VOLUME 14 ISSUE 2 | SPRING 2020

inFOCUSQUARTERLY Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed

Adam Milstein on Eradicating BDS | Sarah N. Stern on Targeting Jews on Campus | Sean Durns on Bias in the Media | Philip Carl Salzman on Intersectionality |Harold Rhode on How View | David Hirsh on Anti-Semitism in the UK | Daniel Korn on Progress and Peril in Sweden | Rabbi Abraham Cooper on Recent Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Incidents | Michael Davis, Ze’ev B. Begin, and Yigal Carmon on White Supremacy | Jonathan S. Tobin on African American-Jewish Relations | Shoshana Bryen reviews Jews and Power

Featuring an Interview with the Honorable Elan Carr LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

nti-Semitism is called “the world’s case of African American anti-Semitism inFOCUS oldest hatred.” It could equally be is handled by Jonathan Tobin. Sean Durns VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 2 called the world’s most malleable takes on the role of the media in amplifying hatred, endlessly shapeshifting and spreading the vile disease. Publisher A Matthew Brooks to meet the needs of new generations of Adam Milstein writes about Boy- anti-Semites. In her valuable book, Jews cott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Editor and Power (reviewed by inFOCUS Editor Movement as the precursor of much Shoshana Bryen Shoshana Bryen), Ruth Wisse posits that of the anti-Israel rhetoric and protest Associate Editors the evolution of the Jewish people with- on college campuses, and Sarah Stern Michael Johnson out land, government or a writes about how Presi- Eric Rozenman means of self-defense made dent Trump’s executive Copy Editor them uniquely vulnerable order on Title VI can help Shari Hillman to shifting tides. I would turn the tide there. Harold Published by: add that the restoration of Rhode asks whether Pal- Jewish Policy Center those attributes in Israel estinians and Israelis – or 50 F Street NW, Suite 100 “regularized” Jews in Is- Muslims and Jews – can Washington, DC 20001. rael, but left Jews outside the country still ever reach what we, in the West, call (202) 638-2411 vulnerable in ways they always have been – “peace” and the legitimization of Jewish Follow us on but with an overlay of responsibility for Is- sovereignty in the . JewishPolicyCenter @theJPC rael’s failings, real, perceived, or invented. Elan Carr, the State Department En- How the problem unfolds and how voy for Monitoring and Combating Anti- The opinions expressed in inFOCUS do not Jews and their allies – particularly the Semitism provides this month’s wide- necessarily reflect those of the Jewish Policy American government – are responding ranging interview. Center, its board, or its officers. is the theme of this issue of inFOCUS. If you appreciate what you’ve read, To begin or renew your subscription, please contact us: [email protected] Rabbi Abraham Cooper describes the I encourage you to make a contribution breadth of the problem and offers specific to the Jewish Policy Center. As always, suggestions for marshaling our forces. Da- you can use our secure site: http://www. © 2020 Jewish Policy Center vid Hirsh and Rabbi Daniel Korn look at the jewishpolicycenter.org/donate. United Kingdom and Sweden; intersection- Sincerely, www.JewishPolicyCenter.org ality on the left is the purview of Philip Carl Salzman; and his counterparts considering the far right are Michael Davis, Ze’ev B. Matthew Brooks, Begin, and Yigal Carmon; and the specific Publisher

ADAM MILSTEIN is a businessman, philanthropist, and DAVID HIRSH is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, co-founder of the Israeli-American Council. (3) University of London. (27)

SARAH N. STERN is founder and president of the Endow- Rabbi DANIEL KORN has written twenty books in Swedish

Featuring ment for Middle East Truth (EMET). (7) on culture, history and politics. (30)

SEAN DURNS is a Senior Research Analyst for the Wash- Rabbi ABRAHAM COOPER is associate dean, director Global Social Action Agenda, of the . (33) ington D.C. office of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA). (10) MICHAEL DAVIS heads the White Supremacist Online Incitement project for the Middle East Media Research PHILIP CARL SALZMAN, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of anthropology at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. (14) Institute, ZE’EV B. BEGIN is a senior researcher for MEMRI and YIGAL CARMON the president and founder. (36) HAROLD RHODE, Ph.D., worked as a Defense Department JONATHAN S. TOBIN is editor in chief of Jewish News (18) Middle East analyst and studied Ottoman history. Syndicate (JNS). (40) ELAN CARR is the U.S. State Department’s Special Envoy SHOSHANA BRYEN is the editor of inFOCUS and the Senior for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism. (22) Director of the Jewish Policy Center. (41) Eradicating the Anti-Semitic BDS Movement by ADAM MILSTEIN

Defeating the boycott, divestment and created the BDS movement in 2001, declining. Conspiracy theories and use sanctions (BDS) movement is the best and documented the current ties of of social media to target Jews and Israel way for Americans to fight rising anti- these terror organizations to at least 13 are spreading at lightning speed and Semitism and the hate groups that radi- anti-Israel NGOs, who have managed to with lethal effect. Assault-style semi- calize and polarize our country today. place more than 30 of their members – automatic weapons are readily available including individuals previously jailed, for anyone who seeks to commit deadly n September, the United Nations – a some for murder – in senior positions in violence against Jews. And Jewish orga- body with a well-documented his- BDS organizations. nizations have not been able to curb the tory of bias against the Jewish state Now, StopAntisemitism.org and rising tide of hate and violence to date. I– released an unprecedented report Zachor Legal Institute have released While this hatred has long existed, on the worldwide spread of Jew-hatred. a groundbreaking report. “The New the incidence of violent acts against Jews The world body acknowledged that anti- Anti-Semites,” not only connects the has been increasing for the first time in Semitism is growing around the world, dots between the UN and Israeli gov- decades. The most recent sta- stemming from three primary sources: ernment reports, but also provides evi- tistics conclusively show that Jews are the far left, the far right, and radical Is- lam. In the report, the UN recognized for the first time that “the objectives, ac- tivities and effects of the BDS movement Growing social divisions in the United States have are fundamentally anti-Semitic.” given oxygen to fringe, radical movements that The next day, the Israeli government released a landmark report, “Behind promote anti-Semitism. the Mask: The Anti-Semitic Nature of BDS Exposed.” The document revealed rampant anti-Semitism within the BDS movement, including its calls for vio- dence of the far right’s embrace of BDS the target of most religious-based hate lence against Jews and the dismantling ideologies and tactics and recommends crimes. This fringe hatred is moving into of Israel. Promoted by an Islamo-leftist concrete solutions for lawmakers to the mainstream, enabled and promoted alliance, the BDS movement has inten- eradicate anti-Semitism before it spirals by the BDS movement. sified hatred and violence against Jews out of control. “The New Anti-Semites” report around the world. The report provided And make no mistake: this hatred has exposed the true face of the Islamo- 80 examples of anti-Semitism commit- is now manifesting across America, leftist BDS Movement as a 19-year-old ted by key BDS activists. spreading from Islamo-leftist to other campaign that promotes demonization This followed another bombshell hate groups and increasing violence and deligitimization of Israel and has Israeli government report, “Terrorists against Jews and other minorities. For- effectively mainstreamed anti-Semitism in Suits,” which exposed more than 100 tunately, with the assistance of federal worldwide. different connections linking Palestin- and state governments we have the pow- ian terrorist groups to BDS organiza- er to annihilate it. ❚ Ties Between Radicalization tions. The report substantiated how and Anti-Semitism Hamas (Palestinian Islamic Resistance ❚ Rising Jew-hatred in America The Islamo-leftist BDS movement Movement), Fatah, Palestinian Islam- American Jews face the perfect has been instrumental in spreading ic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front storm of anti-Semitism. Memory of the violence against Jews. Permitting the for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Holocaust and historic anti-Semitism is BDS movement to present Jews living

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 3 in Israel as human rights violators, open debate. So, it repurposes Soviet pro- radical left should be appalled by theo- war criminals, and occupiers makes it paganda to blame Jewish Zionists for so- cratic Islamist ideology, but instead its open season to depict nearly all Jews as cial and financial troubles while shutting adherents often unite based on common villains who deserve harassment and down campus dialogue on Israel. hatred for Western power in the world physical harm. This is the main reason The radical right seeks to destroy and Jewish influence. The BDS move- why physical attacks on Jews worldwide democracy by promoting fascism and ment empowers that connection. are increasing exponentially. neo-, and it blames Jews for just Growing social divisions in the United about any problem in the world. ❚ BDS’s Special Anti-Semitic Role States have given oxygen to fringe, radical Radical Muslims want to end the Ju- The BDS movement is one of the key movements that promote anti-Semitism. deo-Christian ethical base of American drivers spreading anti-Semitism in the This has enabled hate groups like the BDS civil society through both violent acts modern world. Since its establishment movement to gain more popularity, influ- and “peaceful” expansion of Islam. We in 2001 by the major Palestinian terror- ence, manpower, and energy. Anti-Semites, have seen this radicalism spread to pre- ist organizations, BDS has masqueraded as a nonviolent grassroots human rights movement that aims to “improve” the well-being of Palestinian Arabs. Instead Under the guise of freedom of speech, BDS promoted of elevating Palestinians, however, the movement is laser-focused on economi- hate and incitement to violence against Jews in Israel cally, culturally, and politically isolating and abroad. and eradicating Israel, using the model that was applied against the apartheid regime of South Africa. BDS uses seem- ingly legitimate criticism of Israel to pro- whether on the far right, far left, among dominately African American groups mote the ideological, social, and politi- radical Muslims or extremist elements like like the Nation of Islam and certain cal delegitimization of the Jewish state the fringe offshoots of Black Hebrew Isra- fringe elements (but not all) segments of and ultimately blatant anti-Semitism. elites, hate Jews for different reasons. At the Black Hebrews who push similarly Until recently, the BDS movement, the same time, their hatred is a threat to anti-Semitic agendas, which contributed with substantial support from the radi- our core American values: democracy, free to the string of attacks in metropolitan cal left, was able to hide its true inten- speech, and freedom of religion. New York City. tions, building alliances with global While the Nation of Islam is well- It’s important to note that alliances civil rights groups. Under the guise of known, these outlier Black Hebrew Isra- between some of these groups often defy freedom of speech, BDS promoted hate elites were a relatively unknown extremist logic. In recent years, North America and incitement to violence against Jews group until late last year when three af- has joined Europe in witnessing a grow- in Israel and abroad. filiated individuals committed the deadly ing alliance between radical Muslims To be clear, anti-Zionism itself shooting at a kosher market in Jersey City and radical leftists. Radical Muslims spreads anti-Semitism. and the machete attack at a Chanukah party in Monsey, New York. The black supremacist groups maintain a belief that black people are superior to people of other ...anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic when it promotes the races and some of them preach that black people are the true descendants of Biblical delegitimization of Israel, the demonization of Israel, Israelites, and that today’s Ashkenazi (Eu- or subjection of Israel to double standards. ropean) Jews are impostors. Each of these radical movements wants to fundamentally reshape demo- cratic societies. To build their movements and coalitions they start their attacks stone women and reject the most basic The Working Definition of Anti- on the most convenient and vulnerable of women’s rights, execute gays, engage Semitism promoted by the Interna- minority group: the Jewish community. in ethnic cleansing, and in general dis- tional Holocaust Remembrance Alli- The radical left seeks to destroy capital- regard what are considered in the West ance (IHRA) states that anti-Zionism ism, eliminate freedom, and stop free and as basic human rights. On paper, the is anti-Semitic when it promotes the

4 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 ADAM MILSTEIN: BDS Movement Eradicating the Anti-Semitic

A pro-BDS protester. (Photo: Mohamed Ouda/Flickr) delegitimization of Israel, the demoni- As Abraham Lincoln once said, “You longer have to be afraid and passive. To zation of Israel, or subjection of Israel to can fool all the people some of the time defeat anti-Semitism, we must be fight it double standards. The BDS movement and some of the people all the time, but head on. If we don’t, history shows that meets all three in most cases, but always you can’t fool all the people all the time.” the results could be catastrophic. mmets the first test because its over- In recent years, it has become increas- Similarly, we American Jews are all goal is the destruction of the Jewish ingly evident the BDS movement is – and more empowered than Jewish commu- state. The United States and 40 countries always has been – a front for Palestinian nities in the past. We have human and in Europe, South America, and Oceania terrorist organizations to pursue destruc- civil rights guaranteed by the Constitu- have adopted this comprehensive defi- tion of Israel by other means and that tion and upheld by Western values. We nition of anti-Semitism to help combat they are still coordinating major global have power and influence. Jew-hatred. This definition is currently BDS activities and have close links to But we must move away from being used at the State Department and the many of its members and groups. risk-averse and go on the offensive using Education Department’s Office of Civil all resources at our disposal. That means Rights. President ’s re- ❚ Who Must Act that we must create a strong coalition cent executive order on anti-Semitism The Jewish people are not new to leveraging the powerful trifecta of the included this definition as well. existential wars. I, myself, served in the modern State of Israel, the Jewish Amer- The BDS movement is undoubtedly (IDF) in the 1973 ican community, and the moral major- anti-Semitic under the IHRA definition. Yom Kippur War and saw firsthand what ity of Americans who stand against anti- It meets the definition by equating Israeli was at stake and what we can accomplish Semitism and for justice. How can these policy to those of Nazis; denying the Jew- when going on the offense and thinking three groups help? ish people its right to self-determination, outside the box. Throughout history, First, the Start-Up Nation is the also known as anti-Zionism; and using the when Jews responded courageously and most dynamic and powerful shield that symbols and images associated with clas- fought back, they prevailed. And today, the Jewish people has ever known, dedi- sic anti-Semitism to characterize Israel, we are fortunate to live in a time with a cated to safeguarding the Jewish people Israelis, and anyone who supports them. strong and thriving Jewish state. We no around the world. Israel is a strong ally

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 5 The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopts a working definition of anti-Semitism on May 26, 2016. (Photo: IHRA)

of America with common values, and movement and roll back the tide of Jew- combat anti-Zionist forms of anti-Sem- they face common enemies. The United hatred that threatens America, Europe, itism, i.e. new anti-Semitism, which has States can draw on Israel’s knowledge and the world. Fortunately, many patri- permeated the world today.” and strength to combat radical move- otic Americans are ready and willing to The IHRA working definition also ments at home. uphold the Western values that make life must also be incorporated into commu- Second, the American Jewish com- and liberty possible for American Jews. nity standards or end user agreements munity is one of the most successful First and foremost, there must be for social media platforms and as a foun- immigrant communities in U.S. his- wide adoption in the United States of dational pillar for educational curricula tory. Right now, many of its members the IHRA working definition on anti- pertaining to and Israel. are hesitant to utilize our resources and influence to fight against anti-Semi- tism. The longer we wait, however, the less power and influence we will have. Jewish leaders must immediately trans- Jew-hatred is not just a Jewish problem...Hatred, form their mind-set from risk-averse to taking the offensive. We can use our racism, and bigotry threaten democratic societies leadership and resources to put anti- Semites on the defensive. Third, we must expose the fact that Jew-hatred is not just a Jewish problem, it first and upmost an American problem. Semitism, which is currently only a non- These are concrete solutions to re- Hatred, racism and bigotry threatens binding document. Per the report, “the duce the spread of Jew-hatred in Amer- democratic societies and our American working definition should be adopted ica. They focus on eradicating the BDS way of life. We cannot sit idly by in the at all public institutions that have anti- movement and its influence. If we want face of this distinct threat to the values at racist and anti- codes of to uphold the values that make America a the heart of Western society. conducts on the books—municipalities beacon of freedom, justice, and safety for and state-funded offices, courts, federal the world, this is how we can lead the way. ❚ What We Must Do departments of government, public hos- “The New Anti-Semites” report pitals, public colleges, police forces and ADAM MILSTEIN is a business- recommends tangible ways to defeat military… Legal authority can provide man, philanthropist, a co-found- the terror-affiliated anti-Semitic BDS the necessary mechanism to effectively er of the Israeli-American Council.

