This article on Abraham Foxman is as apposite today (or even more so today) as it was in 2002. The whole debate (argument) of Anti Zionism/Anti Semitism is in need of a clear answer.
There is a greater danger in Islamic anti-Semitism because of the element of religion and the speed with which lies about Jewish people can be developed and spread, says Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman.
Foxman, who spoke to reporters in Jerusalem this week, said that Jewish people in Israel and around the world are more vulnerable than they have been since they were hunted and killed by the Nazis in World War II.
A growing number of synagogues and Jewish institutions have been vandalized and burned and many Jewish cemeteries desecrated throughout Europe. There have been cases where Jews themselves were also threatened, attacked or killed because they appeared Jewish.
During the recent Jewish holidays in September, Foxman said, security was tighter at Jewish houses of worship than it has ever been in history.
"This Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur throughout the world there were more security guards, more police officers, more militia, more [Jewish] volunteers all over the world in synagogues that we've ever had in the history of the Jewish people and that's distressing," Foxman said.
"I believe...that we as a people both here in Israel and abroad in Diaspora [everywhere besides Israel] are more vulnerable today as Jews than we have been since World War II," he added.
But while the old right-wing anti-Semitism is still around, the most alarming element is the intensity of Muslim and Arab anti-Semitism, Foxman said
"The old right-wing anti-Semites exist. The skinheads exist and the right-wing fascist anti-Semites exist. They are not as significant today but they're there...
"Today the alarming danger comes from Moslem anti-Semitism. It is more intense. It is more angry. It is more violent. It is tied to a political conflict. It operates in a totalitarian environment... The same message can be reinforced from the mosque, to the media to government. They all play the same tune. There is no voice of dissent," Foxman said.
Previously in the Muslim world, there was a differentiation between Jews and Israelis but now they are all considered to be the enemy of the Muslims, he said.
According to Foxman, the platform of religion is what makes this form of anti-Semitism so much more virulent, while advances in communications make it fast and easy to spread.
"Religion intensifies the hate. It comes out of houses of worship. It is enveloped in God, in faith, in truth and that makes the element of anti-Semitism that much more sinister and that much more alarming.
"Added to it is the technological revolution, which makes it possible to communicate the messages of hate instantaneously... And finally the distressing, alarming element is how quickly and how easily disinformation and the big lie could be spread."
Foxman, a child Holocaust survivor who has been combating anti-Semitism around the globe for 37 years, said it took some 30 to 40 years for the "big lie" of denying the Holocaust to take hold and develop its philosophy and literature.
By contrast, following the September 11 terror attacks in the U.S., it has taken less than a year for another "big lie" - that the attacks were perpetrated by Israel and the Jews - to take hold and be intensely and deeply accepted as truth in the Arab and Muslim world.
"The alarm is how quickly today one can develop a lie and establish it as almost truth if not truth," he said.
Foxman admitted that Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism has been there for years and was not taken as seriously as it should have been.
"We challenged European countries, leadership, clerics to stand up against anti-Semitism in the Western World and we ignored anti-Semitism in the Arab world," Foxman said. "We didn't set a standard. We didn't make demands."
Nevertheless, he said, it has gotten worse over the last years and because of accessibility to it on the Internet it is easier to monitor.
"It is worse but we're also noticing it more because it is more accessible," he said.
Foxman mentioned Egypt as a country that his organization monitors and said he has had meetings with Egyptian President Hosni Musbarak on the topic. Mubarak excused the attacks on Israel in the state-run media as part of freedom of the press.
Foxman labeled Saudi Arabian anti-Semitism as "horrendous" and "much worse than anywhere else."
As far as i am concerned the line batween denuncation of Israel and an anti Semitic view is a fine line, this is hard to prove as the truth is within a persons mind. The only way that this is measurable by an outsider is to look at their comparative statements about other countries and peoples in similar circumstances (eg. Sudan and Zimbabwe). Silence on these matters says alot.
a sure sign is the use of holocaust iconography in equating Israel and the Palestinian/Arab conflict. this is common in the Middle East and is increacing in frequency and vitroil. The first step is demonisation, then dehumanisation, then finally it seems justifiable to save the world from such a dire disease. THis is the stage the Arab/Islamic world is reaching.
