Danish Cartoons Reflect Anti-Muslim Europe

Writing in Ha'aretz, Yitzhak Laor says protests against Danish Cartoons are a reaction to European anti-Muslim prejudices:

The real context of the Danish cartoon is not the "war of civilizations," but rather the stubborn attempt by a great many elements to fan such a war. Okay, so the publication of the cartoon perhaps started a crisis in Denmark's relations with Muslim countries, but this publication is just one link in the manifestations of hostility toward the million of Muslims who live in Europe - most of whom were born there, educated there and speak one of its languages.

In the Europe of today it is very difficult to be a Muslim male with a beard and a skullcap, or a Muslim woman with a head covering and a long dress. It sometimes seems as though there are European elements - French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is not exceptional, nor are the spokesmen of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the ruling party in Bavaria - who are seeking the right moment to expel tens of thousands of Muslims from the countries in which they live. One thing is clear: The neo-Nazis have long since ceased to be the only spokesmen of this racism. The interview granted by the Jewish Alain Finkielkraut to Dror Mishani in Haaretz was also, most disgracefully, a symptom of this fanning of the flames.

It appears as though Israeli newspapers have been too hasty in celebrating the news of the tension in relations with the Muslims. Perhaps they do not know what it means to be dark-skinned in Europe (not necessarily Arab) or to wear a beard and a skullcap, or to cover your head if you are a woman. And perhaps the opposite is the case, and in this rejoicing there is a kind of imaginary joining of the West: Perhaps only in this way we will remove from ourselves some "ancient shame" because of which we did not succeed in being part of the West.

It is too easy to ask another leading question: What would we have done had a Danish newspaper published an insulting drawing of Moses? This is a trivial question: Such a drawing is not possible in Western Europe today, because it is covering the hatred of Muslims with an increasing attack of philo-Semitism. Again and again they are writing and saying there, in Italian, Dutch, and Danish (what Britain is being so cautious about) that Islam is foreign to Europe, that in Christian Europe there have never been mosques, that there is a close connection between the Muslim religion and terror, that Muslim culture is fated to clash with Western culture, that Western culture is superior to any other culture, and in almost the same article or conversation they take pride in the ancient Jewish presence in Europe, and how much the Jews are missed, and they glory in the (empty) synagogues as part of the fabric of cultural life there, and of course they can lecture about the Jewish contribution to Western culture. How scary this "love of Israel" is for those who are familiar with the nature of the arguments about the Christian cultural purity of Europe.

And who among the Israelis who have spent considerable time there has not heard, at least once, the stupid compliment about the difference between us, the new Jews, and the Jews of other times. The Israeli rejoicing at the moment, which is fortifying the freedom of the Danish press, is not only not equipped with real memory, but also has been equipped for years now with something entirely different, a blend of hatred for religion and the East. In this respect, the reaction of the Conference of European Rabbis condemning the insult to the Muslim Prophet is encouraging, even if it has been late in coming and even if it has been too thin a voice.