6 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 Colleges and Title VI: Stopping Anti-Semitism by SARAH N. STERN

“Never underestimate the power of ideas. Then, in 1978, Edward Said, profes- ❚ Said’s Professoriate Philosophical concepts nurtured in the sor of English and Comparative Litera- Today, Rashid Khalidi occupies the stillness of a professor’s study could de- ture at Columbia University, published Edward Said Chair of Middle East Studies stroy a civilization” – Heinrich Heine a book entitled Orientalism, questioning at Columbia University. He is also dean the legitimacy of any scholarship by an of Columbia’s School of International mong the manifestations of con- area specialist not from the Middle East. Studies. It doesn’t seem to faze anyone at temporary anti-Semitism are its “Orientalism” was used in the same Columbia that Khalidi served as a spokes- ubiquitous nature, and its emer- way one would use “racism,” “sexism,” man for and the Palestine Agence in some of the least expect- or “anti-Semitism.” Said’s theory was Liberation Organization when the PLO ed places. One might expect it, perhaps, a post-colonial one, and he wrote that was one of the world’s leading terrorist in a working-class bar where uneducated anyone other than a native of the region, organizations. patrons might utter racial stereotypes. (i.e. an Arab), was inextricably tied to Khalidi has led the boycott, divest However, today’s anti-Semitism has re- Western, imperialist societies. Scholar- and sanction (BDS) movement at Colum- ceived its most pernicious endorsement ship by such “orientalists” was looked bia. He has made statements to the press, in academia, where professors give anti- upon as less than authentic. including one to Chicago’s National Pub- Semitism an insidious, but powerful intel- This rather simplistic theory caught on lic Radio station in January 2017, using lectual veneer, which has made it tolerated like wildfire and revolutionized the teach- Nazi-like allusions to Jews, saying “sup- in higher echelons of polite society. ing of Middle East studies. Suddenly, excel- porters of Israel in the Trump adminis- The etiology of all of this is innocent lent scholars, including Bernard Lewis and tration infest the U.S. government.” enough. After the Soviet Union launched Efraim Karsh, were eliminated from cur- Prof. Joseph Massad, in his convolut- “Sputnik” into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957, Amer- ricula, and their books removed from uni- ed logic, has called Zionism “anti-Semit- icans began to feel that the Soviets were versity library shelves or simply ignored. ic.” The 2004 film Columbia Unbecoming, providing their children with a superior education, and our students were woefully unable to compete with the Soviet threat ... today’s anti-Semitism has received its most in the fields of math, science, foreign lan- pernicious endorsement in academia, where guages and cultures. Congress responded professors give anti-Semitism an insidious, but by passing the National Defense Educa- tion Act (NDEA) on Sept. 2, 1958. The powerful intellectual veneer... act’s major intention was to create gradu- ates who would best serve the national de- fense interests of the United States. Edward Said became the much-be- exposed Massad’s academic malpractice, Part of the original legislative pur- loved doyen of Middle East studies. He telling a Jewish student in his class who pose of the NDEA, which later became begot disciples in universities through- tried to defend Israel she has “no bone in folded into Title VI of the Higher Educa- out the country. At this point, a cannon this fight” because she has “green eyes” tion Act, was to give students fluency in of research has developed in which Said’s and is not a “true Semite.” area studies, such as Asian, Latin Ameri- “post-colonial” specialists refer to each Hamid Dabashi is yet another Co- can, and Middle Eastern Studies, and other, quoting and footnoting like-mind- lumbia professor. Dabashi teaches Ira- languages so that we could compete with ed colleagues, giving their deep hatred of nian studies and comparative literature. the Soviet threat. Taxpayer funds were al- Israel and Jewish people, stimulated by He wrote two Facebook posts on May 8, located to universities to establish depart- Said’s anti-Zionist “Palestinianism,” the 2018 defaming Israel and Zionists. In one, ments in these fields. veneer of serious scholarship. he calls Israel a “key actor” in “every dirty

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 7 treacherous ugly and pernicious act hap- “That’s your opinion, but you’re wrong. I free and democratic elections, the United pening in the world.” He also criticizes stand with Jews who do not support Israel States and Europe failed to give the party “diehard Fifth Column Zionists working and I hope that Jews will disalign [sic.] full recognition and support.” (As if the against the best interests of Americans.” themselves from white supremacy.” one 2004 Palestinian legislative council Columbia University, which has long Georgetown University is the home of election a democracy makes.) been a recipient of Title VI funding, has the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for He also has written in passionate de- been a particularly prominent defender Muslim Christian Understanding; Prof. fense of convicted terrorist Sami al-Arian, of unapologetic promoters of anti-Semi- John Esposito is the founding director. His who in 2006 pled guilty to conspiring to tism, hiding under the guise of academic tweets are replete with classic anti-Semitic provide goods and services to Palestin- free speech. In September 2019, the uni- rants against Jewish control of Washing- ian Islamic Jihad. In 2008, Esposito wrote versity hosted Malaysian Prime Minister ton, and “the .” Esposito leads a letter to the judge, calling al-Arian, Mahathir Mohamad, who has called Jews the BDS movement at Georgetown. His “an extraordinarily bright and articulate “hook-nosed people who rule the world case goes deeper, however. scholar and intellectual-activist.” For American university students to be under the influence of intellectually Columbia will not apply these same standards of dishonest and academically intolerant professors, including some closely linked academic freedom and free speech to faculty or to terrorists, is reprehensible. speakers bigoted against black people, women, ❚ Latinos, or homosexuals. “Universities’ Foreign Payroll” Perhaps part of the reason George- town University is willing to overlook ac- ademics with terrorist ties on its payroll, by proxy.” In 2007, Columbia rolled out Esposito has been closely associated is that the school has received an extraor- its red carpet for Iranian President Mah- with terrorist organizations and individu- dinary amount of money from Qatar, an moud Ahmadinejad, who infamously als implicated in terrorism. He has been ally of and a hub for Hamas, among said that was “a myth” and involved with three organizations directly other terrorist entities. that “Israel should be wiped off the map.” tied to terrorism: the “Palestine Com- Georgetown received a $20 million Of course, Columbia would not apply mittee,” which is a front for the Muslim gift in 1996 from the Saudis. According to such a standard of academic freedom and Brotherhood; the Holy Land Foundation a report from the Project on Government free speech to faculty or speakers bigoted for Relief and Development, unindicted Oversight, entitled “Universities on the against black people, women, Latinos, or co-conspirator in a 2009 federal money Foreign Payroll,” since 2011, Georgetown homosexuals. laundering trial in which five men were University has received $330 million from convicted of sending more than $12 mil- the Qatar Foundation. ❚ Beyond Colombia University lion to Hamas, the terrorist Palestinian Can objective research or instruc- Looking across the country, we see Islamic Resistance Movement; and The tion about Israel and the Middle East similar anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism United Association of Ongoing Issues in be expected to generate such significant in practically every Title VI-funded Mid- the Middle East, which was founded by funding? dle East center. Mousa Abu Marzook, who was the di- A provision of the Higher Education UCLA (University of California, rector of the Hamas political bureau and Act demands that universities must re- Los Angeles) is another Title VI-funded arrested in 1995 in New York. In 1997, port any foreign donation of $250,000 or school. There is now an active complaint Marzook was extradited to , and more. It often is ignored. So, anti-Zionism filed against it with the Department of Ed- went from there to where he headed and anti-Semitism have spread like an ucation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Hamas in Syria. epidemic through institutions of higher Act. The investigation revolves around a In congressional testimony in 2000, learning. guest lecture given by Rabab Abdulhadi, Esposito claimed that Hamas and Hezbol- director of the Arab and Muslim Eth- lah were “legitimate political parties, with ❚ “Diversity of Perspectives” nicities Program at San Francisco State whom the United States should negoti- In 2008, the organization that I University. Abdulhadi claimed that “sup- ate.” In a 2006 article in the Harvard In- founded, EMET—Endowment for Middle porters of Israel are white supremacists.” ternational Review, Esposito criticized the East Truth—successfully pushed Congress A courageous Jewish student who tried to United States and Europe for condemn- to make several amendments to Title VI of challenge her was rebuked with the words, ing Hamas. He wrote, “despite Hamas’ the HEA. The most significant called for “a

8 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 SARAH N. STERN: College’s and Title VI: Stoping anti-Semitism diversity of perspectives” and “wide range Studies departments who received Edu- embrace and teach Islam, as well as the of viewpoints.” They were signed into law cation Department grants this cycle, political views of Saudi Arabia. by President George W. Bush. eight either personally signed a state- Among the guide’s many non-truths It was a rather pyrrhic victory. The ment supporting BDS or their current is that Palestine became an independent reality was that in the ensuing years the directors signed a statement saying that nation which the U.N. General Assembly universities wholly ignored this federal they will shut down their Israel-abroad voted to recognize such an entity in 1988, requirement. In an effort to make the programs. They therefore got the fund- and that Yasser Arafat was its president. Department of Education (DoE) aware of ing under fraudulent terms. Even more insidious are the emotionally this, I met twice with department officials Moreover, Title VI of the Higher manipulative essays and poetry within during the Obama administration. It be- Education Act stipulates that the federal the notebook. America’s most impres- came obvious that they hadn’t even read funding “promote access to research and sionable, young students are asked to read the law, and said, “We have our own regu- training overseas, including through poems such as “Identity Card” by the lations.” To which I responded, “Oh. Do links to overseas institutions.” An aca- anti-Israel writer Mahmoud Darwish. It agency regulations trump federal law?” demic boycott actually calls for the exact includes a stanza reading: “No,” they acknowledged, “federal law opposite. As Benjamin argues, “It seeks trumps agency regulations.” to deny access to research, training and Write down! During the second meeting, I was education in and about the targeted I am an Arab again accompanied by representatives of country. For example, the official guide- You have stolen the orchards of my ancestors several other concerned organizations. lines of the Palestinian Campaign for the And the land which I cultivated Education Department officials said, Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel Along with my children “When we read the ‘diversity of per- urge faculty to shut down study abroad And you left us with those rocks spectives’ requirement in the law, we felt programs in Israel; refuse to write rec- So, will the state take them some of the readers of the grant appli- ommendations for students who want As it has been said? cation should be white, some should be to attend them; scuttle their colleagues’ black, some should be old, some should research collaborations with Israeli On Dec. 11, 2019, President Trump be young, etc.” universities and scholars; and cancel or issued an executive order giving Jewish I responded, “It is obvious from the shut down educational events featuring students the same rights under Title VI legislative intent that this refers to the Israeli scholars or seeking to ‘normalize’ of the Civil Rights Act that members of grantees, recipients of the funding, the Israel by presenting it in anything but a other minority groups have. It uses the universities, and what is being taught in negative light.” International Holocaust Remembrance the classroom; not to the grant readers in Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semi- the Department of Education.” ❚ Reaching into K-12 Education tism, with examples that include, among We now have met several times All of these boycott-compliant activi- other things, “Denying the Jewish people with Education officials under President ties directly subvert the purpose for which their right to self- determination, e.g. by Trump. As a result of those meetings, the these Title VI-funded centers received claiming that the existence of the State of department has added to the application their federal grants. Even more perni- Israel is a racist endeavor.” a requirement for an essay in which uni- cious, however, is that in order to get the This means that finally, Jewish stu- versities are asked to explain “how they funding, the suspect professors, overtly dents will have the right to sue universities encourage a diversity of perspectives and biased against Israel, are required to do for discrimination. wide range of viewpoints.” But the require- teacher training workshops for teachers Virtually every single Middle East ment never mentions the word “Israel.” of kindergarten through 12th grade. This studies program in the United States en- Yet, obviously universities applying constitutes nothing more than “trickle gages in what easily qualifies as anti-Sem- for grants realized where they were vul- down propaganda.” itism according to the IHRA definition. nerable. Each university wrote about “an The curriculum guide they use is So, we must ask: Where does one possibly exchange of professors with Israel” or “a “The Arab World Studies Notebook,” begin to clean up this morass of mis-ed- junior year abroad in Israel.” All the essays edited by Audrey Shabbas The book ucation? Yet begin we must, because the were signed by department chairmen. is produced by the Middle East Policy hearts and minds of future generations of Council, which receives its funding di- Americans depend on us to do so. ❚ BDS and Academic Boycotts rectly from Saudi Arabia, and AWAIR, However, Tammi Benjamin, of the which receives its funding from the SARAH N. STERN is found- Amcha Initiative in California, found Saudi Aramco oil company. Its content er and president of the Endow- that out of 15 chairmen of Middle East is aimed at having classroom teachers ment for Middle East Truth (EMET).

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 9 News Media Malpractice Promotes Anti-Semitism by SEAN DURNS

nti-Semitism,” the British deny entry to Omar and Tlaib—a deci- for Children International – Palestine writer Nick Cohen has ob- sion in keeping with Israeli law barring (DCI-P), a nonprofit that has extensive served, “is unique among BDS activists from entering Israel—re- ties to the Popular Front for the Lib- “A religious hatreds.” Indeed, ceived widespread news coverage. The eration of Palestine (DFLP), a U.S.-des- anti-Semitism is unique among hatreds, Washington Post alone ran no fewer than ignated terror group. The president of not just those religiously based. Not only four stories on the incident. Less widely DCI-P’s General Assembly, Nasser Ibra- because the virus has shown a remark- noted, however: the trip was sponsored him, is the former editor of El Hadaf, the able ability to permeate through the ages by the organization Miftah, which has PFLP’s weekly publication. DCI-P board and mutate to find new hosts. But also praised suicide bombers and claimed that members and employees, past and pres- because anti-Semitism is perhaps the Jews consume Christian blood. ent, include no fewer than 10 individuals only hatred in the Western world today As NGO Monitor has documented, with links to the PFLP. that is excused and even promoted, if on March 27, 2013 Miftah “published an It should be front-page news that implicitly, by major U.S. news outlets. article by Nawaf al-Zaru that repeated the two high-profile members of Congress If, as the famed columnist Walter anti-Semitic .” That article as- tried to take a trip sponsored by an Lippmann once wrote, “there can be serted that “much of the historical stories anti-Semitic organization—a trip that no higher law in journalism than to tell and tales about Jewish blood rituals in Eu- would have included meetings with the truth and shame the devil,” many in rope are based on real rituals and are not a nonprofit with links to a terrorist the press are failing—conspicuously—to false as they claim; the Jews used the blood group. But it wasn’t. tell the truth about the oldest hatred, a of Christians in the Jewish Passover.” Indeed, for all the media coverage of hatred that has, in living memory, mur- Miftah has also published articles Israel thwarting Omar and Tlaib’s pro- dered millions. hailing suicide bomber Wafa Idris as BDS propaganda attempt, most major The proof is in the coverage—or, “the beginning of a string of Palestin- mainstream news outlets failed to detail more often than not, the lack of it. In- ian women dedicated to sacrificing their Miftah’s and DCI-P’s disturbing histo- deed, when far-left antisemites in the lives for the cause.” Idris detonated her- ries—information readily available and United States Congress traffic in, and self on Jan. 27, 2002, killing 81-year-old easily verified. In fact, the Committee for promote, anti-Jewish bigotry, many news outlets are silent. Take, for example, reporting on U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). In the summer of 2019, It should be front-page news that two high-profile both freshmen congresswomen tried to go on a trip to Israel, which was labeled members of Congress tried to go on a trip sponsored as “Palestine” in their itineraries. Both by an anti-Semitic organization...But it wasn’t. Omar and Tlaib support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) move- ment which seeks the end of the Jewish state, singles out only Israel for oppro- brium, has been declared anti-Semitic by Pinhas Takatli and wounding another Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and various legislative bodies, and is endorsed 150 Israeli civilians. Analysis (CAMERA), a media watchdog by terrorist organizations like Hamas. Equally damning, Omar and Tlaib’s group, even supplied information about The Israeli government’s decision to itinerary listed a meeting with Defense Miftah to editors at USA Today, who

10 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 News Media Malpractice Promotes Anti-Semitism SEAN DURNS:

Mo Amer, a Palestinian-American activist, added a this Post-it Note to a map of the Middle East in in Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (MI-D) office in the U.S. Capitol. (Photo: Hannah Allam) promptly declined to include it in their policies”—hardly a complete or accu- with a known anti-Semite and supporter pre-existing report on Tlaib and Omar’s rate description of her comments. of a group that has murdered Israelis, planned trip. As for Tlaib, the congresswoman Americans, and others. Both members of Congress have a has associated with Abbas Hamideh, an By failing to hold members of history of anti-Semitic statements and ardent supporter of Hezbollah, the U.S.- Congress responsible for their anti- actions, in addition to their support for designated Lebanese Shiite terror group Semitism, the media is emboldening BDS. Omar, for example, has accused that seeks Israel’s destruction. Hami- them. Indeed, on Jan. 25, 2020, Hanan Israel of “hypnotizing the world,” insinu- deh—who has praised the deceased Ashrawi, a Palestine Liberation Orga- ated that her fellow lawmakers’ pro-Israel arch-terrorist and child-murderer Samir nization (PLO) member and founder positions are purchased by Jewish money, Kuntar—has called Jews “Schlomos,” of Miftah who once dated the late ABC and claimed that the Jewish Americans advocated the ethnic cleansing of Jews news anchor Peter Jennings, used Twit- among them have dual loyalties. Impor- from Israel, and compared Israelis to ter to claim that Israelis had kidnapped tantly, Omar’s comments meet the widely Nazis. Some outlets, such as The Wash- and murdered a young Palestinian boy accepted International Holocaust Re- ington Examiner, The Daily Caller and named Qais Abu Ramila. In fact, Ramila membrance Alliance (IHRA) definition Fox News, noted that Hamideh even had accidentally drowned and there was of anti-Semitism, used by the U.S. State attended Tlaib’s swearing-in ceremony. no evidence to suggest that Israelis had Department and others. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) been involved. But the press obfuscates Omar’s asked the congresswoman for an expla- As several writers observed, this anti-Semitism. In a Jan. 26, 2020 re- nation. But major news outlets like CNN, was but a revamped use of the ancient port, for example, claimed , and The New York blood libel in which Jews are blamed that Omar has merely “stoked contro- Times, couldn’t be troubled to ask why for the deaths of non-Jewish children. versy by criticizing America’s Israeli a member of Congress was associating Tlaib, however, was unfazed. The

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 11 congresswoman was quick to retweet legislative consequences as well. As NGO of the political right. That facts and his- Ashrawi. Once again, news outlets from Monitor has documented, Rep. Betty Mc- tory say otherwise is but an inconve- the right side of the political spectrum Collum (D-MN) has even introduced nience best ignored. noted that a sitting member of Con- bills—based on disproven claims by the Indeed, reporting on anti-Semitism gress was promoting a blood libel on PFLP-linked DCI-P—which assert that is often deeply politicized. social media while legacy media chose the Jewish state is guilty of apartheid and Although buried if not dismissed by to ignore it. systemic abuse of children. In 2017 NGO media reports, Jew-hatred has, in fact, been rising for years. A 2015 Tel Aviv University report noted that violent an- ti-Semitic attacks increased by nearly 40 percent in 2014. The report by the uni- By failing to hold members of Congress responsible for versity’s Kantor Center concluded: “The their , the media is emboldening them... overall feeling among many Jewish peo- ple is one of living in an intensifying an- ti-Jewish environment that has become not only insulting and threatening, but outright dangerous, and that they are Regrettably, examples abound of Monitor highlighted that “the entirety of facing an explosion of hatred toward the press ignoring anti-Semitism when the proposed bill is premised on factually them as individuals, their communities it emanates from the left. inaccurate claims from anti-Israel advo- and Israel, as a Jewish state.” The Washington Post, among other cacy NGOs, including direct quotes from As CAMERA noted at the time, most major news outlets, has ignored the doc- DCIP’s ‘No Way to Treat a Child’ 2016 re- Western news outlets chose to ignore this umented anti-Semitism of Valerie Plame, port and website.” increase in violent anti-Semitism. That a former CIA officer turned Democratic It should be newsworthy that a changed with the election of Donald congressional candidate in New Mexico. member of Congress is introducing leg- Trump. Suddenly the press was interested On Dec. 1, 2019, The Post wrote a glow- islation that regurgitates propaganda in the topic—but only when it can depict ing 2,849-word profile of Plame. But the from a viciously anti-Semitic and terror- anti-Semitism as emanating from the newspaper omitted her history of pro- ist-linked organization. But once again right side of the political spectrum. moting anti-Semitic conspiracies. the fourth estate has failed to ask ques- For example, Washington Post In September 2017, Plame received tions or to hold McCollum to account. WorldViews columnist Ishaan Tharoor some media attention for recommend- The result? On May 1, 2019, McCollum has filed dispatches including “The ines- ing an article titled “America’s Jews even introduced a reworked version of capable anti-Semitism of Western nation- are Driving America’s Wars” from an her 2017 bill, now entitled “‘Promoting alists,” which exclusively blame the far avowedly anti-Semitic website called the Human Rights for Palestinian Children right for the increase in anti-Semitism. Unz Review. Plame initially defended Living Under Israeli Military Occupa- Tharoor cited a 2018 report by the Anti- her tweet, writing that the story by not- tion Act” (HR 2407). Defamation League (ADL) for proof. But ed conspiracy theorist Phillip Giraldi was “very provocative, but thoughtful.” Moreover, she demanded of her critics: “Put aside your biases” as “many neocon ... a sitting member of Congress was promoting a hawks ARE Jewish.” After criticism of Plame intensified, blood libel on social media while legacy media chose she changed her story, claiming that she to ignore it. hadn’t read the article and, as a result, missed the “gross undercurrents” of a piece whose very title makes its anti- Semitism clear. The Post covered the incident at the time but curiously failed This is but more evidence that the that report listed numerous examples of to mention it once Plame became a con- media’s coverage of anti-Semitism is ex- anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by gressional candidate. tremely selective. One would think from those who can’t be categorized as “West- The media’s failure to detail anti- reports from most major news entities ern nationalists” or “far right.” For exam- Semitism in the halls of Congress has that anti-Semitism is only the province ple, the report detailed several speeches

