– Twenty-First Century Crusades?

Prediction 3: An increase in anti-Semitism

Britain’s Chief Rabbi: Anti-Semitism Spreading Like a Tsunami
By Scott Shiloh

Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, said in an interview on BBC radio that ongoing conflicts around the world have been having uncomfortable ramifications for Europe’s Jews.

He said that global conflicts are acting like “a kind of tsunami of anti-Semitism, which is taking place a long way from this country (Britain) but (of) which Europe seems unaware," he said.

Rabbi Sacks did not blame Israel for the threat to European Jewry. He pointed out that many regional conflicts ignited by Islamic radicals in Chechnya, the Philippines, and Indonesia, would be occurring, even if Israel did not exist.

He said that globalization was leading many people to view Israel as the cause of the world’s conflicts. He accused Islamic radicals of using Israel’s alleged mistreatment of Arabs to support their campaigns of violence around the world.

Rabbi Sacks blamed satellite television and the Internet for exposing Britain to a globalized anti-Semitism. But anti-Semitism was also rearing its head on prime-time TV and best-selling books that deny the Holocaust, he warned.

While the situation for Jews in Britain was good overall, Rabbi Sacks said that anti-Jewish activities were rising throughout Europe, especially in France.

“A number of rabbinical colleagues throughout Europe have been assaulted and attacked on the streets,” he said. "We've had synagogues desecrated. We've had Jewish schools burn to the ground - not here but in France."

The Community Services Trust, a UK based group that monitors anti-Semitic incidents says there has been a dramatic rise in anti-Semitic incidents over the past year. The trust recorded 532 anti-Semitic incidents in 2004, 83 of which were physical assaults.