Gaza Violence Seen Spreading to Europe

Attacks on Jewish congregations in France, Sweden and Britain, as well as individual instances of assaults on Jews elsewhere in Europe indicate that the violence between Muslims and Jews in Gaza is spilling over into another continent. Monday saw a burning car pushed into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, France, while in Helsinborg, Sweden, a Jewish congregation was harassed by an unknown assailant who threw a burning object through a window. Israel’s embassy in Stockholm was defiled with slogans that read "murderers…You broke the cease-fire" and "don’t subject Palestine to ethnic cleansing."

In France, where anti-Semitic tendencies flare when tensions arise in the Middle East, local Jewish leader Armand Partouche spoke about the escalating violence. Speaking of the burning car that was pushed into the synagogue window, he noted, "It could have been very, very dangerous. There were people inside; there could have been deaths." Partouche also noted that he is asking Toulouse authorities for added security around Jewish synagogues, noting, "We really fear that anti-Semitism will spring up again and that the current conflict will be transposed to our beautiful French republic."

Meanwhile, in Belgium and Denmark, individual acts of violence have also been reported. Pro-Palestinian protestors shoved burning rags through the mailbox of a Jewish home in Antwerp last weekend and in Denmark two Israeli men were shot while working in a kiosk in a shopping mall. Eli Ruvio, who owns the stands, notes, "I told my employees not to speak in Hebrew and lie about where they come from, they should say they were from Spain or somewhere else. If people ask you where you are from, never say you’re from Israel."