12 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 News Media Malpractice Promotes Anti-Semitism SEAN DURNS: by U.S.-based imams, who, among other the one group everyone of conscience makes her anti-Semitism understand- things, called for “Allah to destroy the recognizes as evil, Jews’ inconvenient able, if not forgivable. Jewish people,” propagated “anti-Semitic murders, their beatings, their discrimi- Perhaps most disturbingly, major conspiracy claims about Israel and Jews,” nation, the singling out of their state for Western news outlets have themselves and incited anti-Jewish violence. demonization will be explained away.” become purveyors of anti-Semitism in Tharoor mentions none of this, nor Then came two tragic incidents— ways large and small. In April 2019, The does he note another troubling trend: a Dec. 10, 2019 fatal shooting in Jersey New York Times infamously published exploding Jew-hatred in our colleges City by two supporters of the Black He- not one, but two, anti-Semitic cartoons. and universities, which “continues to brew Israelites (BHI) who sought to tar- On Feb. 11, 2020 The Atlantic magazine be the scene of significant numbers of get a Jewish day school but hit a nearby posted a video that claimed Israel is car- anti-Semitic incidents,” as a 2018 ADL kosher grocery instead and a multiple- rying out “a campaign of ethnic cleans- report documents. In a sign of how un- victim stabbing in a rabbi’s home in ing” and “is behind every regional war seriously the press takes this, The Post’s Monsey, New York by Thomas Grafton, that’s happened in the last 70 years.” editorial board even opposed President an African-American whose journals Comparing the actions of the Jewish state Donald Trump’s December 2019 execu- also reference the BHI. Yet, even after to Nazi Germany and asserting that Jews tive order to combat anti-Semitism on these attacks, news agencies like NBC foment wars are both anti-Semitic tropes college campuses. engaged in victim-blaming, claiming with long histories. On March 7, 2020, That order was largely based on the that gentrification by Chasidic Jews of The Washington Post published a letter bipartisan Anti-Semitism Awareness African American-populated neighbor- to the editor commending an anti-Israel Act, according to co-chairs of the Sen- hoods was responsible for the violence. historical inversion that had appeared ate Bipartisan Task Force for Combat- This reveals the media’s innate bias: in the newspaper’s “Food” section. The ing Anti-Semitism, Senators Jacky Rosen it is inconceivable that another minority letter writer claimed “the erasure of the (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK). It would be blamed for the violence and Palestinian culture to make way for Israel adheres to guidelines first implemented hatred perpetrated against Jews. It also was/is part and parcel of ethnic cleans- by the Obama administration. But The shows a tacit acceptance of anti-Semi- ing that continues to this day. To call it Post opposed it, inaccurately claiming tism. Some examples of the latter: ‘Israeli food’ is to be complicit in a crime that “the order signed Wednesday by the president specifically targets colleges and universities by classifying Judaism not only as a religion but also as a race or na- ...it is inconceivable that another minority would tionality.” It does no such thing. Indeed, as the ADL pointed out “the Executive be blamed for the violence and hatred perpetrated Order includes Jews in Title VI protec- against Jews. tions, something ADL and previous ad- ministrations, both Democratic and Re- publican, have supported for years.” Indeed, there is bloody and unde- niable evidence that anti-Semitism is a The Los Angeles Times’s Jan. 4, 2019 against humanity.” Condemning the Jew- problem on both the far right and the far opinion column asserting that the “big- ish state as “a crime against humanity” left. For years, Jewish individuals in the ger picture” demands that “everyone in- meets letters-to-the-editor guidelines? New York City area, most of them Or- volved in the Women’s March can take a Anti-Semitism is both increasing thodox or visibly Jewish, have been the bow,” regardless of March leaders’ asso- and increasingly mainstreamed. From victims of growing harassment, threats ciation with noted antisemite Louis Far- the halls of Congress to the newsrooms and violence. And the media has, until rakhan, who once called a of The Washington Post, our institutions recently, largely ignored these attacks, “very great man.” And on March 5, 2020, are showing that they aren’t up to the many of them perpetrated by members The Washington Post’s Petula Dvorak task of confronting Jew-hatred. Indeed, of other minority groups. As The New wrote a sympathetic profile of a Virginia they’re part of the problem. York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss— woman who hangs signs urging “Nuke one of the few columnists at a major out- Israel” from her home. “This woman,” SEAN DURNS is a Senior Research Ana- let to cover anti-Semitism irrespective of Dvorak told her Twitter followers, “de- lyst for the Washington D.C. office of the politics—noted, there is a “theme” that serves peace” but is “haunted” by a fam- Committee for Accuracy in Middle East “unless Jews are murdered by neo-Nazis, ily tragedy that, the column implies, Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 13 How “Social Justice” Movement Defines Jews as Villains by PHILIP CARL SALZMAN

he revolutionary “social justice” ❚ Feminism First ❚ Race, Ethnicity & Religion movement that has captured Feminists developed a gender class Sociologists and race activists American and Canadian educa- model of society in which “the patriarchy” found that the neo-Marxist class model Ttional systems, the mass media, was the hierarchical oppressor and exploit- worked beautifully for race. Once again, industry, and governments defines Jews er of its female victims. The objectives of all people were subsumed into two great as oppressors of suffering victims, as feminism were to raise the class conscious- racial blocks, the white supremacist evil villains. How did this happen? ness of women, mobilize women to con- oppressors, and the black underclass How we understand ourselves and front the male oppressors, and overthrow victims. Society was deemed to be con- our social and political environment is “the patriarchy.” The entire class of men taminated with “structural racism,” and based on a vision or model of the way came to be condemned as evil: insensitive, all whites were “racist” whatever they society works. During the mid-20th inconsiderate, violent, brutal, and rapists. said their attitudes and beliefs were. century, the generally agreed-upon Men were no longer fathers, brothers, sons, “Racism” was defined as “prejudice plus model was of free citizens associat- fellow citizens, fellow students, fellow work- power,” so only whites could be “racist.” ing voluntarily to form families, busi- ers, but oppressors and exploiters of inno- Anyone who disagreed was condemned nesses, charities, and political parties. cent females. Anyone who disagreed was as “racist.” It was also recognized that, interfering condemned as a “sexist.” (See Feminism Ethnicity and religion also provid- to an extent with the free flow of indi- and Injustice, by Philip Carl Salzman.) ed identity classes that could be framed viduals, there were vertical ethnic and The feminist identity class model in a hierarchical model. In the West, racial blocks, and to a degree an ethnic of society was adopted by homosexuals, the oppressors are deemed to be Chris- and racial hierarchy. The Marxist class who saw themselves as innocent victims tians and Jews, and the oppressed vic- model of society, with capitalists and of “heteronormativity” and heterosexual tims are the Muslims. Any criticism of bourgeois exploiting and oppressing oppression. Once again, all people were Islam or Muslims is denounced as “Is- the working proletariat, was not wide- divided into oppressors and victims. Any- lamophobia,” and the critics as “racists.” ly accepted in North America, mainly because most people thought of them- selves as middle class. However, during the second half of the 20th century, various interest Ethnicity and religion also provided identity classes groups formulated a new vision of so- ciety, drawing on Marxist class analysis that could be framed in a hierarchical model. that had seeped into academic social science. But rather than emphasize economic standing, the new model emphasized classes based on identity categories, particularly about gender, one who disagreed was condemned as a Christians and Jews are characterized race, sexuality, and ethnicity. The most “homophobe.” The same frame was taken as “white supremacists,” and Muslims important movement was feminism, up by transsexuals and non-binaries who as “people of color,” even though many which gained a strong foothold in uni- demand that male and female categories Muslims are visually white, and official- versities as “women’s studies,” but was be erased, and that claims of identity ne- ly classified as white. widely adopted throughout the social gate biological science. Anyone who dis- Now that being white is a bad sciences and humanities. agrees is condemned as a “transphobe.” thing, Jews have been designated white

14 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 PHILIP CARL SALZMAN: How “Social Justice” Movement Defines Jews as Villains by identity theorists and activists. As reality is different and more compli- ❚ Choice one dormitory staffer at an East Coast cated. For example, some 70 percent of One important alternative explana- university said, “Jews are not a minor- the professional athletes in the National tion is choice: people in some categories ity, because they never suffered.” Now Football League and National Basketball prefer some activities to others, and can no longer regarded as a separate ethnic Association are African Americans, who end up overrepresented in those activi- group, Jews have been assimilated into make up 13 percent of the general popu- ties. If Jews are “underrepresented” sta- the newly despised white race. So, they lation. Is this “overrepresentation” the tistically among lumberjacks and forest are now regarded as villainous oppres- result of NFL and NBA discrimination rangers, and “overrepresented” among sors of “marginalized” minorities. This against whites and Asians? There is no dentists and psychotherapists, it is be- evil status of Jews has inspired an recent evidence to support such a conclusion. cause they self-select for some occupa- upsurge in anti-Semitic sentiments, Similarly, among doctors, law- tions and not for others. statements, attacks, and atrocities by Af- yers, and academics, Jews and East Female university students opt in rican Americans against Jews. Asians are highly “overrepresented” in droves for the social sciences, humanities, education, and social work, and typically choose not to go into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) For feminists, race, sexuality, and ethno-religious fields. Their alleged “underrepresenta- tion” in STEM has generated shrill accu- theorists and activists, the central mechanism of sations of discrimination against females oppression is category discrimination... in these disciplines, but the evidence in- dicates that female students follow their own interests, and they themselves dis- criminate against STEM fields.

❚ Category Discrimination comparison to their percentage of the ❚ Capability For feminist, race, sexuality, and population. So too with Nobel Prizes Another important alternative ex- ethno-religious theorists and activists, awarded to Jews massively above their planation is capability: selection for ad- the central mechanism of oppression is percentage of the population. Is this the missions and posts is based on ability category discrimination. This is deter- result of discrimination in favor of Jews to do the tasks involved. It is not news, mined, in their view, when members of and East Asians against Christians, Eu- although it is now regarded as impolite, a category are “underrepresented” or ro-Americans, and African Americans? if not racist, to mention it, but members “overrepresented” in any business, pro- No such evidence exists. of some categories are better qualified fessional, educational, governmental Identity theorists and activists are for some work than members of other or other organization in relation to the not interested in explanations other than categories. In high school academic percentage of members of that category in the general population. Thus, they believe, any fewer than 50 percent of fe- males, 13 percent of African Americans, Black Lives Matter officially sides with Palestinian and at least some gays, lesbians, bisexu- Arabs against Israeli Jews, notwithstanding the als, transsexuals, and non-binary indi- viduals is proof that men, whites, het- centuries of Arab slaving in Africa, the selling and erosexuals, and Christians and Jews are holding of black slaves... discriminating against them. The advo- cates of this theory do not feel compelled to demonstrate discrimination; in their minds, over- or under-representation is sufficient to prove their case. discrimination for different degrees of achievement, and in standardized tests, It is, however, false, that over- or representation of different categories of East Asian Americans do far better than under-representation is entirely or even population. Alternative explanations members of any other category. Follow- mostly the result of discrimination, undercut their claims of discrimina- ing are whites, and below are Hispanics, however convenient that might be for tion, and undermine the validity of their with African Americans lower. grievance theorists and activists. The claims of righteous grievance. In the 2019 College Board

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 15 Examinations, the average score of Asians consequences for children, especially categories. Thus, an African Ameri- was 1223, whites 1114, Hispanics 978, and boys, including weak academic perfor- can female is thus more virtuous than African Americans 933. Selection for any mances and high levels of incarceration. an African American male; an African academic or intellectual post that weighs In contrast, African American children American lesbian is a greater victim and past achievement, merit, and potential brought up in two-parent families per- more virtuous than an African Ameri- will draw more heavily on members of form at a much higher level, and do not can heterosexual female. So too an Af- the category strongest in these character- suffer the same negative consequences as rican American Muslim is a greater vic- istics. Statistically, members of a category those brought up in single parent fami- tim and more virtuous than an African might be “overrepresented,” but in terms lies. (See Taboo: 10 Facts You Can’t Talk American Christian. of apparent or demonstrated capability About, by Professor Wilfred Reilly.) At the same time, all victims are re- members of the category would be appro- garded in intersectionalism to be in the priately represented. ❚ “Social Justice” same position in relation to oppressors, so “Social justice” is the next step in solidarity is called for among members of ❚ Culture the discrimination narrative, and is of- all victim categories, as is victim opposi- How can we account for perfor- fered as the antidote to the “unfair” dif- tion to members of oppressor categories. mance differences between categories? ferentials in representation. The “social For example, it is claimed that feminists, A major factor is culture. Members of justice” movement rejects the idea that African Americans, and LGBTQ (les- different categories share, to a degree, a common culture, which is different from the cultures of other categories. For example, the cultures of some cat- All of the intersectional solidarity with enemies of egories, specifically East Asians and Jews, emphasize education, learning, Israel leads, of course, to hate for Israel, and, by and professional status. East Asian cul- extension, hate for Jews generally. ture also emphasizes obedience and discipline. The cultures of other cat- egories historically have not focused on the same values and goals to the same extent. Culture is therefore a major differential representation reflects peo- bian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or queer contributor to differential motives and ple’s choices, capabilities and cultures. people) must support Palestinian Arabs, habits, which result in different degrees “Social justice” advocates and activists who “social justice” activists define as of representation of different categories. insist that justification for differential “people of color.” Linda Sarsour recently (See Black Culture Matters: Why It’s representation, such as choice, merit, said, “I am a Palestinian, and if I want to Time to Stop Pretending that Racism is and culture, are “white supremacist” say I am black, I am black.” Facts are irrel- the Problem, by Nick Pilgrim.) talking points, and are in themselves evant. That Sarsour is visually white, and Culture can also have an impact in racist. The solution to “unjust” differen- Palestinians and all Arabs as well as Per- its effect on organization among mem- tial representation, according to the ad- sians are officially classified by the U.S. bers of a particular category. For example, vocates and activists, is, under the cover government as white, counts for nothing members of racial and ethnic categories of “diversity and inclusion,” to set quo- in the victim grievance narrative. differ in their family relations. In the 21st tas that reflect percentages of the general Black Lives Matter officially sides with century, there is great variation between population, and then force universities, Palestinian Arabs against Israeli Jews, not- categories in the percentage of single par- businesses, and government to impose withstanding the centuries of Arab slav- ent families. East Asians have the fewest those quotas in their admissions and ing in Africa, the selling and holding of (Asians and Pacific Islanders, 17 percent), hiring. (See Universities Today, by Philip black slaves in Arab countries today, and non-Hispanic whites somewhat more (29 Carl Salzman.) the fact that many Arabs are highly preju- percent), Hispanics even more (53 per- diced against blacks, and refer to them in cent), and African Americans families ❚ Intersectionality as abd (slave). Feminists have sided are overwhelmingly (73 percent) single One tool of “social justice” is “inter- with the Palestinian Arabs, although Pal- parent families, usually mothers. sectionalism,” which weighs victimhood estinian women are still treated to male Single parent families are at a con- and urges solidarity among victims. A supremacy, seclusion, and honor killings. siderable disadvantage economically, person’s victim credits increase if they LGBTQ groups also support Palestinians, and generate a much higher level of poor are member of two or more victim although LGBT persons are commonly

16 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 PHILIP CARL SALZMAN: How “Social Justice” Movement Defines Jews as Villains

