ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE WORLD TODAY *

By W. Gunther Plaut**

For centuries anti-Semitism was, for Jews, a normal aspect of their lives. The Holocaust changed this, at least for a while. In most countries anti-Jewish behaviour lost its public though not its private sanction and became temporarily d6class6. However, while it decreased measurably, anti-Semitism never disappeared and awaited the first opportunity to re-emerge. That time appears to have come. In consequence, I believe that a world-wide consideration of the spreading anti-Semitic scourge is necessary. This must be undertaken primarily by Jews, but in time also by others who are concerned with the moral and social health of their nations. Caution must be exercised against two possibilities: First, that the world, having become accustomed first to the disease and then its temporary dormancy, will no longer take it seriously. On the whole, Jews have been immunized against this neglectful approach by the trauma of the Holocaust. Second, the opposite: that the phenomenon of anti-Semitism not be exaggerated to the point of total absorption with this problem. These two possibilities present an obvious dilemma. This paper will set forth a number of questions and attempt to sketch some answers. 1. Is the perception correct that anti-Semitism is experiencing a world- wide rise? If so, what are its special characteristics? 2. Why is anti-Semitism surfacing at this time? 3. How may it be effectively combated?

* Based on a lecture to the plenary of the World Jewish Congress, Jerusalem, 4 January 1981. ** Dr. Jur. Utr., D.D., LL.D., Hum. Litt. D.; immediate past president, Canadian Jewish Congress; visiting lecturer, Haifa University.

187 188 HUMAN RIGHTS IN A GENERAL CONTEXT

I

One might begin by sampling the attitudes of various countries in relation to anti-Semitism during the past ten years. Even a survey of the last few months reveals increasing manifestations of this phenomenon. Some examples are given below. Canada. The most prestigious national monthly, Saturday Night, carried a lead article by its editor, Robert Fulford, entitled "Blaming the Jews", with the subtitle, "Is anti-Semitism marching again in Canada? Everywhere there are disturbing signs".' The United States. The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith expressed deep concern over the results of two congressional races in which avowedly racist and anti-Semitic candidates received a total of over 75,000 votes in the national election. 2 France. The Committee on Anti-Semitism of the European Branch of the World Jewish Congress met in the wake of outrages in the French capital. Representatives of Jewish communities in France, Great Britain, West Germany, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland reviewed recent anti-Semitic and right wing extremist excesses. Participants agreed there was an obvious link between such manifestations in the various countries and that they should therefore be looked upon as an international phenomenon.3 Great Britain. Column 88, which celebrates Hitler's birthday and sponsors para-military summer camps, is the most extreme of all new anti-Semitic groups, but it is not alone. National Front candidates attracted 190,000 voters in the last election. There is also a so-called British movement which is so right wing and anti-Semitic that it considers the National Front as too liberal.4 Argentina. A neo-Nazi publication with Hitler and Mussolini on the cover was being sold openly in the heart of Buenos Aires. A publication called Papeles proclaimed: "Buenos Aires is the capital of the Aryan world".5

1 Vol. 95 (No. 9) (November 1980) 5 ff. 2 58 JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) Daily News Bulletin (No. 215) (10 Novem- ber 1980). 3 Ibid. (5 November 1980). 4 7 Israel Report (published by World Jewish Congress) (No. 16) 3 (13 December 1980). See also No. 13 (13 October 1980) passim. See Thurlow, "Racial Prejudice in British Society", 13 Patterns in Prejudice (London) 1 (July-August 1979). 5 63 JTA Daily News Bulletin (No. 232) (5 December 1980).