PAUL KRUGMAN, MEET DATA. DATA, MEET PAUL KRUGMAN – Revisited

Antisemitic Violence in Europe, 2005-2015

I was intrigued by this chart in the Instapundit post, PAUL KRUGMAN, MEET DATA. DATA, MEET PAUL KRUGMAN. The chart says that modern day anti-semitism is predominately coming from people who have a Muslim-extremist or left-wing view. This is a serious accusation with economic implications if true.

The source for this chart is the document, Antisemitic Violence in Europe, 2005-2015. That document was jointly published by the Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities and Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo. The source data for that document was a 2012 survey by the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) on discrimination and hate crimes against Jews in the EU. I could not find the original document but I did find a recently completed update to the original survey. Sadly here are their key findings:

  • Antisemitism pervades everyday life
    Antisemitism pervades the public sphere, reproducing and engraining negative stereotypes about Jews. Some Member States responded by appointing coordinators on combating antisemitism, while others adopted or endorsed a non-legally binding, working definition of antisemitism(link is external) agreed on in May 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and welcomed by the European Commission as a useful initiative aiming to prevent and combat antisemitism.
  • Pervasive antisemitism undermines Jews’ feelings of safety and security
    Many Jews across the EU cannot live a life free of worry for their own safety and that of their family members and other individuals to whom they are close. This is due to a risk of becoming targets of antisemitic harassment and attacks.
  • Antisemitic harassment is so common that it becomes normalised
    People face so much antisemitic abuse that some of the incidents they experience appear trivial to them. The normalisation of antisemitism is also evidenced by the wide range of perpetrators, which spans the entire social and political spectrum.
  • Antisemitic discrimination in key areas of life remains invisible
    The very low reporting rate for antisemitic discrimination, combined with the apparent normalisation of incidents, prevent the true extent of antisemitic discrimination from coming to the attention of relevant authorities, equality bodies or community organisations.

I think the second survey is sending a warning message to people like Mr. Krugman because he is normalizing antisemitic harassment by the Muslims with extremist views and the left. The lack of action by the left already has had economic consequences for Europe. As I said in my comment to the original post:

It should not be a surprise that in “2015 around 10,000 Jews left western Europe for Israel, the largest number to do so since 1948.” It is kind of hard to make Europe’s economy great again if a lot of your best talent is leaving for Israel.