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid at the 2011 Edmonton Pride Parade (Photo: Kurt Bauschardt) victimized in the Arab and Persian worlds, associations, such as Women’s Studies, notorious for his vilification of Jews, while only in Israel are LGBT persons ac- Native American Studies, American calling him “The Greatest of All Time,” cepted and safe. To mention this is called, Studies, and others have condemned regardless of his statements that “satan- by social justice activists, “pinkwashing” Israel and adopted BDS, as have many ic” Jews are “termites” who were respon- of Israeli “oppression.” once mainline church organizations. sible for the 9/11 Islamic attacks and for All of the intersectional solidarity Anti-Semitism entered the political all the ills that befall people of color. In with enemies of Israel leads, of course, field in a big way with the first Women’s subsequent years, these anti-Semites to hate for Israel, and, by extension, hate March protesting the election of Don- were pushed out of march leadership, for Jews generally. In the 21st century ald Trump as U.S. president. Feminist, only to be replaced by other antisemites, West, anti-Semitism is now celebrated race, and gay activists joined in “the re- who also had to be ejected. Damage had in “social justice” circles. Students for sistance” against the duly-elected presi- already been done to the march, but the Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Stu- dent. Feminists were upset that the fe- idea that “social justice” was on one side, dents’ Association dominate discourse male candidate had lost to Trump, and and Jews were on the other, remains. on many university campuses, running they were concerned that their “right” to Grievance politics has its heroes “Israel Apartheid Week,” and, with the abortion on demand might somehow be and its villains. Females, people of color, support of Hispanic, Asian, and other restricted. Race and gay activists claimed gays, and Muslims are regarded as he- student associations, lead student gov- that the president was a white national- roes fighting for “social justice.” Males, ernments and student newspapers. The ist and a bigot. The march was a unified whites, heterosexuals, and Christians boycott, divest, and sanction (BDS) expression of identity victimhood. and Jews are deemed to be reactionary movement against Israel is widely sup- Leaders of the Women’s March, oppressors: sexist, racist, homo- and ported by students and faculty in order Tamika Mallory, “Bob Bland” (Mari trans-phobic, and Islamophobes. Once to aid the “innocent” Palestinian “vic- Lynn Foulger), Carmen Perez, and Linda again, Jews are scapegoats of a revolu- tims” of Israeli “oppression.” Hate for Sarsour, had pushed out Jewish organiz- tionary movement. Israel frequently overflows into hatred ers with anti-Semitic blood libels, and of all Zionists, and all Jews, creating a some had made explicit their tolerance PHILIP CARL SALZMAN, Ph.D., is poisonous environment for Jewish stu- and even allegiance to Louis Farra- professor emeritus of anthropology at dents. Various professional academic khan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 17 Interfaith Relations in the Quranic Tradition by HAROLD RHODE

o understand any potential attacked them and won. that part of Dar al-Islam. In fact, when agreement between Israel and Muhammad’s Hudaibiya agreement Muslims write about Spain or any place its neighbors, or for that mat- then became the model for other agree- in the Iberian Peninsula, they almost al- Tter between Muslims and non- ments Muslims signed with enemies, ways add the phrase “may it be returned Muslims, it is essential to understand right through modern times. Two weeks speedily to the bosom of Islam.” In short, how Muslims operate theologically after signing the with Isra- once Muslim, always Muslim. regarding territory, and how Islam el on the White House lawn in 1993, Pal- Where does this principle come understands it relationships with non- estine Liberation Organization (PLO) from? And as a corollary, do signed Muslims. Only then can we address the leader Yasser Arafat spoke at a mosque agreements mean anything in the Mus- question whether Muslims can ever ac- in South Africa. He explicitly stated that lim world? Can Muslims accept an cept a Jewish state on land they believe what he had signed in Washington was agreement recognizing the non-Muslim is theirs forever. like the Hudaibiya agreement. His mes- right to rule over any territory that had Territorially, Islam divides to the sage at that mosque, and to the entire ever been part of the Muslim world? world into two realms: Muslim world, was that he was not a What are the ramifications for any 1. Dar al-Islam (World of Islam): the traitor to Islam; he did not sign an agree- agreement between Israel and the (Mus- area Islam has conquered. Once territory ment to end the war with Israel. lim) Palestinians? Is there a difference has been conquered by Muslims, it must from the Islamic point of view between remain Muslim forever. The Hamas con- ❚ Restoring the Land to Islam Tel Aviv—part of the pre-1967 Israel, stitution explains this clearly, calling all In the century after their prophet and Efrat, a town established near Beth- of pre-1948 British Mandatory Palestine died, Muslims conquered huge swaths of lehem on territory Israel won during the waqf, meaning it belongs to God. Once it land—from part of to Spain. That 1967 Six-Day War? belongs to God, it belongs to God forever. proved to them that Allah was on their Fourteen hundred years of Muslim 2. Dar al-Harb (World of War): the side and Islam was the true religion. sources provide the answer. The Arabic part of the world not yet conquered by With time however, the Muslim world word for a Muslim conquest is futuh. The Muslims. According to the Quran and went into decline and Muslims lost con- root is F-T-H, the same as the Hebrew Shari’a (Islamic law), its time is coming. There cannot be permanent peace between these two worlds. There can, however, be territorial accommodation, Arafat’s message ...to the entire Muslim world was modeled after agreements the Prophet that he was not a traitor to Islam; he did not sign an Muhammad reached when he was un- able to defeat his enemies. According agreement to end the war with Israel. to Islamic tradition, Muhammad fought the tribe of Quraysh at Hudaibiya near Mecca, but could not defeat it. To buy time, he signed a temporary truce, or ar- mistice, (Hudna or Sulh in Arabic) which trol over territory they once ruled. root F-T-H, meaning “to open.” But in was supposed to last for 10 years. It They ruled most of Spain and Por- Arabic, that root has an additional mean- lasted two years, until Muhammad real- tugal, for example, from 712 to 1492 C.E. ing: “to conquer a territory for Islam.” ized he had sufficiently rearmed and was Even though they were defeated, they In Arabic, as in other Muslim lan- strong enough to defeat the Quraysh. He never gave up their desire to reconquer guages, a Muslim conqueror is called

18 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 Interfaith Relations in the Quranic TraditionHAROLD RHODE:

Artwork from the 13th-century showing Abbasid Caliph Al-Ma’mun, ruler of the seventh Caliphate, sending an envoy to Byzantine Emperor Theophilos.

Fatih, again from the root FTH, mean- what we today label the Arab world in Many years ago, I taught Middle ing a warrior who has opened up a terri- the early 1500’s, and ruled these lands East history at the University of Dela- tory for Islam. The Ottoman ruler who for approximately 400 years. During ware. The classes included a signifi- conquered Constantinople for Islam that period, almost no one living there cant number of Muslim students from from the Byzantine Empire in 1453 was complained about “Turkish imperial- Iran, , and the Arab lands. At known at Fatih Mehmet (Mehemet be- ism” against Arabs, because the people one point, I spoke about the history of ing the Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammad). Once a territory has been opened to Muslim rule, i.e., conquered by Muslims, it must remain under Mus- No Muslim would publicly admit that what the lim rule forever, and cannot be ruled by non-Muslims. All agreements between Arab Muslims coming out of Arabia had Muslims and non-Muslims, therefore, done was imperialism. are temporary by their very nature. Muslims must return lost territory to Is- lamic rule as soon as they are able.

❚ Ottomans and Arabs are identified themselves as Sunni Muslims. North Africa. When we came to the Both Muslims But after World War I, the Ottoman French conquest of that area in the 19th President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Empire collapsed. The lands we today call century, I asked the students what they of Turkey is doing his best today to re- the Arab World were divided mostly be- thought about the French imposing their establish Muslim control over formerly tween the British and French. Many of culture and language on the locals. Both Muslim-ruled lands in southeastern the locals then bitterly complained about the American and Muslim students were Europe including Albania, Kosovo, and British and French imperialism. Why outraged by French colonialism. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Religiously British and French, but not Turkish? I then referred to the Muslim con- and culturally, as a devout Muslim, he is From a European or North Ameri- quest of these lands in the 7th century, doing his duty. can perspective, all three peoples—the asking whether what the Muslims con- There is another important insight Ottoman Turks, British, and French— querors had done was any different from we can glean from Erdogan and his re- were foreigners who conquered Arabs. what the French had done. The Ameri- lationship with the Sunni Arab World. The difference is that the Turks were fel- cans quickly got the point. But the gut The Ottoman Empire was ruled by Sun- low Muslims. Ottoman Turkish rule was reaction of the Muslim students was ni Muslim Turks, who captured most of acceptable. British or French was not. to shout out that the Muslims brought

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 19 Islam to the locals which improved/el- ’s Anwar Sadat and PLO lead- Clinton hosted Arafat and then-Israeli evated their lives. er Yasser Arafat faced similar problems. Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp No Muslim would publicly admit In 1979, Sadat signed an agreement with David in an attempt to end the Israel- that what the Arab Muslims coming out Israel supposedly ending 30 years of con- Arab conflict once and for all. Barak of- of Arabia had done was imperialism. flict between overwhelmingly Muslim fered Arafat almost every square inch of Better to be ruled by Muslim autocrats/ Egypt and Jewish Israel. Sadat under- the and , plus east- tyrants than by non-Muslim infidels stood he had endangered himself, and ern Jerusalem, in exchange for peace. who had no right to rule over Muslims after signing the agreement at the White Barak only wanted to keep what was or any part of the Dar al-Islam, no mat- House, Sadat returned home and spoke under the Temple Mount because there ter how much freedom or prosperity to his people. He said that what he did lay the remnants of the First and Second their governance might bring. was for the good of the Egyptian people. Jewish Temples. Egypt had wasted its scarce sources in Arafat jumped to his feet, started ❚ Arabs and Israelis military ventures which impoverished to tremble are said, “There was no Jew- How does this help us understand the country. Sadat said he wanted to use ish Temple.” (Ed. Note: Muslims sources an agreement between Israel and Pal- Egypt’s resources to strengthen the peo- make it abundantly clear that Solomon’s estinian Arabs, the majority of whom are Sunni Muslims? The largely Muslim Arab world did not succeed in defeating Israel in what the Israelis call the 1948 War of Independence. In 1949, the Unit- Many Israelis deluded themselves into believing ed Nations organized a conference on the Island of Rhodes at which Arabs and that if they forced Jews out of the Gaza Strip in Israelis discussed future arrangements. 2005, they would have a peaceful border with the From an Islamic point of view, Mus- lims conquered all of pre-1967 Israel, the Palestinian entity. West Bank, and Jordan from Christian Byzantium in 637-638 C.E. So, all of these lands must be ruled by Muslims. There is no difference, then, between Tel Aviv and Efrat. ple of Egypt. He then added, oddly to Temple was indeed on this very spot.) He The Arabs insisted that the agreed Western audiences, that “what happened added, “I will not have tea with Sadat.” lines drawn on the maps and that di- in the past would happen in the future.” Clinton was astonished. How could vided pre-1948 Mandatory Palestine (ex- Sadat was telling his people that Arafat deny the existence of Solomon’s cluding Trans-Jordan, earlier severed by this agreement was like agreements Temple? But what mattered more to Great Britain from the League of Nations’ signed by Muslims when they couldn’t Arafat was his fear of assassination if he mandate), be labeled “ceasefire lines”— advance and defeat their enemies. In- ended the war and agreed to let the Jews not borders. The Arabs further insisted terestingly, the Arabic word most often i.e., non-Muslims, rule what Muslims on calling the arrangements “armistice used in the Egyptian press to describe know as Islamic territory. Sadat paid agreements”—not peace treaties. What the agreement was tafahhum —best with his life by signing an agreement was accepted by the Arabs were seen by translated in English as “mutual un- with Israel. Arafat would not suffer the them as temporary agreements like the derstanding,” not a peace agreement. same fate. one the Muslim prophet Muhammad There is, in fact, there is no way in Ara- memorably agreed to at Hudaibiya. bic to express the Western concept of ❚ Is Reform Possible? Many Israelis deluded themselves letting bygones be bygones. Where does this leave us? This situ- into believing that if they forced Jews Others in Egypt did not buy Sadat’s ation seems dire and gloomy. But this is out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, they would argument; he was assassinated a few how Muslims understand the land Israel have a peaceful border with the Palestin- years later by a member of an al-Qaeda controls, be it Tel Aviv, or Jewish towns ian entity. But if they had understood precursor organization. and villages in the territory Israel cap- their withdrawal in Islamic terms, they tured in the ‘67 war. Given this reality, it would have realized that their Muslim ❚ Tea with Sadat is essential that Israel and its friends un- neighbors would see this as a first step in Arafat took Sadat’s experience and derstand that, without a reform in Islam, liberating all of Palestine. fate to heart. In 2000, President Bill the situation will not change.

20 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 Interfaith Relations in the Quranic TraditionHAROLD RHODE:

Yassar Arafat delivers remarks at the signing of the Oslo Middle East Peace Accord. (Photo: Mark Reinstein)

But there are ways for Islam to re- every Muslim theological scholar ac- It is essential, then, that Asia and form. The Quran is divided into two pe- cepts the principle that the earlier the Western world remain vigilant and riods: The earlier period when Muham- peaceful verses were supplanted by the stand strong against Muslim attempts mad and his new religion were weak; later ones. to infiltrate and take over, by prosely- and the later period where Muhammad But must this be so? Muslims be- tization when not by force, the non- was strong and the ruler of a state. lieve Allah revealed both. Why did he Muslim world. In the earlier period, Muhammad do this? Did Allah envision a time when It is essential for Israel and its friends was looking for ways to survive. During the Muslims might need these more to realize that there will not be true peace that period, Muslims believe that Allah peaceful verses? Is that time now, when between the Israelis and any Muslim enti- told them to get along with others. For Islam is weak compared to the non- ty in the surrounding region—not a peace example, the Quranic verse regarding Muslim world? like that between Germany and France af- non-Muslims, “To me my religion, and Today, most Muslims seem to think ter two World Wars, let alone like the one to you yours.” Elsewhere, “There is to be they have no reason to re-interpret their linking the United States and Canada. Is- no forced conversion (to Islam).” sources because the West keeps giving rael must continue to be strong and reso- In the later period, however, when into their demands. Maybe only after lute, and defend its culture and borders. Muhammad ruled his Islamic state, the non-Muslim world inflicts a cata- getting along with others was rejected. strophic defeat on the Muslim world, the HAROLD RHODE, Ph.D., worked as a Others were to submit. If Allah said majority of its believers will be forced to Defense Department Middle East ana- both, then Muslims were to follow both. re-examine their sources and find other lyst for 28 years. He earned his degree How did Muslims solve this seem- ways to peacefully co-exist with the non- in Ottoman history and speaks Arabic, ing impossible contradiction? Almost Muslim world. Hebrew, Farsi (Persian) and Turkish.

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 21 “A Spiritual Sickness” An interview with ELAN CARR Elan S. Carr was appointed in 2019 to serve as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism. Of Iraqi Jewish heritage, Carr’s mother and stepfather are immigrants to the U.S. His grandfather was prosecuted during Iraqi show trials against Jewish community leaders in the late 1940s. Carr is a JAG Corps officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. He served in Operation Iraqi Freedom as leader of an anti-terrorism team and prosecuted terrorists who attacked American troops. He also assisted in efforts to establish an independent Iraqi judiciary. In an appropriate moment of irony during Carr’s War service, he led U.S. soldiers in lighting a Chanukah menorah in Saddam Hussein’s former presidential palace. This interview comes from a formal presentation that has been edited for space and clarity.

Elan Carr: I grew up hearing stories, not ❚ March of the Living Going from the hell of Jew-hatred only of Israel, but of what Israel means For that reason, it was all the more and persecution to the light and joy and to the Jewish people and to my fam- moving to be part of President’s Trump’s beauty of the modern State of Israel, at ily personally. My mother was a young first official U.S. delegation to March of that moment it was very clear that the girl in Iraq, and one day, she remembers the Living. There were seven of us, ambas- Jewish state was humanity’s most beauti- there was a knock at the door early in the sadors to Israel and Poland and Germany ful answer to history’s greatest evil. And morning; my grandfather still had shav- and Spain, to name a few. It was an amaz- that contrast was what this is all about. I ing cream on his face. It was soldiers. ing delegation. We walked through gas will tell you that these ambassadors are They said, “Mr. Somekh, you’re coming chambers, saw the ruins of crematoria, senior people. One of them broke into with us.” They took him away, paraded and made that horrific march from Aus- tears because the contrast was impossible him through the streets in leg irons, and chwitz to Birkenau. And we marveled at to digest without breaking down. Israel is threw him in prison. My mother visited the inhumanity represented by that place. not only a refuge from persecution, God her father, my grandfather, in prison – Many people grow up learning forbid, but a representation of Jewish self- something no young girl should have about the Shoah. Sure, we’ve seen the determination and excellence. to do. Finally, after two years, he said, “Flee. Don’t wait. Run.” So, my family – my mother, my un- cle who was a toddler at the time, and my One of my top diplomatic tasks overseas is to grandmother – fled across the border to Iran, to a very different Iran from today. work with a country that doesn’t help the Jewish In Iran, the Shah was helping Jews escape, community defray the cost of security do so. literally giving Jews asylum and rescuing them from persecution in Iraq. With Iran as a way station, my family made aliyah. The fulfillment of the Zionist dream by leaving a diaspora that suffered enor- pictures a million times. But to walk it, ❚ The Job and its Priorities mous persecution, arrests, divestment of to be there, was dramatically different. Q: How would you describe your resources, and in some cases , Then, after we walked arm-in-arm and job as the Special Envoy to Moni- and coming to the country that was the shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with tor and Combat anti-Semitism? representation of Jewish sovereignty and the Jewish victims in the worst period of Jewish self-determination was a remark- the history... we boarded a plane and the Carr: Anti-Semitism is rising across the able, moving, deeply impactful experi- next evening, were again shoulder-to- world, so some of what we do is reactive. ence. Even though I didn’t make that shoulder and arm-in-arm, but this time We have to react when there are attacks transition because I hadn’t been born not in a march of mourning. We were against Jews and anti-Semitic statements yet, those stories of my family’s experi- shoulder-to-shoulder and arm-in-arm at being made in various places around the ence are emblazoned on my memory as the Kotel [Western Wall] in celebration world. Social media, for example, is boil- though I myself were there. of Am Yisrael Chai. ing over always. But it’s very important

