Expose anti-Israelism for what it is-What to do when traditional allies transform into anti-Semites

Jerusalem Post ^ | 2-9-04 | FIAMMA NIRENSTEIN

[SJackson]

There is something unhealthy about Jewish political delusions. Instead of confronting our enemies, we compete in blaming ourselves. First Israel thought it had a partner for peace.

But on discovering this was not the case, Jews and Israelis didn't blame the Arabs; they invented non-existent interlocutors, promoted them, and thereby diminished their own self-esteem.

Instead of confronting the frightening rebirth of Islamic and European anti-Semitism, we Jews delude themselves by allowing anti-Semitism in the guise of legitimate criticism of Israeli policies.

But as Minister-without-Portfolio Natan Sharansky made clear, where Israel is criticized illegitimately, that is anti-Semitism. Where Israel is criminalized, judged by a double standard or its very existence is delegitimized, that is anti-Semitism.

Without doubt, the same phenomenon that lies behind Diaspora assaults on Jews, synagogue bombings and arson attacks on Jewish schools is directed against Israel.

Indeed, Israel faces an enemy whose battle cry is: "Kill the Jews wherever they are." Nevertheless, we are overly cautious in drawing a line between anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism. By doing so we forget a basic truth: Today's conflict was generated by Yasser Arafat. He refused to accept the concessions offered by Ehud Barak and launched a bloodbath against innocents.

Israel responded by defending itself, though, doubtless, some of its actions are open to criticism.

Israelis have difficulty understanding the nature of the polemical attacks used against the Jewish state. By being tarred as an apartheid, colonial, racist state, the enemy is merely employing anti-Semitic canards against Israel.

What good does it do for European states to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day if their newspapers think it legitimate to employ anti-Jewish caricatures in their cartoons? I am thinking of the recent Independent (London) cartoon showing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon naked, blood-spattered, and grinning as he chews on Palestinian babies. The cartoon invokes the memory of similar caricatures of the Jew which appeared in the Nazi-era newspaper Der Stuermer.

Instead of confronting our enemies, we compete in blaming ourselves. Recall the deceit which surrounded the charge that IDF operations in Jenin constituted "the biggest massacre of postwar history." Was this not a modern version of the blood libel?

Conversely, viewing photos of Jewish children killed by terrorists brings back the memory of an earlier generation of children killed by the Nazis.

Can it be that all the efforts to facilitate remembrance have been relegated to museums and have no dynamic, practical consequences? When we say that studying the Shoah helps fight anti-Semitism, aren't we deceiving ourselves?

COMMEMORATING the Holocaust has failed. Politicians pay homage at Yad Vashem, attend Diaspora memorials for the Six Million, and feel themselves inoculated as philo-Semites. This enables them, the morning after, to say Israel practices apartheid, or declare themselves able to understand the motivation of suicide bombers. Would not Theodorakis gladly visit Yad Vashem?

On December 6, 2003 the Calusca Library in Milan, a center of extreme Left activism, organized the presentation of a text denying the Holocaust. An angry – albeit extreme – comrade explained that the revolution has to take place now, and in order to find new allies it is necessary to deny the murder of European Jewry. It is the price to be paid for solidarity.

But even in less extremist circles, the Star of David transformed into a swastika does not constitute a problem for left-wing newspapers and their readers.

So what to do, Jews ask themselves, when traditional allies transform into an anti-Semitic enemy?

For many, the first reaction is to negate reality. Most of the damage to Jewish life in modern history has come from the political Right.

Jews, in large measure, feel themselves naturally allied to the Left. More than that, even now Jews perceive themselves as receiving legitimacy from the Left.

Paradoxically, our real weapon is that very legitimacy – which we must turn around and use to deny the anti-Semities.

Jews must stop making excuses for anti-Semitism, regardless of its source. With the moral force of old allies who have became enemies, we must challenge what has happened to the Left.

Liberal criticism of the recent visit to Israel by the right-wing Gianfranco Fini, vice president of the Italian Council of Ministers, is hypocritical; all the while Diaspora Jews absolve the Left and forgive its anti-Semitism as legitimate criticism of Israeli policies.

This is a suicidal approach, destroying the unity of the Jewish world and undermining the unity of the concept of anti-Semitism.

There are neither two types of anti-Semitism, nor two kinds of struggles against anti-Semitism.

The writer is a correspondent for La Stampa and an author.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[Tijeras_Slim]

So what to do, Jews ask themselves, when traditional allies transform into an anti-Semitic enemy?

Confront and shame them. It will either drive them back into their holes or reveal them for all to see.

[americanSoul]

But as Minister-without-Portfolio Natan Sharansky made clear, where Israel is criticized illegitimately, that is anti-Semitism. Where Israel is criminalized, judged by a double standard or its very existence is delegitimized, that is anti-Semitism.

When Natan Sharansky speaks, I listen carefully. This is a man who survived the gulag.

[westerfield]

The Israelis would be better served if they would stick to justifying their actions instead of of reflexively dismissing the Euro-leftists as anti-semites, which is sure to incite further resentment against their policies. Relying upon ad hominums as the basis for your arguments rings hollow and convinces no one of the righteousness of your position.

[rmlew]

Israel has been justifying its actions and refuting its opponents.
The point of the article is to remine Israelis who the modern anti-Semites are.
When European leftists recycle anti-Semitic claims from the middle ages or early 20th century in political diatribes against Israel, they are anti-Semitic.

[westerfield]

When European leftists recycle anti-Semitic claims from the middle ages or early 20th century in political diatribes against Israel, they are anti-Semitic.

I've seen no evidence that it is the European left employing anti-semitic canards, rather it is the Euro-Muslims. The Euro-left might be a bunch of loons, but they are very pc and anti-racist and are not inclined to tolerate much overt anti-semitism.