(JTA) — Members of the European Union must confront rising anti-Semitism, a senior EU official said, noting a “new anti-Semitism that sometimes tries to hide behind anti-Zionism.”

In opening remarks Thursday in Brussels at the first Colloquium on Fundamental Rights, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said, “Without our Jewish community, Europe would cease to exist.”

Timmermans also noted that anti-Semitism “is not just terrible for the Jewish community, it is like a fever in an infected body; it points at a much wider problem. Anti-Semitism left unchallenged will create a much, much bigger problem in any society; that is what European history teaches us.”

Timmermans also voiced concern about anti-Muslim sentiment.

Europe’s top human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe’s committee on national minorities, also spoke out about anti-Semitism on Thursday, specifically in Germany.

“There have been worrying developments as regards public manifestations of racism and xenophobia,” the committee said in a statement, The Associated Press reported. “Manifestations of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments are … reported to be rising, as well as attacks against asylum seekers.”

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