22 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 ELAN CARR: “A Spiritual sickness” in any operation not to be so reactive that you lose your strategic focus. We are militantly focused on the number of initiatives that are absolutely critical to the fight against anti-Semitism. First is security. If you don’t feel safe, if you don’t feel that you can leave the house and return home safely, or send your kids to school on the bus and know that they’ll come back in one piece, you can’t have a good quality of life. Not all countries defray the cost of security for the Jewish community. The United States does. Our administration has increased that funding. The Depart- ment of Homeland Security, to the tune of many tens of millions of dollars, sup- plements security in grants all around the country. Not every country does this. The United Kingdom does a great job. One of my top diplomatic tasks overseas is to work with countries that don’t help their Jewish communities defray the cost of se- curity and encourage them to do so. Second, we insist on the absolute, un- equivocal condemnation of hate speech. Sometimes that doesn’t happen because governments placate the far right or the far left in their countries. Sometimes it Elan Carr is vocal members of religious and other minority group that are being placated. despicable, violent speech, and we have to the same thing. “You want to be safe? My answer to all of this is don’t placate exercise that right. You want to go unmolested as a Jew on evil. Don’t coddle it. Don’t apologize for Third, a major policy initiative of campus? You have to completely divorce it. Condemn it. Because at the end of the ours is the adoption of the Internation- yourself from Zionism and Israel. Don’t day, not only is that the right thing to do, al Holocaust Remembrance Alliance mention Israel, and don’t mention the ‘Z’ but appeasing evil is always a recipe for (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. This word. Check that aspect of your Jewish more and more malignant evil to come. is the standard definition and it is not identity at the door.” controversial. More and more countries You can’t tell Jews to divorce them- ❚ The First Amendment are adopting it. If a country hasn’t ad- selves from a core aspect of their Jewish Keep in mind that condemnation opted it, it’s one of my top diplomatic asks identity, and if you do, that is anti-Semi- does not mean censorship, We have that it be adopted. tism, plain and simple. broad First Amendment protections. The For that reason, we are so proud Supreme Court ruled that even Nazis had ❚ On Campus and delighted that President Trump, in a a right to march in Skokie, Illinois. We’re also working on anti-Semitism game-changing move, signed an Execu- But don’t be fooled when anti-Sem- on college campuses because in too many tive Order that basically says, “Enough ites yell about their First Amendment cases campuses are a disaster. Here in this is enough.” rights in response to condemnation. The country vile, unvarnished anti-Semitism I was at the White House when he First Amendment protects you from is allowed to lead to harassment and dis- signed the order, and after he signed it, censorship and punishment. It doesn’t crimination against Jewish students, and he looked at the camera and he said, “Let protect you from condemnation. And it’s no different in Europe. I’ve met with me make this clear. If you are a university, those of us who are decent also have Jewish student leaders in England and and you are promoting discrimination a First Amendment right to condemn France and other places, and they say and harassment of Jewish students, you

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 23 are going to lose a lot of money.” He said, This goes for us, too, in the Unit- self-determination by claiming that the “This is going to be very expensive for ed States. The month of May is Jewish founding of the State of Israel is a racist you.” And I promise you, every university American Heritage Month. How many endeavor is anti-Semitism. Comparing Is- president and chancellor in the country people know that? Very few. Everyone rael to the Nazis is an example. Subjecting heard that. That’s an earthquake. And we knows about African American Heri- Israel to a double-standard to which no are beyond grateful for this game-chang- tage Month, right? Because the African other democratic country in the world is ing move by the President. American community actually does held is an example. The IHRA definition Lastly, we have to go on the offense something. They program. They have fes- is so powerful because it draws that line. as well. Not just defense. Of course, we tivals and posters in schools. They have You ask, “Where does it cross the have to fight the manifestations of anti- curricula. We have had a month devoted line?” Criticism of Israel, like criticism Semitism – the attacks, the vandalism, to Jewish American Heritage for 25 years of any country, is okay. You can criti- the hate words and all that. But strategi- now and we do absolutely nothing. If we cize the United States or Israel or any cally to win the war, you have to fight an- really want to get serious in this fight country’s policy, but the moment the ti-Semitism itself. And what is anti-Sem- against anti-Semitism, we have to go on criticism turns into demonization, to itism apart from its manifestations? It’s a the offense and educate. delegitimization, to a denial of legiti- worldview. It’s an idea, and ultimately, it’s macy, to the questioning of the existence a spiritual sickness. ❚ “I’m Just Anti-Israel” of the State of Israel – how many coun- Q: People say, “I’m not anti- tries in the world have their right to ex- ❚ Education is the Key Semitic, I just oppose Israel.” ist questioned? One – and that’s when it Q: How do you fight that? Where does anti-Israelism cross becomes anti-Semitic. The moment Is- the line into anti-Semitism? rael is treated differently from any other Carr: Through deep, impactful, values- country, that’s when it crosses the line. based education. When are we going to Carr: That’s where the IHRA defini- start to educate people in the beautiful tion of anti-Semitism is so important. ❚ Not Everyone is in the Tent and indelible and profound contribu- It allows us, here in the United States Q: People say, “I’m certainly not tions that Jewish communities around and around the world, to point to an anti-Semitic. I’m working with the world have made to their countries? objective, independent definition, to Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Can you tell the history of the United say, “What you said is anti-Semitic.” In and they’re all Jewish.” Or, States without talking about what Jews addition to defining anti-Semitism as “Some of my best friends are have contributed to our country? Can you’d expect, basically as Jew hatred, Jewish.” Or Jews who use a part you tell the history of England or France the IHRA definition gives eleven spe- of their Jewish identity on the or Germany or Russia or Poland without cific examples of manifestations of anti- altar of anti-Israelism. talking about Jewish history? You can’t. I was just in Germany, which, in 2021 will commemorate 1,700 years of Jewish ...we also have a First Amendment right to condemn history. The Germans are doing marvelous despicable, violent speech, and we have to exercise work to fight anti-Semitism. The German Bundestag has mandated that “BDS is an- that right. ti-Semitism.” I sat down with our German interlocutors, and said, “This commemo- ration is great. Where is the curriculum? Semitism and a twelfth that is kind of Carr: We have to have lines. “Big tent, What are you doing so that every kid in ev- over-arching. Those examples not only big tent” – everyone’s focused on the ery classroom in every city in the country include the kind of traditional medieval size of the tent. But not everyone is in the knows what Jews have brought to Germa- anti-Semitism, the canard of the Proto- tent. And when you have got a Jewish ny for the last 1,700 years? And also what cols that Jews control the world in a ma- organization that openly traffics in anti- Germany’s brought to Jews.” licious cabal that’s pulling all the strings, Semitism, they have to be called out for By the way, how many German kids but it also makes it clear that anti-Zion- what they are. know that the vernacular language of ism is anti-Semitism. Let me say this clearly and on the Ashkenazi Judaism, from Russia to Eng- Here is what the IHRA definition record: JVP is an organization that traf- land, is a form of German?The answer is sets forth: Targeting the State of Israel as fics in anti-Semitism. The fact that they that virtually no German kid knows that. a Jewish collective is an example of anti- have the word “Jewish” in their name Let’s change that. Semitism. Denying the Jewish people should not get them any favors. It’s

24 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 ELAN CARR: “A Spiritual sickness” Carr: Speak with moral clarity, and we’ve got to be ambassadors for unity, all of us. You don’t have to have a title or an organization. You don’t have to be a CEO of something. Every one of us can say, “Now is the time for us to forget what divides us.” We always have things that divide us, but we’ve got to get seri- ous and stand together so that we don’t allow anti-Semitism to continue this ap- palling rise in our world, and so that we fight this evil and we do build a better future. That’s what each of us can do.

Q: Some of that anti-Israel sentiment I see comes from Jewish people. Once I asked an Israeli Jew, “Where are you from?” and she responded, “Oc- An Israeli tourist reports to the Berlin police after an anti-Semitic attack. (Photo: Sibylle A. Moller / Alamy) cupied Palestine.” It is compli- cated for me, a non-Jew and a about what is being preached, not about that define themselves essentially Hispanic, to respond to that the identity of the person. through anti-Semitism. because you would expect Diversity of opinion is one thing, but them to say, “You are calling there’s a red line, and when somebody ❚ Nazi Germany and Radical me, a Jew, anti-Semitic.” crosses it, we cannot be afraid to call it Islamic Ideology out as anti-Semitism. And if we are afraid Nazi Germany not only destroyed the Carr: I would say, “As a Hispanic stu- to do that, then we lose all of our moral Jewish people but destroyed the European dent, I expect to be treated fairly and not weaponry in the fight. continent. And let’s look more recently. based on the color of my skin or my eth- What ideologies do we have in the world nic background. I’m going to do you the Q: Why does anti-Semitism exist? today that define themselves primar- same favor of treating you fairly, without Why has it been a scourge since ily, essentially, through anti-Semitism? regard for your ethnic background, and the time the Jews left Egypt? The Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbol- what you’re saying is anti-Semitic. I’m lah, Hamas, ISIS. Put aside the threat to not going to treat you differently because Carr: Anti-Semitism is a spiritual sick- Jews for a moment. Look at the amount you’re Jewish.” That’s how you do it. And ness because it grew up in a sense as a of destruction and suffering and misery then you let them have it! rejection of what the Jewish people are caused by these movements and regimes. and the spiritual revolution brought to Unfathomable. Half a million people mur- Q: How can you objectively the world by the Jewish people. Ethical dered in Syria because of Hezbollah and measure the rise in anti-Sem- monotheism, the idea that there is no the Islamic Republic’s allies. This is what itism, other than just a sense moral relativism. The fact that some Jews we’re up against. We’re in a fight that is not that there’s an increase? have fallen victim to moral relativism only about protecting Jews, although that is the ultimate irony because the Jewish would be moral reason enough to do it, but Carr: There are all kinds of things you Revolution was that there is one standard. this is a lot more. President Trump calls it could look to and we do look to. The prob- One God and one standard. That is the the “vile poison of anti-Semitism,” and it’s lem is they’re almost all imperfect. For revolution that Jews brought to the world. an apt description because every society example, polls were done of Jewish fears I think anti-Semitism is often a re- that has imbibed this poison has rotted to in Europe. Ninety percent of European jection of those contributions. When its core and produced human misery at a Jews surveyed said anti-Semitism is rising. one hates those values, the result has to level that defies description. There are other polls done of anti-Semitic be a threat not only to Jews most im- attitudes. One in four Europeans fell into mediately, but to everybody. Look at the Q: What can individuals do in a the most anti-Semitic category, meaning human wreckage caused by ideologies practical way? they subscribe to the majority of eleven

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 25 anti-Semitic indicators that were tested. York, and a kid came up to me. He said, Carr: I couldn’t agree with you more. The problem is polls change and “I go to a private prep school and let me When I appear officially at a venue next polls are imperfect. tell you what’s happening in my class- to progressive leaders who stand against And then there are hate crime sta- room. ‘Israel is a Nazi regime’ is being anti-Zionism in the progressive com- tistics. Attacks, vandalism. But there is spouted by teachers in class.” munity, that’s a statement in and of it- widespread under-reporting of attacks. Don’t wait for high school. We’ve self. I’m embracing that as important. In fact, where anti-Semitism is the worst, got to start educating our children from Second, I never say no to the chance to under-reporting is also the worst. In the day one, first about what it means to be address left-of-center organizations and United States, someone uses an anti-Se- Jewish. Second, what it means to have a left-of-center audiences. I drop what mitic epithet and it’s, “Oh, my goodness.” state of Israel. Third, how to fight on this I’m doing to do it. There are sometimes You tell 20 people, “You wouldn’t believe subject. They have to be prepared. They uncomfortable exchanges but you have what happened to me today.” In some have to know it’s happening. They have to have them. What I say is look, when other places, it’s almost the case that if to be able to stand up even to professors, President Obama did something good you don’t get stitches, it’s, “Well, it’s an- not only to their peers and to organiza- on this issue, I stood up and I said, other day on the street.” tions on campus, even if they have a “J” “Thank you, Mr. President. This is the Exacerbating the problem is that in their title, but they have to be pre- right thing to do.” some countries don’t drill down on the kind of hate crime it is. Every country has hate crime standards and reports it, ...a major policy initiative of ours is the adoption of but sometimes the source is not clear be- the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance cause the data is not sufficiently granular. You don’t know whether it’s a hate crime (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. against somebody gay or a hate crime against somebody who is Jewish or some- body who is Muslim. In such cases one pared to stand up to professors. You will never hear me talk about can’t even gather reliable data. A student at a premier university in which party you should be in or how you One thing we can look at is the vol- the country gave me the answer sheet to should vote. I don’t talk about those is- ume of hate speech on the Internet. Here his math class. I still have a copy. After sues. I’m just talking about policy. Why you have some very interesting work being going through derivatives and integrals, it is that so hard? Regarding President done – especially by the Israeli Ministry of says, “Another day in the occupied Pales- Trump’s policies, stand up and say, “Mr. Diaspora Affairs. I work with them all the tinian territory, Zionists forces murdering President. Thank you for this. You have time; I’m in regular touch with them. They children.” Then it goes back to math. The our support on this issue.” have done remarkable programming and kid said to me, “In math class? I can’t even That’s called being rational. The work to measure the volume of hate speech escape this in math class?” That’s right, idea that just because person A – who on the Internet. That may have promise even in math class. Because, like the old, you may not like – does thing X, you because it’s such a large volume that you medieval anti-Semitism, the new forms should oppose thing X – which you can look at trends. Bottom-line – it’s diffi- are just as maniacal, just as insane, in their might otherwise support – is truly, cult, but since no amount of anti-Semitism hatred of the Jewish people. truly the height of irrationality and it’s is acceptable, you don’t necessarily need to So we have to start early and educate dangerous. President Obama increased know where it sits in order to fight. our kids about their own identities, first security cooperation and assistance for of all, and give them the knowledge and Israel. So, I’m going to oppose it? I’m ❚ Our Responses the tools to understand why this fight is going to say I don’t think we should be Q: As a student, I never told my important. And then we have to teach helping Israel defend itself just because parents I was attacked. I was em- them to lead. a president I don’t generally agree with barrassed. I had pennies thrown does it? That would be crazy. on the floor at me. What can Q: I was raised as an anti-Israel But that’s what’s happening today, we do to raise awareness in the activist. I had my mind trans- and we’ve got to stand up against it. schools and focus more on them? formed and I am now a proud, Progressives have to stand up and say, progressive pro-Israel. We “Look, I have my issues with President Carr: First, don’t wait until one gets to can’t afford to leave out Left, Trump, but on this issue, he’s fantastic. university. This is now firmly entrenched liberal, progressives from our Thank you, Mr. President, and he has my in the high schools. I just spoke in New Zionist movement. support on this.”

26 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 “The Culture of Contempt”: Anti-Semitism in the UK by DAVID HIRSH

nti-Semitism is not inherent ei- their own “clean” campaigns are always Israeli universities coalesced within the ther on the left or the right but attractive to older and more vulgar anti- academic trade unions in Britain. It anti-democratic politics and Semitic tropes relating to Jewish money, incited British academics to pick out Aanti-Semitism have a long his- Jewish domination of culture and news, and punish their Israeli colleagues by tory of passionate mutual attraction. and an “Old Testament” lust for blood. excluding them from the global com- What we have in Britain, and not only munity of science and scholarship. This in Britain, is a mushrooming of anti- ❚ From the Fringes to the Center campaign created a toxic culture in the democratic politics and ways of think- My book, Contemporary Left Anti- University and College Union. It was ing into the mainstream. We might call Semitism is the story of the twenty-first somewhat successful in constructing it “populism.” Populism is a flirtation century mainstreaming of an anti- support for the boycott as a key signi- with some of the thrills and tempta- Semitic current from the fringes of the fier of membership of the “community tions of twentieth century totalitarian- British left to the center. As students in of the good.” Opposition to the boycott ism. There is not enough fear of losing the 1980s, we opposed attempts to pro- became something which merited ex- the democracy and the liberty we have; hibit student Jewish societies, which clusion from that community. there is too much contempt for this or- were decreed Zionist - and so racist and In this way, a politics of position dinary everyday life. so in violation of the principles of the replaced a politics of reason. To be posi- There has always been genuinely student movement. tioned outside of the community of the left-wing anti-Semitism because there At the end of 2000, hopes for a peace good meant exclusion from the commu- have always been anti-democratic cur- between Israel and the Palestinians faded nity of debate, argument, and evidence. rents on the left. There is a genuinely -au thentic left anti-Semitism but people on the left prefer to think of anti-Semitism, when they even recognise it around them, as a personal failing imported Left wing anti-Semitism has fuelled imaginings of Jews from somewhere else, into their move- ment. More and more the left insists that as enablers of privilege and oppression. anti-Semitism is something “over there” on the right, and the right insists that anti-Semitism is something “over there” amongst Muslims and the left. In so in- sisting, each gives cover and protection with the break down of the peace process. The boundaries of the community were to the anti-Semitism within its own po- In September of the following year, at policed by a kind of discursive violence litical family. the World Conference against Racism in instead. And of course, many of the peo- Left-wing anti-Semitism has fuelled Durban in the new South Africa, political ple excluded in this way were Jews, or imaginings of Jews as enablers of privi- anti-Semitism poisoned attempts to gal- people accused of supporting Zionism; lege and oppression. This has largely vanise the global struggle against racism. in fact, archetypically they were people shifted from the alleged Jewish role in Zionism, it was said, must be recognised who could see, and were willing to op- capitalism to the alleged Jewish role in as the key symbolic racism on the planet. pose, anti-Semitism. imperialism and racism. It is a peren- A week later the jihadi Islamist movement Just as race is constructed by rac- nial source of embarrassment to those destroyed the World Trade Center, hit the ism, “Zionism” was constructed by an- anti-Zionists who consider themselves Pentagon and missed the White House. ti-Zionism to mean racism, apartheid, to be opponents of anti-Semitism that From 2003, the campaign to boycott imperialism and even Nazism. Jews

