From a whisper to a roar: The return of the blood libel
If there is one thing we have learned from history, it is that predicable patterns of behavior provide the underpinnings of virulent anti-Semitism. Like a lethal virus or a pestilence, the disease of Jew-hatred cannot flourish by itself. It needs the right conditions, the right combination of circumstances and a proper environment to grow and spread. We know, for example, that the Holocaust didn't begin with the bricks and mortar of the gas chambers. It started with words - hateful words, ugly words - words that could inspire enough hatred to create the conditions for a rapid-fire combustion that led to the annihilation of six million Jews and millions of others. And we know that the 9/11 terror attacks in the US didn't start with airplanes and boxcutters. Those attacks began with hateful ideas and words that inspired the terrorists to maim and kill more than 3,000 innocent people. For centuries, one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of anti-Semites has been the ability to fuel hatred by creating a mythical idea of Jews being a pathologically loathsome people. These notions are founded in stereotypical attributes and hateful canards - that Jews are greedy, that they keep to themselves, that they are all-powerful, that they are "blood-suckers," or that they control the government or the media in order to advance sinister agendas. Perhaps the worst manifestation of this hatred is the ancient blood libel. This odious myth, handed down through the centuries from medieval times to the present day, suggests that Jews prepare their Passover matzot with the sacrificial blood of Christian children. This despicable slander led to pogroms, expulsions and bloodshed against Jews throughout history. The blood libel is recognized as one of the taproots of anti-Semitism. And it is as alive and well today as it was more than a century ago. Most recently it resurfaced with accusations now swirling through the blogosphere that American Jews and Israeli soldiers are involved in a broad conspiracy to harvest organs for profit. It started as a whisper. The whispers suggested that Israeli soldiers tasked with patrolling the Palestinian West Bank weren't just policing and keeping the peace, but were rather involved in something much more nefarious - capturing innocent civilians so their organs could be harvested and illegally sold on the black market. Here we go again: "The Israel Lobby made them do it!"
I have said it before and I must say it again - anti-Semitic conspiracy theories claiming American Jews control US foreign policy and are disloyal US citizens continue to be expounded through the Internet and permeate mainstream Web sites, blogs and commentaries. The most recent case is the Charles Freeman affair - the designated Chairman of the National Intelligence Council who decided to withdraw his name from consideration after concerns were raised about the central role he might play in intelligence affairs, given his anti-Israel statements and connections to the Saudi government, as well as to the Chinese. The Freeman appointment was disturbing on its own terms without generalizing about where US-Israel relations were heading. On US-Israel relations his views fall far away from mainstream opinion in America and enter into that area of demonizing Israel and its supporters in the US. Nothing better illustrates where Freeman is coming from than in his statement explaining his withdrawal. He articulates, in the guise of a victim, the essential conspiracy view of the Israel-supporting community which made his appointment so troubling in the first place. He sees the exposure of his troubling attitudes toward Israel as proof "that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired." Dubai's unfortunate decision
The decision by the United Arab Emirates not to grant a visa to Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer is a shocking development which raises broader questions about the progress that has been assumed to have been made in Arab-Israel relations. Gaza goes global
Israel's operation to defend its people from Hamas rockets is having repercussions far beyond Gaza and the besieged cities of Sderot and Ashkelon. It is taking on a global reach and having a global impact, particularly for Jews in much of Western Europe and Latin America. Assaults against Jews are on the rise. In Europe, Jews have been threatened and beaten on the street and synagogues firebombed. "Jews to the gas chambers" has been chanted at anti-Israel demonstrations in Europe and similar calls for death to Jews have been heard across the Arab and Muslim world. While much of the violence and anti-Semitic graffiti has spilled over from anti-Israel rallies, where Israel and Jews are routinely likened to Nazis, it is part and parcel of the incitement against Jews and "World Zionism" endorsed by the terrorist leaders of Hamas. Financial crisis brings out the anti-semites
It never fails. Whenever there is a financial crisis or trading scandal in the stock markets, the anti-Semites come out of the woodwork. The classic stereotype of the Jewish Shylock out to have his Christian pound of flesh dies very hard, if at all. The Jew as economic opportunist sucking the financial life-blood out of a nation or of the whole world is continually reborn. So the crude anti-Semitic postings at extremist or financial websites and comment boards, and at Internet blogs available for viewing over the past couple of weeks, should not come as a total surprise. Still, I have to admit being dismayed to see these lasting age-old canards about Jews and money finding fresh outlet. ADL at 95: Battling old hatreds in new forms
As the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Anti-Defamation League approaches on July 10th, I can't help but think that its founder, Sigmund Livingston, probably would have wished we had not reached this milestone. After all, when you create an organization with the aim of ending anti-Semitism and seeking to erase bigotry in all its forms, you can't help but want to achieve your goal and put yourself out of business. The hard realist in me tells me that Livingston, a Chicago lawyer and nobody's fool, likely knew that ADL was to be his life's work - and that it would take generations beyond his own to come to the end of a difficult road. Today, more than 60 years after World War II and the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, we know only too well that not only did anti-Semitism not end in the ashes of that global war stamped with Hitler's genocidal Jew-hatred, but that a new if not improved kind of Jew-hate has replaced it. Mearsheimer and Walt in Israel
The title of the event is: "The Israel Lobby - Helping or Hurting Israel?" It will take place at Beit Sokolov in Tel Aviv on Thursday, June 12. The presenters are American professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. A few preliminary comments are in order. Israel is truly a democratic country where freedom of expression is a prized value, not something to pay lip service to. So the very fact that two professors who for several years have been lambasting Israel and American Jews all over the world are welcomed to Israel, speaks volumes. Secondly, the subject of the Israel lobby and its impact in America is a legitimate matter for examination. It is always helpful to take a look at the institutions of Israel and American Jews and to ask questions about how they operate and their value to the Jewish State. |
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