By Isaac Yetiv, Ph.D.
LA JOLLA, California — In the 19th century, Wilhelm Marr , known as “the father of modern antisemitism,” coined the word “antisemitismus.” But the pathological hatred of Jews has a long history. In the antiquity, the Pharaoh who ‘didn’t know Joseph” decreed to kill all the Jewish newborn males; and Haman , centuries later, convinced his Persian king Ahasverus to exterminate this “people whose religion and language are different.”
Christian antisemitism , while benign in its beginnings when the early followers of the Jew Jesus were themselves a persecuted minority in the Roman world, became ferociously violent after the Council of Nicaea, in the year 325, adopted the dogma, then very controversial, of the divinity of Christ. With Emperor Constantine embracing Christianity, the whole Roman world, especially in Europe, followed suit, and the minorities of Jews dispersed among them were soon accused of being “the people deicide,” the killers of God, an anathema that had persisted for almost 17 centuries, until Vatican II, in our times, erased it.
Napoleon’s conquest of Europe brought with it the end of the ghettoes and the emancipation of the Jewish communities.The Jews could now attend universities, enter the liberal professions and commerce and excel in them, which added a new layer to the traditional religious antisemitism. The Jews now “dominate the trade, the media, the banks, etc.” They became more hated and despised and the vile objects of the infamous blood libels and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the Dreyfus Affair and the pogroms, which paved the way for the eventual advent of Hitler and culminated in the Holocaust. And, in the greatest irony of history, they also
led to the establishment of the State of Israel.
For about half a century after the horrors of the Holocaust, antisemitism remained dormant if not non-existent. The Jewish state repeatedly defeated the military assaults of its coalesced Arab neighbors and generated sympathy in the world that saw it as David fighting Goliath. But, after making peace with Egypt and Jordan, and after the constant rejection of peace offers by the Palestinians, their threats to destroy Israel by force and their actual acts of terrorism, (in the context of more menacing terror organizations inspired and financed by Iran, today’s archenemy of Israel and an aspiring nuclear power), Israel had no choice but to aggressively defend itself and protect its citizens. In the eyes of the “world” it became, falsely, the Goliath of the tragedy.The Arab propaganda has succeeded by default because Israel’s counter propaganda was nowhere to be found.
In this article I will attempt an analysis of the situation and recommend some measures to restore the truth and , hopefully, reduce the ubiquity and the virulence of the scourge of the “new antisemitism.”
It seems futile to denounce antisemitism emanating from those with whom Israel is at war. But it is absolutely essential to fight it tooth and nail when it affects third parties, especially the good people in the world, the dupes of Arab propaganda who only heard one side of the story. Attacking Jews outside of Israel because of alleged bad behavior of Israel is outrageous but it confirms the fact that, today, the hypocritical and cowardly excuse that ” I am not antisemitic but antizionist” has lost its currency. You can’t be anti-Israel without hating the Jews. I know: There are Jews who hate Israel, but we are not dealing with pathology here.
Although the two most vicious nests of “third party antisemitism” today are at the UN and in Europe, the policies of the US government aid and abet the perpetrators of this crime:
The UN: is now investigating Israel for “war crimes;” not North Korea, not Iran, not Syria where the victims count in hundreds of thousands , not the Gazans who deliberately attack Israeli civilians and launch their rockets from schools and hospitals,and use their own children as human shields, but Israel, the only open-society democracy in the Middle-East, for taking very measured defensive measures to protect its people.
The UN is also considering a very anti-Israel resolution that will divide Jerusalem, force Israel to withdraw to indefensible borders, and put the Christian holy sites under the control of terrorists.
It is fitting to remember that we, US taxpayers, pay the UN 1.2 billion dollars in “dues” PLUS 2.2 billion to the UN peacekeeping budget AND we volunteer more money for specific projects ( Recently, Obama asked Congress for 6 billion dollars to fight Ebola in Africa.) All added, the US pays 77% of the UN budget, and, after Israel, it is the most hated country at the UN.
In Europe, the recrudescence and intensity of antisemitism are stunning even for the most pessimistic observers: beatings of Jews wearing yarmulkes or a necklace with the Star of David, swastikas painted on Jewish property, signs all over with slogans like “burn the Jews,” but also murders of innocent passersby. The Jewish community lives in fear and thousands have emigrated to Israel. What happened here? In my view, there has always been an atavistic, knee-jerk resentment, even hatred, of the Jews, but the demographic revolution brought by the mass migrations from Islamic countries, coupled with the lies and distortions of the Arab propaganda, have revived and exacerbated the latent and dormant antisemitism that prevailed after the Holocaust.
It is true that the majority of perpetrators are Arab Muslim immigrants who fled the oppressive regimes in their country of origin and feel marginalized and alienated in Europe.Their numbers have increased immensely, which led many observers to speak of “the Islamization of Europe,” a frightening prospect to Jews and Christians alike. In Marseilles, Muslims make 35% of the population. In Spain there are places with 40% Muslims. In Brussels, the capital of the European Union, they are 30%, and the name Mohamed is the number one among the registered births. In Amsterdam, 25% . Even in the Scandinavian countries without a history of colonization, their number is quite significant : In Sweden ,30% in Malmo and 20% in Stockholm.
And they vote in these democracies, which they never did back home. And they are courted by the candidates, which gives them much clout and the benefit of political correctness. It was reported that Francois Hollande, the Socialist Prime Minister of France, received 93% of the Muslim vote. And their leaders now aspire to be elected. The mayor of Rotterdam (Netherlands), M. Abutaleb from Morocco, was elected in 2009 and is still serving (In his city, 80% of the Muslim population are on welfare.)
