Gabriel's remarks triggered a wave of criticism from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU), which issued a statement saying: "The fact that a German politician is using the term 'Apartheid' in connection with Israeli society is shameful. This is out of turn and reveals Mr. Gabriel's ignorance in foreign policy matters, especially when it comes to such complex issues such as the Middle East conflict."

Gabriel, a former environmental minister, was unrepentant. He later sought to meet with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, despite Germany's official policy not to recognize the terror group. Gabriel also said he welcomed the inclusion of Hamas as political partner in the Middle East.

In Sweden, Ilmar Reepalu, the leftwing mayor of Malmö, accused Jews in the country of teaming up with an anti-immigrant party to "spread hate" toward Muslims.

Reepalu, who has turned a blind eye to the growing problem of anti-Semitism in Malmö during the more than 15 years he has been mayor, believes that Jews are responsible for anti-Semitism because of their support for Israeli policies in the Middle East.

Muslims now comprise between 20% and 25% of Malmö's total population of around 300,000; much of the increase in anti-Jewish violence in recent years is being attributed to shiftless Muslim immigrant youth. In recent months, the only synagogue serving Malmö's 700-strong Jewish community has been the focus of repeated attacks. The synagogue, which has previously been set on fire and been the target of bomb threats, now has guards stationed around it, while the Jewish kindergarten can only be reached through reinforced steel security doors.

In January 2010, for example, Reepalu marked Holocaust Memorial Day by declaring that Zionism is racism. In an interview with the daily newspaper Skånska Dagbladet, he also said: "I would wish for the Jewish community to denounce Israeli violations against the civilian population in Gaza. Instead it decides to hold a [pro-Israeli] demonstration in the Grand Square [of Malmö], which could send the wrong signals."

Reepalu was referring to an incident in January 2009, during Israel's brief war in Gaza, when a small demonstration in favor of Israel was attacked by a screaming mob of Muslims and Swedish leftists, who threw bottles and firecrackers as the police looked on.

In July 2011, after a Hollywood film production company cancelled plans to shoot a movie in Skåne in southern Sweden due to concerns over anti-Semitism in Malmö, Reepalu cast his rage at the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center for advising Jews to avoid traveling to the region.

Reepalu, in an interview with the newspaper Sydsvenskan, said: "I have a feeling that the Simon Wiesenthal Center is not really looking for what is happening in Malmö but they want to hang the people who dare to criticize the state of Israel. Are they once again saying I should be silenced? I will never compromise my morals."

In a March 22 interview with the magazine NEO about the rise of anti-Semitism in Sweden, Reepalu said the Jewish community has been "infiltrated" by the conservative Sweden Democrats party to promote their mutual disdain for Muslims. Reepalu's comments triggered outrage but he is unlikely to give ground.

Jewish cemeteries in Sweden also have been desecrated; Jewish worshippers have been abused on their way home from prayer; and Jews have been taunted in the streets by masked men chanting phrases such as "Hitler, Hitler" and "Dirty Jew."

Some Jews in Sweden have stopped attending prayer services altogether out of fear for their safety and 15 Jewish families have left the city altogether because of harassment and threats.

In Britain, Baroness Cox, one of the most outspoken campaigners against the spread of Islamic Sharia law there, told a House of Lords symposium on March 19 that a growing number of British Muslims are shunning the official court system in favor of Sharia councils to settle legal disputes. She warned that if Sharia law is allowed to thrive, brutal punishments like stoning, whipping and amputations could become widespread in Britain.

Islamic jurisprudence is, in fact, spreading throughout Britain at an astonishing rate. At least 85 Islamic Sharia courts are now operating there, almost 20 times as many as previously believed.

A recent think tank study entitled Sharia Law or One Law for All found that scores of unofficial tribunals and councils regularly apply Islamic law to resolve domestic, marital and business disputes, many operating in mosques; and warns of a "creeping" acceptance of Sharia principles in British law.

In London, Ashton's Labour Party colleague Ken Livingstone, who is campaigning to become its next mayor, said he wants to turn the capital city into a "beacon" of Islam. According to a recent Ipsos MORI poll conducted for the BBC, Livingstone's main rival, the incumbent mayor Boris Johnson, holds a slight lead but is in a statistical dead heat. With an estimated one million Muslims living in London, Livingstone's appeal to Islam may, on May 3, propel him into the mayor's office.