While governments in Europe officially condemn Holocaust deniers and even the United Nations solemnly commemorates Shoah, there is emerging on the world stage another bout of vicious anti-semitism. To make matters eerily familiar, sectors of the Jewish community are in a state of denial preferring to opt for their reflexive liberal sentiments rather than a defense against the potential horror.
Obviously the most virulent form of anti-semitism is to be found in radical Islam. It is not at all coincidental that Ahmadinejad’s threats against Israel are given a polite, indeed a respectful hearing in the United Nations. After all, 57 Muslim states in the international organization routinely condemn Israel, notwithstanding the adamantine refusal to consider atrocities in their own nations.
What has given the latest brand of anti-semitism its especially dangerous edge is a combination of petrodollars that can influence world opinion, a cult of death and martyrdom and a messianic fervor.
In Iran the enrichment of uranium in anticipation of nuclear weapons is the springboard for Holocaust II, even as its leaders deny the existence of Holocaust I. Yet remarkably the latest iteration of Hitler is treated politely by the World Council of Churches, Quaker organizations, even Larry King who considered it a coup getting Ahmadinejad on his CNN show.
From Syria to Egypt, Christian blood libel is promoted in the media. European anti-Semitic imports such as the Protocols of The Elders of Zion are disseminated. Full fledged conspiracy theories, such as Israel orchestrating the attack on the World Trade Center, are given respectful consideration. Television series such as “Horsemen Without A Horse” borrow freely from Nazi propaganda cinema of the 1930’s.
Yet astonishingly neither Israel nor the Europeans do enough to expose these diabolical acts. It is as if Jews and non-Jews want to avert their gaze. Far better to deny than confront an ugly reality, a reality grounded in ideological dehumanization.
Israel is the prime target of course. And Ahmadinejad says it is the Zionists he opposes, not the Jews. Where have I heard that canard before? Now one encounters in legitimate journals, e.g. The New York Review of Books and the London Guardian unreflective negation of the Zionist narrative from Jewish intellectuals. Clearly Israeli leadership contributes to the problem as do journalists on both sides of the Atlantic paralyzed by political correctness.
In the draft document for the UN’s so-called anti-racism conference, Durban II the accusation is made that Israel is guilty of apartheid and genocide. It raises the ugly claim that Zionism is racism by referring to a “racially based law of return.”
Clearly, it is time for Jews to realize we are in a war we must win. The way to prevail is to shake ourselves out of complacency and regain the convictions associated with the origin of the Jewish state, our history and identity. Natan Sharansky is right when he says the Jewish identity is part of our intellectual and moral armor. Why should others be with Jews, if Jews are not with themselves?
Jewish leaders often look helpless in the face of this Islamic propaganda campaign. But they are not. First and foremost, they should connect with their roots, i.e. the meaning of Jewishness in the world. It is this ideological vacuum that very often provides an opening for pernicious claims of Israel as an anachronistic national enterprise or a vestige of European colonialism.
Second, Jews must launch their own propaganda campaign here and in Europe to counter the grotesque demonization. And they must do so even if it means confronting “progressive” Jews who undermine the Jewish nation.
And last Jews should anchor their ideas in the Judeo Christian tradition that gave birth to the liberal democracies of the West and provides the hope for mankind. It is obvious that anti-Semitism and a generalized rejection of the West has held Arab nations back. Yet there are enlightened voices in the Muslim world who understand and they should be cultivated.
Clearly this effort will not be easy. But what are the alternatives? A determined effort might contribute to containing the anti-Semitic infection. As I see it, either one fights or one dies. I prefer to fight remembering, the now forgotten cry of “Never Again!”
Herbert London is president of Hudson Institute and professor emeritus of New York University. He is the author of Decade of Denial (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2001) and America's Secular Challenge (Encounter Books).
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written by Robert Prol , November 06, 2008
When we have voters in Rockland County NY who scream "anti-Semitism" every time someone complains about the house next to them being turned into a Yeshiva, they cheapen the actual anti-Semitism that occurs.
This same group prostitutes their vote to the Democratic Party in return for pardons for convicted felons, and favoritism through the misapplication of RLUIPA to stick it to the locals they move next to.
It's not just "progressive Jews" that must be confronted, it is also the most "orthodox".
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