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 27 who did not accept anti-Zionism had albeit in a form which was angrily de- But there is a further step. How is it this identity of “Zionist” thrust upon nied, was carried by some of the most possible for Corbyn to have declared that them, no matter how they understood educated, left-wing and anti-racist peo- the anti-Semitic, Jew-killing movements their own political or ethnic identity. No ple in the country; and it was influen- Hamas and Hezbollah were dedicated understanding of Zionism as the self- tial among opinion-formers, journalists to peace and justice across the Middle liberation of Jews or as the renewal of and educators. We were worried that East? Yes, they are movements against Jewish life after the Holocaust and after it would spread throughout the trade capitalism-modernity-imperialism. But anti-Semitism in Russia and the Middle union and the Labour movement, and in Corbyn’s political tradition, and quite East, was countenanced. become normal within a whole layer of deliberately manufactured by the Soviet left and liberal people. Union, Zionism gets tacked onto the end ❚ The Culture of Contempt We were not wrong. of that way of describing the structures The culture of contempt for Israel as of global power and domination which a key symbolic evil brought anti-Semi- ❚ How it Happened keep poor people poor and sick and sub- tism with it into the union. It created Jeremy Corbyn was neither an in- jugated: it becomes capitalism-moderni- an assumption that Jews were enemies; novator nor a great leader of change, but ty-imperialism-Zionism. it treated Israeli human rights abuses, a follower of prevailing left-wing ortho- How did Corbyn become leader of both real and imagined, as uniquely doxies. He was imbued in a worldview the Labour Party and find himself one significant; it was open to conspiracy with roots in Stalinist Communism, but General Election away from 10 Downing fantasy and blood libel; it treated people also in the post-1968 “new left,” which Street? This situation was not the product who spoke up against anti-Semitism as held “capitalism,” “modernity,” and of a crisis of the British left alone, it was enemies while treating people who said “imperialism” responsible for poverty, the product of a crisis of British politics explicitly anti-Semitic things as friends who had fallen into error. Anybody who stood up against an- ti-Semitism would be accused of being In Corbyn’s political tradition...Zionism gets tacked part of a conspiracy to silence criticism of Israel. I called this standard response onto the end of a way of describing the structures of angry denial and counter-accusation of global power and domination...it becomes “The Livingstone Formulation,” after the then–Mayor of London. capitalism-modernity-imperialism-Zionism The Livingstone Formulation is a mode of bullying Jews and their allies. It does not say that they are mistaken, that they have weighed up the evidence war, and oppression globally. There were as a whole. The rise of Corbyn was related wrongly. Instead it teaches people to other bad things, but those were pro- to the rise, mainly on the British right, of treat them as though they are part of an duced by the world system of cruelty and a movement against the European Union, organised conspiracy to lie, as though power, the iron cage of rationality, cap- convinced that migration and interna- they are alien to the movement, as italism-modernity-imperialism. Insofar tional co-operation were key threats to though they are only pretending to care, as any political movement was against British happiness and freedom. and as though they are really devoted to capitalism-modernity-imperialism, it undermining the genuine aims of the was good; and insofar as it was not good, ❚ Populism left; and as though they are paid agents it was because it had been driven bad by Populist movements cultivate con- of Israel or of the “Israel lobby.” capitalism-modernity-imperialism. tempt for the institutions and cultures Some of us opposed anti-Semitism In this template, democratic states of democratic society. They say that de- in the academic unions not only because are the root of all evil and their democra- mocracy is a façade constructed by a lib- we cared about our unions but also be- cy is fundamentally fake, an ideological eral elite to hide the underlying reality, cause we thought that the anti-Semitism trick designed to fool people into giving which is that an establishment rules in might spread. Anti-Semitism was not consent for their own oppression. That its own interest while pretending to care common in Britain and it did not feature is why undemocratic movements against about the common good. in popular culture or the mass media; the democratic states are treated as being According to populism, freedom of other forms of racism and bigotry had on the side of the global revolt against speech is “fake news”; politics is domi- a better hold there. But anti-Semitism, capitalism-modernity-imperialism. nated by an insider “political class”

28 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 “The Culture of Contempt”: Anti-Semitism in the UK Anti-Semitism DAVID Culture of Contempt”: HIRSH: “The for itself. The populists have only con- tempt for “Blairite” or “centrist” or “lib- eral” democratic politics, human rights, rule of law, scientific knowledge and for international co-operation. And this contempt was echoed and underlined by the Brexit right, howling against the “establishment” European Union and its unpatriotic enablers at home, plotting with the globalist, cosmopolitan, foreign elites against the British people. The two populist movements con- structed each other as their opposition while each reinforced much of their mu- tual central message. In Britain, Corbyn’s Labour Party was unable to extricate itself from the culture in which accusations of anti- Trucks carrying advertisements against the Labour party driving around central Lon- Semitism were understood as con- don, (Photo: Matthew Chattle/Alamy) firmation of his goodness and of the which serves only the elite; knowledge is Populism and totalitarianism dis- hostility of the powerful right-wing power and science is self-serving; inter- pense with the contradictions and di- establishment. More and more the im- national trade and co-operation benefit versity of actual human beings and they age of Britain’s Jews, and global Zion- only the “globalist” cosmopolitans at the invite us into a simple imagined com- ists, resonated as ways of picturing the expense of regular folk. munity called “the people.” Democ- enemy which stood between “us” and The liberal democratic state medi- racy mediates a multiplicity of voices socialism. ates the interests, tastes, desires, and but populism must have a single heroic The populist right focused on mi- needs of a huge diversity of flesh and voice. Since “the people” is abstract but grants, on the financial centre of the blood human beings: people of different singular, it can only speak through the City of London, on the “political class,” classes, genders, sexualities, ethnicities, personality of the strongman leader. on the educated and metropolitan elite, origins, tastes, inclinations and abilities. Populism and totalitarianism can on the old enemies of France and Ger- In the sphere of liberty, staked out and never succeed. They find nothing of any many, and on Muslims. The anti-Semitic protected by the state, people inherit and value in existing society and they prom- potential within some of these ways of construct their own communities, fami- ise to tear it all down and to build again designating the enemy of the people has lies, friendships, religions, trade unions from nothing. But it is easier to destroy so far gone largely untapped. and cultures; and they invent, produce, than it is to create and they can never de- In the end, significant parts of the work, buy and sell in the market. And in liver the utopia they weaved in the imag- electorate, including sections of the the sphere of politics they come togeth- ination of their followers. Their failure working class which had been loyal to er, thinking in the universal interest, to has to be explained by reference to the Labour for a century, sniffed that Cor- guarantee the sphere of liberty, to set its “enemies of the people.” byn was a dangerous crank. Many peo- limits and rules. ple thought the anti-Semitic odor which Every aspect of existing society is ❚ Corbyn and “Blairism” hung around him, even if they didn’t open to critique. Populism pounces on Corbyn presented himself as the quite know or understand the details, the rational kernel of every criticism and voice of the people, as the antidote to was symbolic of that, and they didn’t it melds each one into a single emotional (neo)liberalism and to “Blairism.” Al- want him in Downing Street. It was a narrative of furious contempt. though Tony Blair is the only person to two-horse race, so they voted for the Twentieth century totalitarianism have won a General Election for Labour other guy. took critiques of state, law, rights, and since 1974 (he won three), for the Cor- democracy and built out of them move- bynites, he embodies the populist notion DAVID HIRSH is Senior Lecturer ments which in the end were so powerful of the “fake liberal establishment,” which in Sociology at Goldsmiths, Univer- that they were able to smash states, and talks justice and egalitarianism while sity of London and author of Con- to rule without law, rights, or democracy. secretly plotting power and riches only temporary Left Anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 29 Swedish Anti-Semitism: Twisted Roots, Modern Branches BY Rabbi DANIEL KORN

n February 1939, the Swedish Parlia- Jew? Mrs. Kamprad solved that dilemma young son who had managed to find ment debated help for refugees. The by sharply telling her husband to shut refuge in Sweden. Åsbrink discovered country needed unskilled men and up. The farmer and his employee became there was a file about Kamprad in the Iwomen willing to work on farms such good friends, working and hunting archives of the secret police. There she and in forestry, the kind of jobs that together, that Kamprad’s son, Ingvar, found that Kamprad had not only been few young Swedes were willing to do. later described the relationship as love. a supporter of Engdahl’s fascist group But the immigrants who wanted to When Ingvar Kamprad started a longer than he admitted, but also that come were of a different sort. Primar- small family business in furniture, Otto he earlier had been a member of a Nazi ily intellectual Jews from Germany and Austria, desperate to find a way to leave their home countries after Kristall- The fear that so many Swedish Jews have for nacht, they sent applications for im- migration on which they listed all their wearing a Star of David in public can therefore be qualifications, without realizing that contrasted with the tiny group of Orthodox Jews who they thereby signed their own death dress in a way that identifies them as Jewish. sentences. The higher their qualifica- tions, the less chance to be accepted. But some managed to enter and Parliament discussed their future. MP Ullmann was one of his first employees. organization, actively recruiting young Otto Wallèn of the Farmers Party ex- Kamprad’s initials and the first letters people for its youth wing. pressed doubt that Jewish refugees in the address formed the company’s At the same time he had been a would be useful. “The Asiatic race does name: IKEA. close friend of his father’s Jewish worker not fit in company with our gentle he had actively partaken in activities Swedish race” he said, and added, “Mr. ❚ Fast Forward in a clearly anti-Semitic organization. Speaker, today I admit without shame When in 1994 Sweden’s old fascist Åsbrink asked for and was granted an that I am an anti-Semite.” leader Per Engdahl died, in his archive interview with Kamprad. He admitted Three years later, Wallén hired a were found long lists of Swedes who his Nazi activities, but said that he was Jewish worker for his farm. The employ- had supported him. Among them was never an anti-Semite. Åsbrink was not ment was meant to be temporary, but a Ingvar Kamprad, now leader of a mul- granted another interview. year after that, Wallén signed a docu- tinational company. When this secret of ment certifying that the Jew was an ex- his past was revealed, Kamprad made ❚ Different Aspects; Same cellent and trustworthy worker. an official declaration excusing himself Phenomenon In 1944, another young Jewish ref- for youthful stupidities. He called old These two stories show how com- ugee came to Elmtaryd farm in Agun- friends, among them Otto Ullmann, to plicated and many times paradoxical naryd, a small town in a forest area in express his regrets. anti-Semitism can be. According to south Sweden. The farmer, Feodor Kam- But there was more coming. After some studies, Sweden is one of the least prad, needed help and since he came Ullmann’s death his children presented anti-Semitic countries in the world. Ac- from a German family it was useful that approximately 500 letters to the writer cording to other studies, Swedish Jews the Vienna born Jew, Otto Ullmann, Elisabeth Åsbrink. The letters were feel a strong uneasiness showing that also spoke German. But Kamprad was from Ullmann’s parents in Vienna and they are Jewish. Jewish institutions are also an outspoken Nazi sympathizer later from Therezienstadt concentra- heavily protected out of fear of terrorist and anti-Semite. How could he employ a tion camp, describing their life for their attacks. The city of Malmö has become

30 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 Rabbi DANIEL KORN: Twisted Swedish Anti-Semitism: Roots, Modern Branches internationally known for anti-Semitic Stubbornly I wanted to prove these descendants continue this work. But in- attacks; news about its dwindling Jewish people wrong. But I was the one proven terviewed on Swedish television, a mem- community has spread over the world. wrong. We went to Möllevångstorget ber of this group said that a growing All of this is true. What seem to be Square and my friend took a picture of number of schools, especially in suburbs contradictory facts actually show differ- me in front of the famous statue “The around the larger cities, do not invite ent aspects of the same phenomenon. honour of work,” but people were con- them. School officials say they cannot It is true that Swedes, according to the stantly shouting at me in Arabic. guarantee the speakers’ safety. international ADL study, are among the What makes Malmö special is that Asked for comment, historian In- least anti-Semitic people in the world. It is also true that a lot of Swedish Jews feel very uneasy or even frightened to show they are Jewish. Yet fear is not always a good mea- I spent a Sabbath [in Malmo] actually delivering sure of a real threat. Often, the more a sermon entitled, “How to live in a place where assimilated you are and the better inte- grated you are in society, the harder it is people hate you.” to show that you are different or an out- sider. Fear of showing Jewishness, there- fore, is not necessarily a measure for the level of anti-Semitism, but can instead show the level of integration. its downtown area and the heavily Mus- grid Lomfors, chief of the Living His- The fear that so many Swedish Jews lim populated districts are in walking tory Forum, said the reason for this have of wearing a Star of David in public distance from each other. Other cities regression was “weakened democracy can therefore be contrasted with the tiny have similar problems, but they are hid- and growing nationalist movements” group of Orthodox Jews who dress in a den in suburbs. that “sort out the Jewish narrative” to be way that identifies them as Jewish. The One could look at this from dif- able to “create a strong nation.” She did Chabad rabbi in Stockholm has said that ferent perspectives. No doubt there is not mention a word about Muslim stu- he was never harassed. Although one strong anti-Semitism among the Mus- dents who protest against Jews coming time a drunk man called after him in the lim immigrants. Studies have shown to “their” schools. street, his words were encouraging rath- this. But these studies have also shown Criticized for this omission, Lom- er than hateful. A friend in Gothenburg that the level of anti-Semitism among fors wrote an article about how good re- has worn his kipa in public for almost Swedish Muslims is much lower than in lations between Muslims and Jews have four decades with no incidents. their countries of origin. In other words: been many times in the past. She also The Swedish influence has proven posi- provided some examples also of how bad ❚ Malmö tive against anti-Semitism. they can be. All of her responses were But there is an exception and it is But many Swedes, not least in lead- true, but they were not responsive to the called Malmö. ing positions, take this influence for criticism. Sweden’s third largest city has, in granted. They seem to think that all recent decades, seen strong immigration people who immigrate want to be like ❚ It Isn’t Only Muslims from Muslim countries and a series of Swedes and kindness is the best way to Lomfors was rebuked for her denial anti-Semitic attacks, not least against its reach this goal. Instead of taking domes- of the obvious, but as Muslims are con- Chabad rabbi. I spent a Sabbath with a tic anti-Semitism seriously they deny its sidered a vulnerable group, themselves newly-started Jewish community there existence. the target of racism, things get compli- in November, actually delivering a ser- cated in Sweden. When developments mon entitled, “How to live in a place ❚ Holocaust Remembrance as are not easily identified as good or bad, where people hate you.” a Warning black and white, people prefer to speak One Sunday, I had a meeting with In the 1980s, Holocaust survivors about something else. The real Swedish a young Swedish Muslim who had read started to visit schools to tell their story, problem with anti-Semitism – as well as one of my books. After a friendly chat we providing younger generations with the with other problems in the country – is walked together to the area Möllevån- message that this could happen again, peoples’ uneasiness at discussing com- gen. People had warned me that if you if we are not vigilant. Now, when the plicated subjects. Why talk about anti- look Jewish you will be harassed there. last survivors are too old, their younger Semitism or integration of Muslims in

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 31 Sweden when the weather forecast is an But until recently, Löfven’s gov- and racist against Muslims in the same endless source of conversation?’ ernment had a Minister of Foreign Af- sentence. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan fairs, Margot Wallström, who must be Under Wallström’s leadership, Löfven has announced an International described as an anti-Semite in the same Löfven’s government has used Swedish Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and way as Britain’s Jeremy Corbyn. Both taxpayers’ money to support the Pales- Combating Anti-Semitism that will take vehemently protest such allegations and tinian Authority (PA) with billions of place in Malmö in October 2020. Mr. both constantly fall into the same pit. dollars, making Sweden one of the stron- Löfven has shown an active concern They take for granted that anti-Semitism gest supporters of the regime that pays for how the memory of the Holocaust is just like any other kind of racism and wages to terrorists and their families. should be preserved and has been out- since they have spent their lives fighting While one member of the government spoken in his denunciation of anti-Sem- racism they do not understand how any- plans a conference on anti-Semitism, itism, including when it appears in the one could call them anti-Semites. another member of the same govern- form of anti-Zionism. Wallström was interviewed about ment pays for the support of murderers The placement of the conference in the terrorist attacks in Paris a few years of Jews. The hypocrisy perhaps became Malmö would appear to be a rebuke to ago, mainly against Jewish targets. She unsustainable, as Wallström suddenly the Muslim population, but in addition, said that the Muslims who executed the resigned her position saying she discov- it is well understood in Sweden that the attacks were “frustrated because of Is- ered that she wanted to spend more time city’s former mayor (of the same Social rael.” She did not see the vulnerability of with her grandchildren. Democratic Party as the prime minister) individual French shoppers. To her, they Or not. The dichotomy of Löfven has made anti-Semitic remarks too often were Jews, and thus part of Israel, a strong and Wallström might also be described to explain them away as absent minded- country. Since racism, in her view, can as a peculiar attitude toward Jews: love ness or misunderstanding. The party’s only exist against weak people – Muslims of dead Jews. If the Jews were murdered youth organization in Malmö marched – she could understand the “weak” Mus- in the Holocaust, the reverence is even a few years ago in a manifestation shout- lims attacking the “strong” Jews. stronger. But living Jews are, perhaps, a ing “crush Zionism.” Löfven refused To say that she excused the attacks different story. to accept the explanation that it was a would be to go too far, but her explana- protest against Zionist ideology and not tion identified kosher food stores in Par- Rabbi DANIEL KORN has written 20 against Jews. He fully acknowledged is with the State of Israel, and found it books in Swedish mainly on cultural, his- that Zionism here was a code word for natural that Muslims would kill civilians torical and political subjects. He currently Jews. Löfven’s honest disgust for anti- in terrorist attacks out of “frustration.” resides in Manchester, England but con- Semitism is without question. She managed to be both anti-Semitic tinues to publish and lecture in Sweden.

The Trustees and Fellows of the Board of Trustees: The Jewish Jewish Policy Center mourn the Diana Epstein, Cheryl Halpern, passing of our Chairman Richard Joel Hoppenstein, Eliot Lauer, J. Policy Center Fox. May his memory be a blessing Philip Rosen, Walter Stern for his family and all who knew him. Board Board of Fellows: Chairman: Richard Fox (z"l) Richard Baehr, William J. Bennett, Mona Charen, Midge Decter, Honorary Chairman: David Frum, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Sheldon B. Kamins Michael A. Ledeen, Michael Medved, David Novak, Daniel Vice Chairmen: Pipes, John Podhoretz, Norman Marshall J. Breger Podhoretz, Dennis Prager, Ilya Michael David Epstein Shapiro, Tevi Troy, Ruth Wisse

General Counsel: Jeffrey P. Altman

32 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 Key Lessons from Recent Anti-Semitic Incidents by Rabbi ABRAHAM COOPER

he Simon Wiesenthal Center’s not guilty to five counts of attempted record at best in interdicting anti-Jewish 2019 Top 10 Worst Anti-Semitic murder and one count of first-degree incitement, which continues unabated and Anti-Israel Incidents con- burglary. Psychiatrists hired by the 24/7. Facebook and other social media Tfirms that history’s oldest hate defense told the judge that their cli- companies have failed to make changes continues its pernicious and deadly me- ent is “not competent to stand trial.” to their live-streaming services even af- tastasis into the mainstream of Western ter they have been used to disseminate democracies. At nearly the same time, the insti- deadly attacks in real-time to millions of Gone are the days when we in the tution of so-called “bail reform” in New people around the world. United States would wag an accusing York saw the release of an anti-Semitic Until the recent wave of violent at- finger at the other side of the Atlantic. hate crime perpetrator without bail. tacks in the New York City area, most of The 2019 list is evenly divided between The day of her release, she violently at- the mainstream news media had shown North America and Europe. It is not tacked three Jewish women. Only on little interest in the roots and manifesta- just Paris, London, Berlin, or Stockholm the perpetrator’s third offense was a tions of today’s anti-Semitism—unless anymore; the targeting of Jews has man- $10,000 bail set. and until Jewish blood is spilt and unless ifested itself coast-to-coast from San Diego County to Jersey City to the New York City subway system. And just days after the release of the Wiesenthal Cen- ...social media represent the most powerful ter’s Top 10 Worst in December came the marketing and recruitment tool for anti-Semites, horrific machete attack at a Chanukah celebration at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, racists and other bigots in history. New York.

