By Jose Galicot
SAN DIEGO — In the late 1890s, a terrible persecution against Jews erupted in France, caused by the false guilt of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer who was accused of being a German spy in the French army.
The trial was brutal, as even though it eventually became clear that Dreyfus was innocent, it took the vehement pen of Emile Zola, a French writer and playwright, to publish the historic letter titled “J’Accuse” or “I Accuse,” which, for its clarity and honesty, defended Dreyfus, unmasking the true traitors and exposing to the frenzied public opinion the truth that managed to stop the wave of antisemitism.
Another reaction of that historical moment was that of Theodor Herzl, a fully assimilated Viennese Jewish journalist who covered the events in France. He was shocked by the violence of the antisemitic attacks and decided to react by also writing Altneuland (Old New Land), where he outlined a Jewish country of “p-a-pa.” This book shook the Jewish community, creating the desire to return to Israel and founded Zionism.
Emile Zola received tremendous backlash for his letter, but he managed to bring the French people to their senses, stopping the wave of antisemitism that was then ravaging France. Nowadays, another unjust event, the abduction of Israeli civilians and the obvious reaction of the Israeli army, has unleashed a series of antisemitic attacks that seem to have no end, once again plaguing the world.
Therefore, I, before you, my dear audience, repeat Emile Zola’s “J’Accuse,” seeking for reason and justice to prevail, avoiding vicious attacks worthy of the Middle Ages against the Israelis.
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Jose Galicot is a leader of the Mexican Jewish community of Tijuana and San Diego.