Paradoxically, the “Islamization of Europe,” while causing fear, anxiety, and contempt among the indigenous Europeans, has resulted in an unholy alliance, in Europe and to a lesser degree in the US, between the extreme Left and the Islamic purveyors of terror; unholy because the sacred cows of the Left are slaughtered by the radical Islamists ((treatment of women and homosexuals, honor killings, using children as human shields, for example.)
In the US: The Obama administration’s confused policy in the Middle-East does not help fight the scourge of antisemitism in the UN and in Europe; it also emboldens the Palestinians in their refusal to make a compromise for peace. The open hostility toward PM Netanyahu, the unbearable pressure on Israel to make all the concessions for the elusive “peace,” the veiled threats to not use the veto at the UN, and most recently, the leaked information that ” the White House and the State Department had held secret talks about the possibility of imposing sanctions on Israel” (ironically, after they lifted them from Iran) and the contemptuous way of handling the “denial” (First, “we do not confirm nor deny” by the White House spokesman, but then, after a strong letter signed by 47 Congressmen, the same spokesman completely denied it.) This silly game does not endear Obama to the citizens of “the best US ally and friend in the only democracy in the Middle-East”. The US government allied itself with the enemies of Israel in Europe. Like the Europeans, they recognize the right of Israel to defend itself — thank you very much– but not to exercise that right . Even after bloody terror attacks that kill and maim Jews, the State Department spokeswoman ” deplores the cycle of violence and calls on both sides to show restraint.”
Meantime, the US treasury is pouring money, and more money borrowed from China, in the coffers of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas: The US taxpayer may not know that we are giving the PA $665 million a year, not counting the huge portion of the $5.4 billion to “reconstruct Gaza” after the periodic war started by Hamas. To date, the US has given the PA more than 5 billion dollars.
Where did all this money go? It was reported that Abbas makes a million a month and that there are 1,700 millionaires in “poor Gaza.” They are laughing at their benefactor all the way to the Swiss bank, having tricked and duped the “Great Satan.” As the Arab proverb goes, ” Eat the fruits, and curse those who gave them to you.” The problem is that by enriching and emboldening the PA and its partner Hamas, and by acceding to their demands, the US ipso facto makes them more recalcitrant, which decreases the chances for real peace and increases antisemitism in the Middle-East, in the UN, and in Europe.
What needs to be done?
This state of affairs should not be allowed to endure. What is absolutely necessary is a “Campaign for the truth,” to debunk the lies of the Arab propaganda. As Nazi Goebbels infamously said, “a lie repeated 1000 times becomes the truth.” One can’t blame honest and uninformed people for believing one side of the story when the other side is absent.
Can you believe that the “diplomatic” budget of Israel is less than half of the PA, which is not even a country?
It is incumbent upon the sovereign state of Israel to take the lead of this project. Israel has shown how it had successfully countered the violent terrorism; it must now openly and fiercely combat the more insidious scourge of antisemitism.It should be done dramatically, through speeches to the world in the Knesset by no less than the Prime Minister or the President, to condemn in no uncertain terms the purveyors of abject lies and those who blindly support them. Let them be shamed in public. Let it be the talk in the press and the radio and TV broadcasts. Israel has nothing to hide, and does not hide anything. It should counter the narrative of lies with a counter-narrative of truth, and it will be aided in that endeavor by the Jewish organizations, the millions of Christian friends of Israel, and the huge majority of the US Congress.
Israel is not perfect but it should be judged with the same yardstick as all other nations,especially when it is besieged with enemies sworn to its destruction, and not singled out for its peccadilloes, all done sub signo martis (under the sign of war) and in self-defense when its neighbors commit every day atrocious crimes with impunity.
Even when under attack , with thousands of rockets raining on its civilians, Israel continued to supply its ferocious enemies with fuel, food, and medicines. Its hospitals continue to care for its enemies (including the daughter and mother-in-law of Ismail Haniyeh , the dictator of Hamas who started the war.) Ichilov hospital alone provided medical care to 1000 Palestinians in the year 2013. At one time,one quarter of the Safed hospital patients were Syrians, the victims of the internecine war fomented by their leaders.
As for the status of the Arab minority in Israel which, according to the antisemites, both the malicious enemies and the dupes of propaganda, are oppressed and discriminated against as second class citizens, the projected counter-propaganda project will show that the Arabs in Israel are the only Arabs in the Middle-East who vote and are elected, and serve in the Knesset where they enjoy unrestricted freedom of speech. They are doctors, lawyers, judges, and civil servants in the ministries and in the diplomatic corps.
Israeli Arabs are the best educated in the Middle-East, and their standards of living are five to ten times that of their brethren in the neighboring countries. No wonder than when offered to be “repatriated” to a future “Palestinian state,” not even 2% agreed. Recently, an Israeli colonel, member of the Druze community, wrote: “The Israeli Arabs make 20% of the population and receive 5O% of the Bituah Leumi (National Insurance.) They don’t pay taxes, national and local. They live in villas (!?). They build illegal buildings which the government is reluctant to force them to demolish (as it does with Jewish builders.) They vote and elect and enjoy full civil rights. They demonstrate against the State and even threw Molotov cocktails. Many of them identify with the enemies of Israel, Hamas, Hizballah, and Iran.”
Is that the profile of an “apartheid state” as the shameless demonizers of Israel and promoters of radical antisemitism would have you believe?
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Yetiv is a lecturer and freelance writer based in the San Diego neighborhood of La Jolla. Your comment may be posted in the box below or communicated directly to the author at isaac.yetiv@sdjewishworld.com