The level of anti-Semitism in the EU over the last five years has considerably grown. Experts from Vienna Institute for Social Research (Fundamental Rights Agency) came to this conclusions. Specialists carried out a survey among the Jews of England, France, Germany, Italy and other European countries. 75 percent of respondents said that the situation in Europe is becoming more and more threatening to the Jews. Is this a real threat, or someone just benefits from escalating the situation? – the experts asked.

Almost half of the Jews in Sweden are afraid to go out in bales and demonstrate in public their identity. In France 40 percent, and in Europe as a whole 22 percent. The report was prepared by the Vienna Institute for November 8th, the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht (pogroms of 1938 that swept across Germany and Austria).

The Austrians are not alone in its quest to remind about the Jew problems: in Israeli and Western media a lot of articles on the ‘European anti-Semitism’ have recently appeared. For example, the US National Interest made ​​an attempt to accumulate all the data on this subject. The following picture emerged: almost a quarter of the Jews living in Europe “are afraid to take actions and avoid wearing the symbols by which others can identify them as the followers of Judaism.” Majority of French Jews said that over the past five years, anti-Semitism in France has become much more pronounced and in Hungary, anti-Semites attacks became more frequent. In addition, two-thirds of Europeans said that to complain about the actions against the Jews to the police is pointless, it will not lead to anything.

One of the first to pay attention to this problems was ‘Jerusalem Post’, it especially focused on the situation of Jews in Hungary. According to the newspaper, the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe could trigger a new wave of Jewish migration. However, in Hungary, for example, these forecasts are not considered realistic. Opponents of the current government are trying to make a big deal out of it, says Marton Dendeshi, MP from the ultra right party ‘For a Better Hungary’ (‘Jobbik’): “Hungary is blamed on the fact that the authorities in the country belong to the right government and the radical nationalist party prevail in the parliament. And these reproaches grow from year to year. Now, when ‘Jobbik’ have entered parliament, with 20% of the vote, with the support of a million people, baseless accusations of anti-Semitism have gained new strength. Those who say that can not give a single example of a serious incident. At the same time, Jewish organizations admit that the Jewish culture in Hungary is experiencing a renaissance. It would be nice to decide whether we’re talking about the renaissance of culture or blaming the country for anti-Semitism.”

Of course, the point of view of the Hungarian politic is not the ultimate truth. The are other opinions. The entire section in the report of the Spanish SOS Racismo is devoted to the growth of anti-Semitism in the EU, particularly in Spain. The document is based on data provided by the Spanish government and the European authoritative research institutes, states Mikel Maskyaran, the organization’s president.

“The tendency of anti-Semitism growing in the European Union is actually observed. In our opinion, the main reason for this phenomenon is held by the Israeli discriminatory policy against the Palestinian people, which is fairly exposed to international criticism. As a result, the attitude towards Israeli worsens as well, which, in our opinion, is a big mistake. To blame a whole nation because of the actions of its government is not right, at least in this case.”

According to sociologists, the worst situation is in France right now. French Jews are increasingly facing violence. The number of such cases has increased in the last year, after the murder of Jewish children in Toulouse. Especially this can be noticed in French universities, said Sacha Reingewirtz, the president of the Jewish Student Union of France in an interview with Voice of Russia: “Many Jewish students do not show their bales in universities, try to hide them, for example, under the caps to avoid abuse. For the demonstration of religious symbols one can get into fight in the streets, in the subway. Clothing, religious symbols increasingly become the cause of anti-Semitic attacks.”

So, the problem does exist. Who is responsible for the anti-Semitism rising? Mass media always blame ultra right parties for that. However, it should be noted that it failed to convince Europeans on that as only 20 percent of them agree with this interpretation. About the same number of Europeans believe that anti-Jewish sentiments come from the ultra left side. And nearly one-third of those surveyed blame it on Muslims. In the opinion of this majority, uncontrolled migration from Islamic countries imported the hatred towards Jews in those country, where anti-Semitism in the past was much less pronounced, such as Denmark, for instance.

And yet, most likely the problem of anti-Semitism in the EU today is inflated by some politicians. The right-wing and nationalist parties in Europe are gaining their strengths and their opponents are trying to launch a “preemptive strike,” says Alexander Kamkin, the expert of the Center for German Studies of the Institute of Europe.

“I believe that Europe has overcome this disease at least in 1945. If we take the parties of the most extreme spectrum, such as the National Democratic Party of Germany, the Swiss People’s Party, the National Front in France, they do not promote anti-Semitism. Some politicians who make their careers on mythic struggle against fascism, whether it is French, German, Swiss or Polish, of course will inflate this problem. I think there is more political hysteria and trying to amass political dividends.”

Most European governments keep abreast of the problem. In August, the German Chancellor said that anti-Semitism and racial discrimination is a threat to democracy in Europe. Angela Merkel urged Germany and other countries to be vigilant against extremists who spread distorted views on history (in particular, denying the Holocaust). And at the same time in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, disturbed by the outbursts against the Jews during football matches, “declared war” against anti-Semitism. In short, the problem exists. But there is no need to talk about the “wave” of anti-Semitism. The situation is under control, at least for now.