BBC RADIO 4 PROGRAMME "PM" - THURSDAY 2 MAY 2002
ITEM RELATING TO THE ATTACK ON SYNAGOGUE IN NORTH LONDON

Jewish leaders in Britain have described an attack on a synagogue in North London as one of the worst incidents of anti-semitism in Britain in recent years. Stephen Byers, the local Government Secretary and the Shadow Home Secretary, Oliver Letwin have visited the synagogue in Finsbury Park which was vandalised. A swastika was daubed on a lecturn, artefacts were defaced and windows smashed. The Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks who today joined the politicians on their visit began by expressing his sense of shock at the site he saw inside the synagogue:

It was quite shocking - a synagogue being desecrated, prayer books torn up and the whole building ransacked in a way.

It was particularly sad because the Rabbi of this synagogue was a child in Berlin when his father's synagogue was burnt down after Kristalnacht under the Nazis so this has brought back some traumatic memories for people.

And what about the idea now that Europe is becoming much more anti-semitic? Certainly according to the Americans there's a growing sense that Europe is at heart still anti-semitic inspired by the Holocaust and deserving hostility and contempt rather than respect:

Well certainly the rise of right-wing parties on mainland Europe, in France and elsewhere is really cause for concern. I don't think Britain has ever historically been swept up in those trends and I don't think it'll go that way now. This is an isolated incident and we're not seeing - at least I pray we're not - a genuine rise in anti-semitism.

Well one Washington Post columnist, Charles Krauthammer has said that in Europe it's not very safe to be a Jew:

Well that is actually not an exaggeration in some parts of Europe. Fellow Jews in France and elsewhere are told not to wear their head covering or to be too conspicuous in public.

One commentator in The Times is saying that Europe's sympathy for the Palestinians is often described as colonial and Europe is seen as being a bigger customer of Arab oil than the US, therefore there is more of a link between Europe and the Palestinians. Do you think that that could explain why Europe's leaders are failing to speak out against such anti-semitic attack?

No, I don't think so. There is a clear difference between Israel and Jewish communities elsewhere and I think it's got to with rather complex causes - the rise of immigration, the failure of integration and so on. So I wouldn't want to link Middle East politics with what's happening on the ground here.

Do you think though that there could be the grounds for a growing split between the attitude of Europe and the attitude of the United States?

I hope not because we have to remember that when it comes to the fight against terror, which is what started all of this on the 11th September, we are all vulnerable and we all have to be together. So I really think a foreign policy split between Europe and America right now would be deeply damaging and I hope I doesn't happen.