Long Before the Embassy Move: Rising Attacks Against Jews

Watch the video of Rabbi Abraham Cooper who discusses what the U.S. embassy move means for US-Israel relations and how anti-Semitism is rising against Jews.

Around the world Jews are facing growing hostilities—not in response to the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem, but simply because they are Jewish.

In France, Jews are now 25 times more likely than Muslims to become victims of violent attacks.

The most recent occurred last March when two men, one of them a Muslim neighbor, murdered 85-year old Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll. The perpetrators stabbed Knoll 11 times before setting her body on fire to cover up evidence of the crime.

In Germany, concerns over rising anti-Semitism have caused the government to appoint the nation's first anti-Semitism Commissioner. 

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Director of Global Social Action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told CBN News large parts of German society are also demonizing the state of Israel. 

He said many younger Germans, who have no connection to Nazism and the Holocaust, "have swallowed that lie whole and it is very difficult to turn it back."

Cooper said a 2004 University of Bielefeld study showed 51 percent of Germans think Israel treats the Palestinians the same way the Nazis treated the Jews during World War II.

"The daily news feeds on European networks including the German ones, going back to the intifadas of the 1990's piled on Israel. They simply turned Israel from the David in the area surrounded by hostile neighbors to the bullying Goliath," Cooper explained.

Cooper also expressed concerns about anti-Semitism in the United States. 

The most recent incident occurred one week ago in New York City when a 14-year old Jewish school boy walked outside his yeshiva in Queens. A stranger appeared out of nowhere, punched the boy five times in the face and shouted, "Jew boy!"

"There are too many examples of American imams from coast to coast who have repeated genocidal, anti-Semitism from their pulpits and have not been held accountable, not by members of their mosques and not by authorities in these different communities," said Cooper.

What is happening to American Jewish school children and what should be done about it? Click the player above for CBN News' Gary Lane's interview with Rabbi Abraham Cooper for more insights.