Editor’s Note: In a criminal federal hate crimes complaint filed against ❚ The Role of Social Media it can be linked to white supremacists. Thomas Grafton – charged with the During a meeting with three top Many of the recent attacks in the New stabbing attack at the home Hasidic New York City Police Department of- York area did not fit that narrative, as the Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in Monsey ficials, this writer asked what had alleged perpetrators were black. Much of – federal prosecutors said they found changed in the last five years. Where did the media and political leadership were handwritten journals at Thomas’ all this anti-Semitic hate come from? slow to acknowledge that tragic fact. home that contained anti-Semitic “Social media” was their simultaneous views. These included mentions of response. In fact, social media represent ❚ Lip Service is What we Get “Nazi culture” and Adolf Hitler, the most powerful marketing and re- Too many leaders–from the United along with drawings of a cruitment tool for anti-Semites, racists States to France, the United Kingdom, and a Star of David. and other bigots in history. Germany, to Scandinavia — give lip ser- Authorities said an examination It emerges as the key marketing vice to the problem of anti-Semitism but of Thomas’ phone revealed had he platform for anti-Semitic incitement, have failed to come up with a compre- searched the Internet for phrases empowerment and recruitment of so- hensive approach that includes increased connected to Hitler, Jews and the called lone wolf domestic terrorists who funding for law enforcement, tougher location of “Jewish Temples” and violently target Jews at prayer and at sentences for anti-Semitic hate crimes “Zionist Temples.” Thomas pleaded work. Social media giants have a spotty and education for a generation born in

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 33 the 21st century and that has little or no and directly in among Muslims in major to fight back, there are increasing calls understanding of anti-Semitism or the cities, including Berlin. for Jewish alumni to protest the perni- Nazi Holocaust. In the United Kingdom, Jeremy cious double standards by closing their While “Sieg Heil”-ing neo-Nazis Corbyn) allowed—some say encour- checkbooks to their alma maters until and other extreme far-right Jew-haters aged—”progressive” elements of the Jewish students receive equal treatment remain headline-grabbers and generate Labour Party he led to purge Jewish La- afforded to every other minority. media analysis, interfaith protests and bourites, to openly express anti-Semitic the attention of organizations like the and extreme anti-Israel sentiments ❚ Title VI Simon Wiesenthal Center, there is scant and even deny the Holocaust. Only the The only real game-changer and acknowledgment or action when anti- overwhelming defeat handed to Corbyn one of the few rays of light piercing the Semitism is inspired and promoted by by British voters on election day in De- politically correct darkness enveloping extremists—including imams cursing cember put an end – at least temporar- academia was President Donald Trump’s Jews from their pulpits in the name of ily – to the injection of vile Jew-hatred surprise signing of an executive order at Islam or the Palestinian cause. into the mainstream of the political and a White House Chanukah party in 2019. For example, in Sweden, over the social fabric of the United Kingdom. To With a stroke of a pen, Jewish students last decade, authorities in Malmo, the date, though, anti-Semitic crimes in the were at last afforded the same protec- country’s third largest city, still have not UK continue. tions and redress guaranteed to other minorities in the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title VI of the US De- Anti-Semitism has not been a part of the American partment of Education. Students victimized by anti-Israel character - it is at heart, anti-American. All or anti-Jewish hatred on campus and Americans must unite to fight this evil. rebuffed by non-responsive administra- tors can now turn to the US Department of Education to investigate. If charges of anti-Semitism are verified, the depart- arrested or prosecuted a single person ❚ North American Colleges ment can withhold federal funds from for countless anti-Semitic hate crimes and Universities schools that fail to act. Finally, the exec- apparently committed by members of The situation for Jewish students on utive order erased one other key excuse the city’s Muslim community or for on- leading American and Canadian uni- deployed by diffident bureaucrats. Presi- going intimidation of the leading rabbi. versities remains dire. The Wiesenthal dent Trump adopted the so-called IHRA In France, authorities have shown Center could have created a Top 10 or (International Holocaust Remembrance yet again that they view anti-Jewish hate even a Top 100 worst incidents list just Alliance) definition of anti-Semitism. crimes committed in the name of Islam focusing on elite campuses from NYU, Adopted by more than 20 nations, the through a different prism. Shockingly, Columbia, to York and McGill Universi- IHRA definition lists among its exam- a French court released the convicted ties and University of Toronto, to UCLA, ples the labeling of Israel as Nazi-like, murderer of a Jewish woman. The killer UC Berkeley and scores of campuses thus robbing anti-Israel and anti-Semit- had beaten his victim to death in her in America’s heartland. Israel is cast ic activists of a favorite insidious big-lie. apartment and then threw her body off a by “boycott, disinvest, sanction” (BDS) balcony while he chanted Quranic texts. campaigns as an apartheid regime, rac- ❚ Where Do We Go From They blamed his smoking marijuana. ist and therefore illegitimate, and Israe- Here? In Germany, politicians wonder lis are slandered as latter-day Nazis. Woe First, we Jews will have to spend more why an Israeli student is beaten on the to the pro-Israel speaker slated to speak in order to better secure the safety of our streets of Berlin for speaking Hebrew, on campus, or to a Jewish student leader communities, synagogues and schools. even as the same politicians, welcome who travels to the Jewish state. We also should provide additional moral Iranian delegations dispatched by Universities pride themselves on and financial support along with training the “Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali nurturing “safe zones” for students who for disrespected law enforcement, whose Khamenei. The Iranians come bearing are upset about issues of the day. In the brave members are the first and last line sweetheart economic deals for Germa- case of Israel and its supporters, safe of defense. Along with that, we need a ny. German leaders permit terrorist He- zones, that is, for everyone who is upset commitment by law enforcement to work zbollah (the Iranian-backed Lebanese by the existence of Zionists and their with Jewish communities to better se- terrorist movement), to operate openly friends. As Jewish students seek ways cure their safety, and, of course, that of

34 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 Lessons from Recent Anti-Semitic Incidents RABBI ABRAHAM COOPER: Lessons from Recent Anti-Semitic

Anti-Israel students at Columbia University erected a mock “apartheid wall” in front of the iconic Low Library steps during Israel Apartheid Week, March 3, 2016. (Photo: Uriel Heilman/JTA) synagogues and schools. And we need a Fourth, we need to overcome anti- States from around the world to escape commitment by all Americans to support Semites in Congress and rebuild bipar- persecution. We have joined with others in the country’s law enforcement officers, tisan coalitions against Jew-hatred and this nation of immigrants to take part in whose often difficult work sometimes other forms of religious, ethnic or racial the American Dream – enjoying a level of goes unappreciated. bigotry. We will have to strive to recast freedom and acceptance our ancestors in Second, we need a more robust the struggle against anti-Semitism as a foreign lands never knew. Anti-Semitism FBI-led response to the violent target- non-partisan campaign and not just an- has not been part of the American char- ing of Jews. other political football in the unending acter – it is, at its heart, anti-American. All Third, we need people of all faiths toxic Left-Right wars. Americans must unite to fight this evil. and faith leaders to denounce anti- Fifth, we must demand accountabil- Moving forward, the greatest col- Semitism. Just as Jews have played an ity from university administrators and lective challenge for American Jews is important role in fighting white rac- news media; we also must demand that to overcome growing internal debates ism directed against black Americans, the social media giants do much more to and differences and to unite to fight we now need partners in the African- cripple online recruitment and market- this new/old 21st century war against American community to join with us ing of bigots and terrorists. our people – together. in fighting against those who hate Jews, Most of all, American Jews will need regardless of their color. Oftentimes, the help and understanding of our neigh- RABBI ABRAHAM COOPER is white anti-Semites are also white rac- bors, blessed like us to live in the world’s associate dean, director Global So- ists, and blacks who hate whites may greatest democracy. Like millions of other cial Action Agenda, of the Simon despise Jews in particular. people, Jews immigrated to the United Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 35 The Evolving White Supremacy Ideology and Its Protagonists by MICHAEL DAVIS, ZE’EV B. BEGIN, and YIGAL CARMON

Deeds Are Led by Words. overcome the danger. The arguments and FBI, don’t investigate ideology, no matter symbolism developed by white suprema- how repugnant. We investigate violence, ociopolitical developments of the cist groups have become effective in re- and any extremist ideology, when it turns past decades led to new arguments cruiting new supporters, instilling in their to violence, we are all over it.” that have become part of hate dis- minds a sense of mission and urgency and However, for its victims, when ideol- Scourse—namely, that European driving some of them to action, namely ogy turns to violence it is too late. In strug- culture and traditions are being endan- carrying out terrorist acts against their gling against terrorism of both origins, gered by immigrants who will replace perceived enemies. According to their one must first realize that deeds are led by them. The argument expands the scope statements, they hope to achieve the direct words which, in turn, reflect ideology. This of existing hatred against African-Amer- purpose of reducing the number of these being the case, the struggle must start with icans, Jews, and the LGBTQ community, enemies—including through the provoca- fighting white supremacist incitement and appeals to many. Participants in the tion of civil war in the United States—and across social media. Thus, the authori- new discourse enjoy a sense of belonging the indirect aim of showing the way to ties’ ability to do so effectively hinges on to a group of loyalists, sharing admiration others who would follow them. Following the criminalization of such incitement as of their heroes, and using jargon that has the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, a new it aids and abets terrorism. In the U.S. this been newly developed, comprising catchy slogans, smartly coded acronyms, and vi- sual symbols. Social media is being lever- The declared enemies are not only these immigrants aged to quickly spread these messages to themselves but also those who enable immigration an eager audience of thousands. For ex- through their alleged global influence – that is, the Jews. ample, a recent study shows that the num- ber of tweets mentioning the “Great Re- placement” conspiracy theory, which was level of alertness to the danger of white su- is a formidable challenge, since freedom of introduced by Jean R.G. Camus in France premacist violence has been reached in the speech is cherished by Americans across in 2011, increased from 120,000 in 2014 to United States (e.g. “We Worked To Defeat the political spectrum as an all-important 330,000 in 2018 (mainly in Europe). The Islamic State; White Nationalist Ter- pillar of American democracy. Thus, in recent years, prophets of this rorism Is An Equal Threat” in The Wash- However, the 11 white supremacist new white supremacist theory have been ington Post August 2019). There are indeed terrorist attacks in this decade prove that rather successful in disseminating their fundamental similarities between Muslim circumstances have drastically changed. doctrine. They have convinced many that jihadi terrorists and white supremacist ter- Some of these terrorists operated after what they call “the White race” faces a rorists (noted for example in “Online Non- careful selection of the locations and concrete and immediate danger of los- Jihadi Terrorism: Identifying Potential timing of their attacks: an African ing its special status, or even the extinc- Threats,” by MEMRI May 2019). But re- Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church, tion of its identity and culture through garding the vital struggle against their in- synagogues, and mosques—specifically “White genocide.” The declared enemies citement in America there is an important during prayer times—or Latinos in a city are not only these immigrants themselves difference: Unless they are jihadis, U.S. known to host many of them. Hence, in- but also those who enable immigration authorities will not act against domestic citing against “the African-Americans,” through their alleged global influence— extremists spreading incitement. Thus, “the Jews,” or “the Latino immigrants” that is, the Jews. in his testimony in the Senate Judiciary can no longer be considered a general, These apocalyptic depictions encour- Committee on July 23, 2019, FBI Director vague threat. These terrorist attacks are age urgent, concrete action, in order to Christopher Wray stated clearly: “We, the directly influenced by white supremacist

36 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 MICHAEL DAVIS, ZE’EV B. BEGIN, and YIGAL CARMON: The Evolving White Supremacy Ideology and Its Protagonists incitement and by previous attacks, even ❚ Urgency U.S. will no longer have a white major- from overseas. The evolving reality calls White supremacist propaganda cre- ity, which is assumed will occur in 2045. for a fresh look into the legal tools need- ates the impression that the danger to ed to combat this danger. what supremacists refer to as “the White ❚ Inspiration Sources Cited by White supremacist argumentation, race” is imminent, and that immediate Perpetrators Themselves jargon, and symbols are demonstrably action to reverse the process is needed. The information that follows show- both contagious and dangerous. Below is The indoctrination regarding the fate of cases the literature and terrorist attacks a brief look at main sources of inspiration the white majority in the United States that have served as sources of inspira- for white supremacist terrorists who have includes: a countdown to the time when, tion for attacks that took place between acted since 2011: according to statistical projections, the 2011 and 2019. The information shows

Fig. 1 “Lineage” of white supremacist terrorists as stated by them. This is an updated and modified version of a figure published in MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1457, Online Non-Jihadi Terrorism: Identifying Potential Threats, May 30, 2019.

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 37 that in 11 attacks during in this time pe- murderer Charles Manson. With a focus the Overland Park Jewish Community riod, 184 people were killed and at least on and anti-Semitic Center, near Kansas City, Kansas They 387 others were wounded. and anti-gay themes, it calls for the es- were later found to be Christians. • Publication of , 1925 tablishment of a network of decentral- • Charleston Church Shooting, 2015 Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical ized terror cells and for taking up arms Dylann Roof entered the Emanuel manifesto, which outlines his political against the “system.” African Methodist Episcopal Church, and ideological worldviews. • Publication of The Great Replace- shot dead nine people and wounded • Publication of , 1978 ment, 2011 three during an evening Bible study. He The Turner Diaries, a novel by Wil- Camus’s book warns against the claimed that his goal was to start a race liam Luther Pierce, outlines a civil war purported danger of the replacement war. His manifesto reflected many tenets between the white supremacist “Organi- of ethnic French people (i.e. Caucasian of white supremacism, among them the zation” and the U.S. government (“The French) by immigrants from the Middle belief that African Americans were rap- System”) which is controlled by Jews. In East and North Africa. According to his ing white woman. He directly inspired the book, The Day of the Rope, which theory, these immigrants are purport- Tarrant. takes place on August 1, is an event in edly aided by a trans-national group of • Quebec City mosque shooting, 2017 which the white supremacists carry out globalist capitalist ruling elites called Alexandre Bissonnette entered brutal massacres, ethnically cleansing “Mondialists.” the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, shot and killed nine and wounded 19 during an evening service. Bisson- nette had been known to espouse far- right, white nationalist and anti-Muslim It is difficult to estimate the number of those who views, and had harassed Muslims on a Facebook page for refugees. He directly consume venomous propaganda on a regular basis. inspired Tarrant. • Stockholm truck attack, 2017 Rakhmat Akilov, a 39-year-old asy- lum seeker from , hijacked a truck and deliberately drove into crowds Los Angeles by killing its Jewish and • Oslo, Norway attacks, 2011 along a central street, killing five people black inhabitants, and publicly hanging Anders Behring Breivik carried out and wounding 14, including 11-year-old people labeled “race traitors,” including two sequential terrorist attacks. He first Ebba Akerlund. Tarrant wrote: “To take federal officials and white women who detonated a car bomb in Oslo, which revenge for Ebba Akerlund.” have had relations with black men. killed eight people and wounded about • Finsbury Park attack, 2017 Pages of this book were found in 200. He then proceeded to the island Darren Osborne drove into a crowd the vehicle of Timothy McVeigh, who of Utoya, the site of a summer camp of Muslims leaving a mosque after together with Terry Nichols bombed the run by the youth division of the ruling prayers in Finsbury Park, London, kill- Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Norwegian Labor Party. He used semi- ing one person and wounding nine oth- Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, kill- automatic weapons to fire on campers ers. He directly inspired Tarrant. ing 168 people and wounding approxi- and staff, killing 69 and wounding 66. • Macerata attack, 2018 mately 700. David Copeland, a member Breivik stated that he had chosen to tar- Fascist activist Luca Traini shot of the neo-Nazi group National Socialist get this group in order to raise awareness and wounded six African immigrants in Movement, said he was inspired by the of his manifesto and his ideology, which Macerata, Italy. He claimed to have done book to carry out the London nail bomb- is anti-Muslim and anti-immigration. this to avenge the murder of 18-year-old ings in April 1999, which resulted in the He directly inspired Brenton Tarrant in Pamela Mastropietro, whom he believed death of three people and wounded 140. New Zealand. had been murdered by an African immi- This day was also mentioned by John • Overland Park Jewish Community grant. He directly inspired Tarrant. Earnest, the Poway, California shooter Center shooting, 2014 • Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, in the manifesto attributed to him. Frazier Miller was a neo-Nazi who 2018 • Publication of Siege, 1992 for many years preached hatred of Jews, Robert Bowers entered the Tree of A collection of newsletters that and in 1987 wrote: “The Jews are our Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA during James Mason wrote in the 1980s in col- main and most formidable enemies.” In morning services, allegedly shooting to laboration with sect leader and mass 2014, he shot dead three people close to death 11 people and wounding seven. He