Foxman, who spoke to reporters in Jerusalem this week, said that Jewish people in Israel and around the world are more vulnerable than they have been since they were hunted and killed by the Nazis in World War II.
A growing number of synagogues and Jewish institutions have been vandalized and burned and many Jewish cemeteries desecrated throughout Europe. There have been cases where Jews themselves were also threatened, attacked or killed because they appeared Jewish.
During the recent Jewish holidays in September, Foxman said, security was tighter at Jewish houses of worship than it has ever been in history.
"This Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur throughout the world there were more security guards, more police officers, more militia, more [Jewish] volunteers all over the world in synagogues that we've ever had in the history of the Jewish people and that's distressing," Foxman said.
"I believe...that we as a people both here in Israel and abroad in Diaspora [everywhere besides Israel] are more vulnerable today as Jews than we have been since World War II," he added.
But while the old right-wing anti-Semitism is still around, the most alarming element is the intensity of Muslim and Arab anti-Semitism, Foxman said
"The old right-wing anti-Semites exist. The skinheads exist and the right-wing fascist anti-Semites exist. They are not as significant today but they're there...
"Today the alarming danger comes from Moslem anti-Semitism. It is more intense. It is more angry. It is more violent. It is tied to a political conflict. It operates in a totalitarian environment... The same message can be reinforced from the mosque, to the media to government. They all play the same tune. There is no voice of dissent," Foxman said.
Previously in the Muslim world, there was a differentiation between Jews and Israelis but now they are all considered to be the enemy of the Muslims, he said.
According to Foxman, the platform of religion is what makes this form of anti-Semitism so much more virulent, while advances in communications make it fast and easy to spread.
"Religion intensifies the hate. It comes out of houses of worship. It is enveloped in God, in faith, in truth and that makes the element of anti-Semitism that much more sinister and that much more alarming.
"Added to it is the technological revolution, which makes it possible to communicate the messages of hate instantaneously... And finally the distressing, alarming element is how quickly and how easily disinformation and the big lie could be spread."
Foxman, a child Holocaust survivor who has been combating anti-Semitism around the globe for 37 years, said it took some 30 to 40 years for the "big lie" of denying the Holocaust to take hold and develop its philosophy and literature.
By contrast, following the September 11 terror attacks in the U.S., it has taken less than a year for another "big lie" - that the attacks were perpetrated by Israel and the Jews - to take hold and be intensely and deeply accepted as truth in the Arab and Muslim world.
"The alarm is how quickly today one can develop a lie and establish it as almost truth if not truth," he said.
Foxman admitted that Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism has been there for years and was not taken as seriously as it should have been.
"We challenged European countries, leadership, clerics to stand up against anti-Semitism in the Western World and we ignored anti-Semitism in the Arab world," Foxman said. "We didn't set a standard. We didn't make demands."
Nevertheless, he said, it has gotten worse over the last years and because of accessibility to it on the Internet it is easier to monitor.
"It is worse but we're also noticing it more because it is more accessible," he said.
Foxman mentioned Egypt as a country that his organization monitors and said he has had meetings with Egyptian President Hosni Musbarak on the topic. Mubarak excused the attacks on Israel in the state-run media as part of freedom of the press.
Foxman labeled Saudi Arabian anti-Semitism as "horrendous" and "much worse than anywhere else."
As far as i am concerned the line batween denuncation of Israel and an anti Semitic view is a fine line, this is hard to prove as the truth is within a persons mind. The only way that this is measurable by an outsider is to look at their comparative statements about other countries and peoples in similar circumstances (eg. Sudan and Zimbabwe). Silence on these matters says alot.
a sure sign is the use of holocaust iconography in equating Israel and the Palestinian/Arab conflict. this is common in the Middle East and is increacing in frequency and vitroil. The first step is demonisation, then dehumanisation, then finally it seems justifiable to save the world from such a dire disease. THis is the stage the Arab/Islamic world is reaching.
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