The consuls-general of five European nations – France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic – met this week in Los Angeles to discuss anti-Semitism. The meeting was hosted by Second Generation of Los Angeles, an organization created by and for the children of Holocaust survivors.
Britain's consul-general was invited as well, but did not attend the event.
The discussion was open, and an audience of over 100 people kept the diplomats on their toes, asking questions about attitudes towards Jews in their countries, recent anti-Semitic incidents, and the rise of the far Right in European politics.
The diplomats reviewed the steps their respective countries were taking to combat anti-Semitism. Many European countries have criminalized Holocaust denial and hate speech.
Some diplomats noted that the US's reluctance to criminalize racist speech has allowed European anti-Semites to spread hate on the Internet, using US-based servers. Europeans can also easily access propaganda created by Americans and posted online.
Participants also discussed the ways in which today's anti-Semitism differs from historic European anti-Semitism. Attacks on Jews in recent years are often perpetrated by Muslims, and motivated by anti-Israel sentiment, they said.