38 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 MICHAEL DAVIS, ZE’EV B. BEGIN, and YIGAL CARMON: The Evolving White Supremacy Ideology and Its Protagonists had been active on social media site , posting anti-Semitic and white national- ist content. He directly inspired Earnest. • Christchurch mosque shooting, 2019 Brenton Tarrant entered the Al Noor Mosque and later the Linwood Islamic Centre during Friday services, where he shot dead a total of 51 people and wounded 49. In his manifesto, Tar- rant expressed xenophobic and white supremacist sentiment calling for the re- moval of Muslims from European lands and including neo-Nazi symbols such as the Black Sun and the Cross of Odin. He directly inspired Earnest, Crusius and Philip Manshaus. • Poway, CA synagogue shooting, 2019 John Earnest shot and killed one person and wounded three others at Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, Cal., before his weapon jammed. He di- rectly inspired Manshaus. Community members mourn outside of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA in • El Paso shooting, 2019 2019. (Photo: Brendt Petersen) On August 3, 2019, Patrick Cru- sius entered a Walmart store in the Cielo killed 22 at the El Paso, Texas Walmart. efficient multiplier of such propaganda; Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas where he Tarrant is described as an “anointed there would not have been a “world ji- opened fire, killing 22 and wounding Saint,” Earnest as the “first disciple of had” without this global loudspeaker. 24. A manifesto posted online just prior Saint Brenton” and Crusius as “directly Recall that not many acts of terror to the attack and generally attributed to inspired to fight back by Saint Tarrant.” are needed in order to terrorize, desta- him stated that the attack was inspired bilize and disrupt society. This is espe- by Tarrant’s manifesto and was aimed ❚ Conclusion cially true when the perpetrators spe- against Latinos, calling them a threat to We opened by stating that deeds cifically target a certain defined group. the future of white Americans. He di- are led by words, but were careful not to Thus, the 2018 attack in the Pittsburg rectly inspired Manshaus. claim that all inciting rhetoric leads di- synagogue rippled across the Jewish • Baerum Mosque shooting, 2019 rectly to misdeeds. On the other hand, community in the U.S. and the effect Philip Manshaus entered the al- we demonstrated that those whose acts was exacerbated following the Poway Noor Islamic Centre in Baerum, a town of murder were based on their ideologi- synagogue attack only six months lat- 13 miles outside Oslo, Norway, and cal basis of “white supremacy” were in- er. Combined with the increased level opened fire. One person was wounded. deed influenced by words to which they of online anti-Semitism, these two as- were exposed online. saults led to a growing sense of emer- ❚ Idolization It is difficult to estimate the num- gency within the U.S. Jewish communi- A significant method of promoting ber of those who consume venomous ty and some steps were taken to protect and celebrating white supremacist ide- propaganda on a regular basis. For ex- it. Hence, it must be recognized that ology is by the attribution of sainthood ample, it can be assumed that millions online incitement poses a real danger to white supremacist terrorists. A meme of people are exposed to jihadist propa- and should be treated accordingly. posted online by Philip Manshaus before ganda, but only very few are mobilized he carried out his Aug. 10, 2019 attack in and perpetrate terrorist acts. However, MICHAEL DAVIS heads the White Oslo showed Brenton Tarrant, the New such messages create a virulent atmo- Supremacist Online Incitement proj- Zealand mosque attacker, and his “dis- sphere, which ultimately resonates with ect for the Middle East Media Research ciples,” John Earnest, who murdered those few who resort to action. Replac- Institute, ZE’EV B. BEGIN is a senior one person at the Chabad synagogue in ing whole organizations and financing researcher for MEMRI and YIGAL Poway, Cal. and Patrick Crusius, who apparatuses, the Internet is now a most CARMON the president and founder.

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 39 How We Talk About African- American Anti-Semitism by JONATHAN S. TOBIN

eneralizing about blacks and anti- views at a rate far higher than the rest of natural reaction to gentrification or eco- Semitism is a mistake. the population. Twenty years after Crown nomic exploitation of blacks. The presence of African- Heights, an Anti-Defamation League These fallacious arguments are GAmerican community leaders survey showed that 29 percent expressed sometimes rooted in the prejudicial at- and politicians at the January 5, 2020 “strongly anti-Semitic views.” titudes many secular and non-Orthodox New York City march against anti- That problem has grown worse as Jews have about the ultra-Orthodox. Nor Semitism was heartening. So, too, are black activists have embraced false in- is it out of line or racist to ask more Afri- the many testimonies that have come tersectional theories that view Jews and can-American leaders to be outspoken in forward from individuals about acts of Israel on the other side of an intractable denouncing anti-Semitism in their com- caring and kindness towards the ultra- divide between oppressors and “people of munities and encourage programs, such Orthodox community that has been color” even though the majority of Israe- as those promoted by the ADL, which targeted for violence from many of their lis can be described by the same phrase. will help young blacks see through the African-American neighbors. Those who would treat this as a conflict be- tween two communities that are locked There is nothing remotely in common between in an existential struggle are wrong. the struggle for civil rights in this country and the Yet the history of black-Jewish rela- tions, especially in New York City over Palestinian war to destroy the only Jewish state on the last half century, is complicated. the planet. While they might have once seemed like two minority communities that were nat- ural allies in the struggle for civil rights, There is nothing remotely in common be- lies told by the Jew-haters. blacks and Jews also found themselves on tween the struggle for civil rights in this Yet as much as we must resist the the opposite sides of many issues in the country and the Palestinian war to de- impulse to avoid criticizing black anti- 1960s and its aftermath. And the anti- stroy the only Jewish state on the planet. Semitism because of black’s long history Semitism of many leading black activists Nor can the influence of hate-mon- of oppression, the opposite is also true. It in the 1960s during conflicts over hous- gers like Nation of Islam leader Louis is equally important for those calling at- ing, the education system and other dis- Farrakhan, a group that has far more ac- tention to black anti-Semitism to realize putes was a distressing development. tive followers and sympathizers than any that Jews and blacks are not competing for The tensions between poor blacks and white-supremacist group, be denied. victim status. Nor is it helpful or accurate the ultra-Orthodox Jews who remained in Many in the Jewish community to assume that minority communities are Brooklyn neighborhoods that other Jews prefer to downplay these factors because invariably hostile, or that common ground fled might have created misunderstand- they don’t fit into their preferred narra- can’t still be found. This discussion can be ings on both sides. But the Crown Heights tive about anti-Semitism. Others, like the derailed by insensitive or needlessly in- riots of 1991 that activists such as the Reform movement of Judaism, think the flammatory rhetoric, even if the motives Rev. Al Sharpton helped incite, in which problem is Jewish racism, as Rabbi Jonah of those speaking out on the issue are not a 29-year-old Orthodox Jewish student Pesner stated when successfully urging racist. How we discuss the reality of black from Australia was murdered and many the denomination to support reparations anti-Semitism is as important as our will- others injured, was part of this legacy. for the descendants of African-American ingness to acknowledge it. The fact remains that surveys over the last slaves. Such sentiments meld with those quarter century have consistently shown who prefer to blame the victims of the JONATHAN S. TOBIN is editor in that African-Americans hold anti-Semitic violence and see attacks on Jews as a chief of JNS—Jewish News Syndicate.

40 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 Za a Mentsch (Be What a Human Being Ought to Be) review by SHOSHANA BRYEN

ews live in a world of code – words Wisse says, “I want to see how the poli- that say one thing and mean some- tics of Jews occasions the politics of anti- thing entirely different to the ini- Jews… in tandem because that is the way Jtiated. Religion, nationality, eth- they coexist.” Not to blame the Jews, but nicity, Zionism, anti-Semitism and as an attempt to understand “how and anti-Zionism, intersectionality, racism, why…Anti-Semitism became arguably tikkun olam, peace – alone or next to the most protean force in international “process” – Holocaust and holocaust all politics.” mean to the speaker what they mean to All of that before Chapter One. the speaker. What the listener, Jewish or The three “staples of nationhood” not, hears is often something else. are land, a central government, and a What is clear to the magnificent means of self-defense. The Jewish peo- Ruth R. Wisse in Jews and Power is that ple’s first experiment in retaining na- the evolution of Jews, as practitioners tionhood without them was the Baby- of a religion and as nationalists and as lonian exile. There, two intellectual people of widely varying ethnicity, has threads kept them separate when other no parallel. Jews worked to adapt to po- tribes simply disappeared. First was the litical conditions in Europe, the Middle attachment to the land they had left – “If East, North Africa, and elsewhere over I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right centuries and under wildly disparate hand wither; let my tongue stick to my Jews and Power conditions. At all times, in all places, palate if I cease to think of you, if I do she notes in the Introduction to the new not keep Jerusalem in memory even at by Ruth R. Wisse Second Edition, “Jews needed accom- my happiest hour.” This is the origin of modation; anti-Jews needed an object of breaking a glass at a Jewish wedding – at Second Edition, 2020 blame.” Code, and understanding code, the “happiest hour” the memory of lost Nextbook-Schocken were essential to survival. Jerusalem appears. Wisse, a Fellow of the Jewish Policy Second was the Jews’ relationship Center, is a former professor of Yiddish with God. His job is to avenge His peo- and Comparative Literature at Harvard ple, destroy their enemies, and restore University. Born in Czernowitz, part of them to Zion. For other people, this is modern-day Ukraine, she spent most of the role of the state and the army, but her childhood in Montreal, and earned a Jews had no state or army – thus, Jews Ph.D. from McGill University. To say she took the role of supplicants or, some- often writes and speaks about the poli- times, as the cause of God’s unwilling- tics of anti-Semitism, why Israel is under ness to rescue His people. Even negative attack in our universities, as well as the “agency” was better than being the ob- study of Yiddish literature, is to under- ject of the whims of the universe. Often, state her importance in helping Jews un- they asked God to provide vengeance: derstand themselves and understand the “Fair Babylon, you predator, a blessing inevitable Jew-haters. on him who repays you in kind what you In explaining her motivation for have inflicted on us; a blessing on him writing and updating Jews and Power, who seizes your babies and dashes them

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 41 against the rocks!” Moses defying God and not reaching the one-sided. As long as the governing pow- But if nationhood requires three Promised Land was met with the same ers valued the Jews over other things, they staples that the Jews didn’t have, Jews objection. “Moses was a Prophet and were relatively safe. But “other things” had three other staples – “Torah, wor- Prophets are perfect.” At some point, we could and did include populist mobs, ri- ship, and deeds of lovingkindness.” (To- stopped discussing the Torah. ots and better offers, at which point, the rah, Avodah v’Gmilut Chasadim) These Side note No. 2: The best-selling Jews would be jettisoned. staples, especially the Torah, which was book in South Korea (and close to the In later cases, this could be ascribed to the relationship between Jews and Christians and Muslims, chronically fraught with tension – but Wisse starts Wisse’s historical description of Jewish courts, at Elephantine in 411 BCE. It could also be ascribed, as Thomas Sowell did, to teachers, and texts not only answers questions the position of “middleman minorities” about Jews and power, but also about how we Jews including Jews, Armenians in the Otto- man Empire, overseas Chinese in South- became the people we are. east Asia, and Ibos in Nigeria. “It is not just what these minori- ties have achieved, but how they have achieved it, that evokes suspicion and translated into the vernacular and stud- top in Japan and China) is a transla- resentments,” wrote Sowell. Wisse ex- ied and shared by the community, were tion of the Talmud. Koreans read it to plains, “The very functions of lend- portable. Study was mandatory, and learn the secret of Jewish success – not ing and charging interest, of bartering time for study was much to be desired in “secrets” in the European anti-Semitic rather than producing necessities, trig- poor and working communities. Israel’s sense, but in the sense of knowing Jews ger distrust. Envy and resentment are present and growing issues with perpet- to be an ancient people, like Koreans, provided not by wealth alone, but by the ual Torah students who do not serve in and wanting to understand. What they intermediary role and social habits that the armed forces of the State stem from miss is that the secret is not in the book, set and keep these groups apart.” this mandate. but rather in the pilpul – the mechanism And religion. Wisse’s historical description of for asking and answering questions that For Christians and Muslims, it Jewish courts, teachers, and texts not has no educational parallel in Asia. was Jews as “the other” and the “infi- only answers questions about Jews and These, throughout the first two sec- del.” And for Jews, it was the covenantal power, but also about how we Jews be- tions of Jews and Power, are keys to Jews, relationship with God and the belief came the people we are. Over years, de- philo-Semites, and anti-Semites. that God would, at some point, avenge cades, and centuries, even unreligious the enemies of the Jews and lead them Jews assimilated the peoplehood and ❚ Powers of Protection home. “The Eternal shall grant his peo- the ethic. “Za a mentsch” was an admo- Across countries and eras, Jewish ple strength; the Eternal shall bless his nition familiar even to Jews who didn’t communities made accommodation with people with peace.” This relationship speak Yiddish. local rulers, offering benefits and ser- gave the Jews an expectation of unfailing Side note No. 1: The translation and study of the laws of the Torah stands in contrast to the “Arabic only” Quran, and the rote memorization of the Had- For all the skills the Jews developed in the iths by generations of Muslim youth. An Egyptian Muslim friend had seriously Diaspora, one they never had and could never have read and studied the Hebrew Bible. Dis- had, was military skill. cussing Joseph, I mentioned that he had made “ill reports” to his father about his brothers, engendering the aggravation that got him sold off to Egypt. “Oh, no,” said my friend. “Joseph vices in exchange for security. However, divine protection, along with temporary was a Prophet – he never did anything Part One makes it clear that the arrange- protection from earthly rulers. wrong. He couldn’t.” My example of ment was throughout history entirely The concept of protection and the

42 inFOCUS | Spring 2020 JEWS AND POWER: Book Review rise of self-protection is most interesting in Part Three: Return to Zion. The return to the historic Jewish homeland was a “push-me-pull-you” phenomenon. On the “push me” side, Moses Leib Lilienblum noted that not a single western European country had taken appreciable numbers of Jews flee- ing Russian pogroms. It was time for Jews, who were “hated, hounded, beaten, murdered, and incarcerated” to return to the Land of Israel. On the “pull you” side was the rise of European national- ism – if they could do it, why couldn’t the Jews? Here is one of the most intriguing parts of the book. For all the skills the Jews developed in the Diaspora, one they never had and could never have had, was military skill. The protection of the Jews had been outsourced to lo- cal political and religious leaders in Part One. By Part Three, the returning Jews were still seeking outside protection – from the British, from local Ottoman officials, from local Arabs. The thought that an army might be necessary was not mainstream. Herzl dreamed that “if Jerusalem Clearly, looking back on the chalut- Wisse’s description of the inability is ever ours, I’d clear up everything zim from here, the creation and evolu- or unwillingness of the Jews to accept the not sacred, tear down the filthy rat- tion of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) need for self-defense is extraordinary. holes,” preserving the Old City as a is an even greater feat than we normally heritage site like Lourdes or Mecca. credit. Wisse gives pioneers Ze’ev Ja- Jewish memory lingered on the last “I’d build an airy comfortable prop- botinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor their military hero, Bar Kochba, whose erly sewered, brand new city around due. The Holocaust and repeated (failed) defeat by the Romans at the last the Holy Places.” Herzl later decided Arab invasions are also credited. mountain stronghold of Betar in that Jerusalem should be shared: The Conclusion returns us to the 135 CE seemed to eliminate the op- “We shall extra-territorialize Jerusa- beginning – the modern relationship tion of Jewish armed might… The lem so that it will belong to nobody between Jews and power, both politi- aberrant nature of Jewish political and everybody, its Holy Places the cal and military, and between Jews and life became horribly manifest dur- joint possession of all Believers.” anti-Semites. Jews and Power is not pro- ing World War I when an estimated Ben Gurion believed, like most of his scriptive, it will not tell you how to deal half million Jews fought in the uni- fellow Zionists at this time, that a so- with the haters or protect the Jews. But forms of the vying armies of Europe cialist Jewish state would be created for Jews and non-Jews alike, it offers a with no one to prevent the violence without violence and without domi- cogent description of the development of directed at them. nating or displacing the Palestinian the Jewish people and their unique insti- Arabs; rather it would exist alongside tutions across time and space. In his book Jerusalem: The Biogra- them. He was sure the Jewish and It is an education well worth the in- phy, Simon Sebag Montefiore explains Arab working classes would cooper- vestment of time and intellectual energy. the leaders of the Zionist movement ate… it did not occur to the Zionists were committed to winning the Arabs to that most of these Arabs had no wish SHOSHANA BRYEN is the editor of their vision of the Jewish return making for the benefits of their settlement.” inFOCUS Quarterly and Senior Di- the land better for everyone: rector of the Jewish Policy Center.

Anti-Semitism: The Oldest Hate Renewed | inFOCUS 43 50 F Street NW, Suite 100 Washington, DC 20001

❚ A Final Thought ...

Our❚ A Final Friends Thought ... and Allies tkColonial powers – primarily France, Britain, Belgium, countries can be pursuing ends the U.S. both does, and does and Russia – believed there was no substitute for their own not seek or condone. armiestk and officials to ensure that their colonies stayed in line. The Afghan and Syrian wars prompted another spasm of Not a traditional colonial or occupying power, U.S. nation- the belief that U.S. support for this side or that, this person or al interests include the free movement of goods and people that, could have or would have produced a secular and toler- across the seas, including oil to its importers — without nec- ant revolution, led by those who would be America’s friends. essarily managing the internal affairs of other countries. • That American military, economic and political sup- Instead of colonial occupation forces, the U.S. has taken port would moderate or redirect longstanding ethnic and re- its money, arms, training, and agenda abroad. ligious beliefs and hatreds, and American security assistance generally is predicated on • That American “influence” could create moderate, the principle that a smaller or poorer country that has U.S. tolerant governments in the Middle East, North Africa and equipment and training will be better able to defend common Southwest Asia. interests than one that doesn’t. The counter-argument are the actual results in Afghani- Sometimes it works that way. But sometimes it puts the stan, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon, and the U.S. in bed with people who want our weapons and training Palestinian Authority – where the U.S. believed that with but do not share our bottom line — their enemy is not ours; American training and financial support, Palestinian “po- their rules of engagement are not ours; their government, in lice” would “dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.” fact, is not a friend of ours, but maybe if we reward it thor- For now, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Gulf States may oughly enough it won’t actively oppose our interests. meet the “shared enemy” criteria for support – meaning Iran The whole history need not be rehashed, but suffice it to – but Israel is the only country in the region that meets the say, America has rescued some countries, flattened others, “shared values” criteria as well. aided some governments, ousted others and been on various sides of local wars and disagreements. Usually sequentially. – Shoshana Bryen Right now, they’re not sequential. And right now, the same Senior Director, Jewish Policy Center