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"UK Is European Center of Anti-Semitism"
[Jerusalem Post] Etgar Lefkovits - Britain has become the epicenter for anti-Semitic trends in Europe, exacerbated by a growing and increasingly radical Muslim population and the detachment of the British from their Christian roots, said Hebrew University Prof. Robert S. Wistrich at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. The Cambridge University-educated historian said anti-Semitism in Britain "has been around for 1,000 years of recorded history," noting that the expulsion of all Jews from Britain in 1290 by King Edward I was the first major expulsion of any Jewish community in Europe. During World War II, the British refusal to rescue the Jews of Europe and their decision to close the gates of Palestine stemmed not only from realpolitik but from anti-Semitic sentiments, he said. "Nothing was to be construed as fighting a Jewish war." Wistrich said that today's British media had an almost universal anti-Israel bias. "Palestinian terrorism is portrayed as a minor pin-prick compared to 'massive' retaliation of this 'rogue' state [Israel]," he said.