February 27, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "Only
a few years ago, many of Europe’s far-right politicians were openly
anti-Semitic," notes a Newsweek story which cites a DePauw University faculty member. "Now some of the same populist parties are embracing
Israel to unite against what they perceive to be a common threat. Over the past few years, Europe’s right-wing
political leaders have tapped into rising worries over immigration from
Islamic countries to predominantly secular and Christian Europe," writes Stefan Theil.
Of European politicians, the article states, "many find
that support for Israel dovetails nicely with an anti-Islam platform.
While anti-Muslim sentiments are wide-spread (more than 50 percent of
Germans recently polled said they could imagine voting for an
anti-Islamic party), anti-Semitism is no longer considered an
acceptable part of political discourse, says Cas Mudde, an expert on
European populism at
DePauw University."
The complete piece -- "Europe's Extreme Righteous" -- appears in the new edition of Newsweek. Access it at the magazine's website.
Cas Mudde is Nancy Schaenen Visiting Scholar in Ethics and part-time visiting associate professor of political science at DePauw University. Learn more in this previous story.