Europe failed the test of the Shoah. Is it failing again to confront absolute evil? - opinion

On Yom HaShoah, Israel pauses to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, a silence that today echoes with a profound sense of betrayal. For Israelis, the trauma of October 7, 2023 – the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust – was compounded by what felt like a global abandonment, particularly from Europe, beginning just a day later. Eighty years after the Shoah, Europe has once again been tested, and by many accounts, it has failed.

Even before the Hamas attacks, Europe was grappling with a disturbing surge in antisemitism from various sources. Yet, the response from many European nations was, at best, rhetorical – words without meaningful action, declarations devoid of consequences. This indifference and apathy were particularly noted in places like England. While many European leaders offered initial expressions of solidarity after October 7, what followed was not moral clarity but a retreat into equivocation and a systemic moral failure across the continent.

The article contends that in countries like the Netherlands, France, and Spain, the discourse surrounding Israel has increasingly mirrored hostile narratives that distort reality. The normalization of antisemitic tropes, such as casting historical figures in keffiyehs or using Holocaust imagery to condemn Israelis, is deeply alarming. Furthermore, the failure of British police and judiciary to adequately protect Jewish citizens, and the pervasive condemnation of Israel, Jews, and Zionists in media outlets globally, paints a grim picture.

This is not merely a European issue; the article points to similar incidents of incitement and violence targeting Jewish communities in Canada, the US, and Australia. The failure to learn from history, to stand firmly against hatred and demonization, suggests a dangerous repetition of past mistakes. The silence and inaction in the face of what the authors describe as 'absolute evil' is a profound disappointment, raising the question of whether Europe has truly learned anything from its tragic past.