RUTHFULLY YOURS

The effects of the unprecedented and overwhelming influx of migrants and refugees into Europe are also being felt in the Jewish community in Germany, where Chancellor ‎ Angela Merkel arguably encouraged the chaos of the 700,000 migrants who have made ‎their way to Europe so far this year.‎

On Tuesday, German Jewish leaders told Merkel they are concerned over ‎the “widespread anti-Semitism among Muslim youths” who had arrived in Germany.

‎‎”Many refugees come from countries where Israel is an enemy; this resentment is often ‎transferred to Jews in general,” they warned.‎

According to Germany’s security and intelligence agencies, this fear is more than well-founded. ‎The Welt Am Sonntag newspaper cited intelligence sources’ warnings that “the integration of ‎hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants Germany is no longer possible in light of the number ‎and already existing parallel societies.” “Parallel societies” refers to Muslim communities ‎with little or no contact with the rest of German society. According to a security document ‎obtained by Welt am Sonntag, “We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, ‎national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples, as well as a different societal and legal ‎understanding.”‎

Most ominously, however, the security paper goes on to say that “German security ‎agencies … will not be in the position to solve these imported security problems and thereby the ‎arising reactions from Germany’s population.”

This ‎statement falls just short of throwing in the towel, and shows the gravity of the security problems ‎facing Europeans in general, including Jews, whose institutions are already at risk and under ‎heavy police or military protection in many cities. The head ‎of British MI5, Andrew Parker, warned on Thursday that Islamic State terrorists are planning ‎mass-casualty attacks against Britain.‎

The risk of Islamic State and other terrorist groups utilizing the chaos of the massive influx from ‎the Middle East and North Africa into Europe to transport themselves unnoticed into Europe is ‎not a new one and has been feared by Italy especially, ever since Libya turned into a failed state ‎after the ousting of Moammar Gadhafi‎. Furthermore, the haphazard and utterly disorganized, ‎many would say incompetent and naive, way in which European authorities have handled the ‎crisis has almost certainly increased security risks in Europe. Letting in such a large number ‎of people, most of them young men, without checking their backgrounds or identities, is bound to backfire. ‎

In the current migrant crisis, several European leaders appear to have forgotten the enormous ‎problems of Muslim radicalization, ghettoization, terrorism and crime already rampant in their ‎countries. Statistics from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees show that 69% of the arrivals are male; only 13% percent are women, and 18% are children. The UNHCR statistics also show that 54% of the migrants are from Syria, while ‎the rest come from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan, among others. ‎Hungary has claimed that only around 8% of the migrants arriving there are ‎actual refugees.‎

In Denmark, train after train arrived during the summer, carrying migrants. ‎Most managed to run away from the police and refused to let ‎themselves be registered as required under Danish immigration laws, and from there went on foot across the Oresund Bridge to Malmo, Sweden. Surreal photos of ‎large groups of migrants walking to Sweden were shown on TV and ‎on the Internet. The police gave up on registering the refugees and let them pass. No one knows ‎how many stayed and went into hiding in Denmark. Complete chaos rules, despite credible ‎warnings that at least one out of 100 migrants are Islamic State fighters, and there are likely many ‎more with other terrorist affiliations. ‎

In the light of the above, the calls of German Jewish leaders for increased interreligious dialogue ‎as a possible solution to the dangers come across as almost ridiculous. No amount of inter‎religious dialogue will soften the murderous intent of a hardened would-be terrorist, who has ‎been brainwashed from an early age into hating all that is Jewish or associated with Israel. ‎

German Central Jewish Council head Josef Schuster and World Jewish Congress president ‎Ronald Lauder cowrote an op-ed in September suggesting that if only migrants become ‎familiarized with Western and German values and accept that “support for Israel is ‎part of the political DNA” of Germany, their arrival could “contribute to a better understanding ‎between different peoples and religions.” ‎

Where were these two Jewish leaders in recent decades, when the problems of Muslim radicalization, terrorism, crime and parallel societies ‎exploded in Europe? Their writings might make sense if Europe were at the beginning of a period ‎of Muslim migration. However, several decades of failed efforts at integration in Europe later, ‎their words ring ludicrous and hollow.‎

Between the German Jewish leadership’s gullible suggestions of how to counter the dangers ‎ahead and the German intelligence services’ frank acknowledgment that they are incapable of ‎dealing with the major security challenges the influx is causing and will cause in the ‎near future, the prospects for German Jewry look bleak. ‎

Of even greater concern is the fact that the security issue is almost certainly not limited to the Jewish community in Germany. The influx of migrants is affecting ‎all of Europe. On Sept. 22 and 23, the EU Commission proposed relocating 120.000 refugees and migrants from Italy, Greece and Hungary among the ‎other EU member states. Opposition from four countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania ‎and Slovakia, was overruled. This means that the problems that Germany is experiencing will ‎most certainly be felt all over Europe, as is already evident in Sweden, another popular ‎migrant destination. It is hard to imagine that intelligence services in other countries are better equipped to deal with the influx than the German services are.‎

What should be of the greatest concern to Jewish communities in Europe, however, is that ‎European politicians are still incapable of speaking forthrightly of the security risks, as well as ‎many other problems, that the migrant crisis entails. Austria, in the face of the ‎chaos on its borders, has begun to build a fence, saying it is solely a move meant to bring order into the flow of people entering the ‎country. Austria used to be a strong critic of building fences to keep out migrants and is ‎obviously finding it difficult to keep up appearances now that it is on the receiving ‎end. ‎

The longer Europe pretends that all will be well, and ignores past failures at integrating Muslim ‎migrants into its societies, the longer European Jews will keep on paying the price. Ultimately, ‎however, this will be to Europe’s own detriment. European Jews have a country to go to — Israel — and they will do so increasingly, as the situation continues to deteriorate on the continent. ‎Europeans have nowhere to go.

Judith Bergman is a writer and political analyst living in Israel.