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September 23, 2009
President Barack Obama’s Rosh Hashana message had a specific reference which resonated most clearly to those who have observed global events over the past year. In addition to his comments about Israel and the Middle East, the president spoke specifically about continuing anti-Semitism: “Let us resist prejudice, intolerance, and indifference in whatever forms they may take — let us stand up strongly to the scourge of anti-Semitism, which is still prevalent in far too many corners of our world.”
Incidents targeting Jews escalated dramatically since last Rosh Hashana and, if recent news is a guide, there are few signs of their abating. Much of the increase occurred during and following the January war in Gaza, but lingers in the impulse of many to conflate their anti-Israel protests with gestures straight out of Nazi Germany, like calls in Istanbul for a boycott on a Jewish-owned store.
In Holland, 98 anti-Semitic incidents were reported by the Center for Information and Documentation in January 2009, while 108 incidents were reported in all of 2008. The Community Security Trust in Great Britain reported 609 anti-Semitic incidents in the first six months of 2009, exceeding the yearly record of 598 in 2006.
In April 2009, Canada reported an 8.9 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents, 36 occurring during the final days of 2008 as the war in Gaza was developing. While the rise was attributed by some to the economic crisis and exposure of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, anti-Jewish feeling is strictly a renewed form of Jewish scapegoating. According to B’nai Brith Canada, the pernicious nature of anti-Semitism has moved into the work place, educational institutions, as well as the more traditional manifestations against synagogues, Jewish institutions, and private homes.
The trend played out at the just-concluded Toronto International Film Festival. Artists and actors chose the fact that the festival sought to highlight Tel Aviv as part of its inaugural “City to City” program to attack Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians and challenge the very legitimacy of Tel Aviv. In response, a group of equally prominent film artists praised the inclusion of Israeli films — which, in fact, are often extremely critical of the policies of Israeli governments — and accused the critics of “blacklisting.”
Holocaust denial, which is also a form of anti-Semitism, rose this past year as well. Only this past week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again called the Holocaust a “lie,” which he alleged was being perpetuated by Jews and the West in order to justify Israel’s right to exist. At the same time, the Harvard Crimson ran an advertisement from the founder of the Committee for an Open Debate on the Holocaust, Bradley Smith, spreading his message of Holocaust denial. (The Crimson later apologized for running the ad, saying it was the result of an unspecified “miscommunication.”)
Perhaps the most egregious recent manifestation of anti-Semitism was displayed not in a Muslim country, but in Sweden. Perpetuating the blood libels of the Middle Ages, a major Swedish newspaper alleged that Israeli troops killed Palestinians and harvested their organs for transplant. The Swedish Government, to the embarrassment even of its embassy in Israel, refused to repudiate this anti-Semitic smear.
There was also a rise in incidents in Latin America and Asia with many of the same underlying explanations or rationales. All of this suggests a clear willingness to follow an old mantra: “When in doubt blame the Jews.”
In the new anti-Semitism, Israel provides a target for Jew-haters who can channel their venom against an admittedly controversial political player. Anti-Semites can deflect their critics by suggesting that they are merely protesting the behavior of a government. What they, their sideline supporters, and “objective” apologists refuse to acknowledge is that attacks against Israelis are still attacks against Jews, especially when such attacks are disproportionate, one-sided, and traffic in classic anti-Semitic tropes. Even accepting the legitimacy of deep disagreements with Israeli policy, there is no justification for the transference of this specific hostility to a general attack on Jews in the critics’ own countries — unless, of course, they cannot admit the fact that they just hate Jews.
Dr. Gilbert N. Kahn is a professor of political science at Kean University in Union (gkahn@kean.edu).
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