Bad News

A good reason to support “Brexit” is the sharp rise in antisemitism in Europe. Which is a more worrying prospect, remaining in the EU, or a Corbyn Gov’ment? Difficult one.

I’m thinking of sending an article I’ve been reading to Tim Harford because I think it needs a spot of debunking. It says that antisemitism is rising sharply across Europe. In fact, there are three whole surveys to get your claws into, Tim. 

“The figures confirm the results of three recent Europe-wide surveys showing that Jewish people feel at greater risk, and are experiencing markedly more aggression, amid a generalised increase in racist hate speech and violence in a significantly coarser, more polarised political environment.”

Ruth Alexander might like to remind any French and German readers who might be worried about these findings that many people belong to the Jedi religion and perhaps they answer questions in surveys in a deliberately absurd manner.

Of course the reporter got perilously close to mentioning Muslim immigration, with an oblique reference to “importing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, and later with an brief mention of a “large influx of mostly Muslim refugees and migrants to Germany” but he scuttled back to safety with the reassuring coda “but an overwhelming majority of violence against Jews is perpetrated by far-right supporters” Phew! As you were!.

Paris

I forgot to tell you where I read this report, (and, believe it or not, yet another on the same topic!) which might also explain why Tim Harford and the team are unlikely to try to debunk it.  Did you guess? Things must be getting really really bad; both reports were in the Guardian.