(Newser)
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Israel may seem an odd place for anti-Semitism, but as more immigrants claim Jewish heritage to gain citizenship through the loose "law of return," though they aren't technically Jewish, neo-Nazism is on the rise. Poverty, unemployment and social exclusion mark the lives of many non-Jews in Israel, reports the Economist, and those frustrations explain why some youths fall under the spell of racist ideologies.
Responding to last week's highly publicized arrests of eight neo-Nazis who taped themselves saluting Hitler and assaulting religious Jews, some politicians called for curbing lax immigration. Meanwhile, Israeli-Arabs compared the offenders to Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians. One Arab politician said, "You can't discriminate between racists."
