agenda with anti-immigrant racial nationalists. The Vlaams Blok has gone furthest in re-writing the nationalist agenda to target Islam and the Muslim immigrants. (Remember that Islam played no political role in western Europe since the Crusades, so it was irrelevant for the founders of Flemish nationalism). Moroccan-Jewish tensions are highest in Antwerp, the base of the Vlaams Blok, and it is there that the first open co-operation was seen. Of course the Blok has links to neo-nazis, and this is still an insurmountable obstacle for many Jews.
However, direct political co-operation in the form of an organisation or joint statements is not necessary, the political agendas can compliment each other. The position of the CJO in the Netherlands - stop Moroccan anti-semitism at all costs including an immigration ban - is an example of that process.
The views of the CJO are not isolated, they are part of a political shift among the Jewish communities in western Europe, towards a political alliance with racist parties such as the Vlaams Blok (Flemish Blok), the Fortuyn party LPF, and its splinter groups. This process has gone further in the Netherlands and Belgium - in Germany co-operation with the racist right is still unthinkable for the Jewish community.
The reason for this shift is, of course, that the major immigrant groups in these countries are Muslim and/or Arab, and often aggressively anti-semitic. In the Netherlands and Belgium Moroccans are by far the most hated immigrants, in Germany Turkish immigrants are the largest and most visible group. For a year, the Dutch media have been full of hostile stories about Moroccan crime, and the Moroccan threat to Jews - Pim Fortuyn opened the floodgates for this sort of journalism. (Asylum seekers are no longer a media target - policies are now so restrictive, that there are almost none arriving). The racist right parties have discovered that complaining about "Moroccan anti-semitism" is an acceptable form of immigrant-bashing.
Among the Jewish communities there was already a long-term shift in attitudes. Jews in western Europe were traditionally hostile to the nationalist right, and politically sympathetic to immigrants. In turn, the nationalist right traditionally saw the Jews as 'alien elements'. Now Jews are faced with a revived anti-semitism which is almost exclusive to immigrant minorities. As a result, there is a re-orientation to a national identity which includes Jews, but rejects 'Islamic values'. Not necessarily anything to do with Islamic culture or theology - "Islamic values" here means hostility to Israel, the Jews and the West. Or it is simply a code word for the Moroccan immigrants. And national identity, 'European values', and hostility to immigration were already the pillars of the new right parties, and politicians such as Pim Fortuyn. Fortuyn himself quoted Moroccan hostility to Jews, as a reason to ban immigration.
So what is happening is a revival of 19-th century ethnic nationalism, stripped of its anti-semitism, and directed mainly at sealing the borders, and restoring the mono-cultural national identity. The Jewish communities can find a common political agenda with anti-immigrant racial nationalists. The Vlaams Blok has gone furthest in re-writing the nationalist agenda to target Islam and the Muslim immigrants. (Remember that Islam played no political role in western Europe since the Crusades, so it was irrelevant for the founders of Flemish nationalism). Moroccan-Jewish tensions are highest in Antwerp, the base of the Vlaams Blok, and it is there that the first open co-operation was seen. Of course the Blok has links to neo-nazis, and this is still an insurmountable obstacle for many Jews.
However, direct political co-operation in the form of an organisation or joint statements is not necessary, the political agendas can compliment each other. The position of the CJO in the Netherlands - stop Moroccan anti-semitism at all costs including an immigration ban - is an example of that process.
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