More on how Anti-Semitism has manifest itself in Greece.

Sorry to have taken so long in posting again. I’ll try to make up for it by posting new stuff more frequently from here on out. So here’s some more information about how Anti-Semitism manifests itself in Greece. I gathered most of this information from the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs website, which featured an interview of Dr. Moses Altsech, an expert on Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Holocaust in Greece. In his interview Altsech featured these key points


• Anti-Semitism in Greece occurs not only among extreme rightists and leftists. It is embedded in Greek mainstream society and manifests itself in religious contexts, education, politics and the media. Jews are often not perceived as true Greeks, although many families have lived there since the 15th century.

• A Eurobarometer survey in the year 2000 showed Greece to have the highest degree of xenophobia in the European Union.

• Greek mainstream media regularly uses the terms "genocide," "Holocaust" and the names of concentration camps drawing a parallel between Nazi Germany and Israel today. In this, Greece is more similar to Syria and Iran than to the Western world.

• As the Greek Jewish community is small and not very vocal, the international condemnations of Greek anti-Semitism by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Anti-Defamation League and others are especially important.

He goes on to explain how the people struggle to view anyone who is not Orthodox as a true Greek. There is also a strong opposition to Israel in the media as Israelis are often compared to the Nazis and accused of genocide of the Palestinians. This opposition to Israel is doubled with a disdain for America. The news of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 was met with a headline about the tragedy and then a question about “what the world could fear from the American paranoid reaction.” Much of the angst toward America is fueled by the fact that America supported the right wing resistance fighters against communist rulers during the Greek Civil War. Prior to 2004 when this article was written physical violence against Jews was not present. However that year a rabbi was targeted at a Greek train station and Jewish buildings have been subject to bombings and now arson attacks. Unfortunately, the Anti-Semitism that Jews in Greece are fully aware of has not been made known to the public until recently. Greek Jews generally have tried to maintain a low profile after the Holocaust when approximately 92% of their population were killed leaving only around 5,000 Jews in Greece.