ANTI- SEMITISM WHAT ARE ITS NEW FORMS? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM & WHY DOES IT PERSIST? WILL IT EVER GO AWAY?

A SYMPOSIUM WITH , DAVID BERGER, PHYLLIS CHESLER, JEREMY COHEN, IRWIN COTLER, MOHAMMED S. DAJANI DAOUDI, HASIA DINER, STUART EIZENSTAT, AVNER FALK, IRA FORMAN, MICHEL GURFINKIEL, DAVID KERTZER, BRIAN KLUG, DAVID MAMET, DAVID NIRENBERG, EMANUELE OTTOLENGHI, CYNTHIA OZICK, DINA PORAT, ALVIN ROSENFELD, ARI ROTH,

SHLOMO SAND, MAXIM SHRAYER, CHARLES ASHER SMALL, ELI VALLEY, HANS-JOACHIM VOTH, XU XIN

AND OTHERS ONLINE: MICHAEL BARKUN, BENT BLÜDNIKOW, ROBERT CHAZAN, LEONARD DINNERSTEIN, EVA FOGELMAN ZVI GITELMAN, MICHAEL GOLDFARB, JONATHAN JUDAKEN, SHMUEL TRIGANO, SERGIO WIDDER ART CREDIT

34 JULY/AUGUST 2013 INTERVIEWS BY: SARAH BREGER, DINA GOLD,GEORGE JOHNSON, CAITLIN YOSHIKO KANDIL, SALA LEVIN & JOSH TAPPER

THE OLDEST HATRED IS BY SOME ACCOUNTS ALIVE AND WELL, BY OTHERS AN OVERUSED EPITHET. WE TALK WITH THINKERS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE FOR A CRITICAL AND SURPRISINGLY NUANCED EXAMINATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM'S ORIGINS AND STAYING POWER.

DAVID BERGER Europe meant that became the Christianity could not eliminate the evil OUTSIDERS & ENEMIES quintessential Other, and they conse- character of Jewish blood. quently became the primary focus of David Berger is editor of History and In the ancient Greco-Roman world, peo- hostility even in ways that transcended Hate: The Dimensions of Anti-Semi- ple evinced a wide variety of attitudes to- the theological. tism and Ruth and I. Lewis Gordon Pro- ward Jews. Some admired Jewish distinc- Once this focus on Jews as the Other fessor of and dean of the tiveness, some were neutral, but others became entrenched, it continued into Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish were put off by the fact that unlike any modern Europe. Thus, although the Studies at Yeshiva University. other people in antiquity, the Jews had a decline of Christianity as the central who limited their social interaction phenomenon of European society and with non-Jews and prevented them from the rise of the Enlightenment should participating in public rites that Jews arguably have led to the elimination of considered idolatrous. To some observ- anti-Semitism, that is not what happened JEREMY COHEN ers, this meant that Jews hated the rest (even though anti-Semitism did decline). AN ANTIQUATED RELIGION of humanity. With the rise of Christian- People turned back to some of the sec- ity, some of the reasons for hating Jews ondary reasons given in the Middle Ages, In the earliest Christian writings, such as should have receded—since Christians such as the accusation that Jews were the letters of the Apostle Paul, there is a also promote the notion of one God— economic exploiters or the invocation of pattern by which Christians define who but instead, Jews’ rejection of Jesus and their allegedly demonic character, which they are in terms of who they are not, in the description of their responsibility for purportedly led them to engage in ritual terms of an opposition to the Other—and the crucifixion engendered renewed hos- murder and well-poisoning. Nazi anti- that Other is the Jew. If the New Testa- tility and reinforced some of the negative Semitism was nourished by such con- ment is a heavenly covenant, then the To- tropes inherited from the Greco-Roman ceptions, and even the notion of ineradi- rah of Jews is an earthly law. If Christians world. The fact that Judaism was seen as cable Jewish racial characteristics has are identified with a heavenly Jerusalem, an enemy faith but was simultaneously precedent in late medieval circles where then Jews are identified with an earthly granted unique toleration in Christian some people asserted that conversion to Jerusalem. In order for Christianity to be

MARCH/APRIL 2014 / MOMENT 35 right, Judaism must be wrong. charges, and other such late-medieval ac- In both traditions, the Jews stand for At the same time, Jews and Judaism cusations. Here lay important groundwork loving the world too much, a temptation have a place in the Christian world, for modern anti-Semitism: The Protocols of that affects everyone who lives in the because they and their Bible testify to the Elders of Zion and its myth of the inter- world. Hence “Jew” becomes a way of Christianity’s biblical origins, and the national Jewish conspiracy, for example, criticizing anyone. When Christians see contrast between the defeated, en- owe much to medieval and even classical a Christian loving the world too much, slaved Jew and the victorious Christian Christian patterns of thought. they call him a Jew or a Judaizer. The validates Christianity. When Saint Au- Jeremy Cohen is the author of several books, same is true in . Sunnis call Shiites gustine (354-430 CE) taught that Jews including The Friars and the Jews: The “the Jews of our community,” and Shiites needed to be preserved—and dispersed Evolution of Medieval Anti-Judaism and characterize Sunnis as Jews. This is what and subjugated—so that Christians Christ-Killers: The Jews and the Pas- makes anti-Judaism so useful: it has the could define themselves in opposition sion, from the Bible to the Big Screen, power to criticize any “incorrect” attach- to them, we might say that he perceived and professor of European Jewish history at ment to God and the world, even when them as standing on a platform in a rail- Tel Aviv University. the people involved aren’t Jewish. road station waiting for the “Salvation In Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Express” to come and pick them up. for example, Shylock could represent all But they would be standing there for- sorts of “incorrect” attachment to mon- ever, because they had missed the only ey, contract, law and love, even though such train—the one that would have DAVID NIRENBERG there hadn’t been Jews in England for led them to Jesus Christ. In Augustine’s A CORRUPTING INFLUENCE 300 years. Martin Luther attacked the terms, the Jews were “stationary,” stuck, Pope as a Jew and was repaid by Catho- as it were, in “useless antiquity.” The Many religions have a dream of transcen- lics in the same coin. And in the Syrian Jew reading his Bible resembled a blind dence, of an ideal world in which there is civil war today, the opposition forces man looking into a mirror, and Chris- no corruption, no suffering and no evil, call Bashar al-Assad a Jew, and he in tians could best appreciate their own and where the soul is eternal. And yet we turn calls the al-Qaeda troops fighting vision in contrast to him. live in a world of suffering, where bad against him Judaizers and Zionists. It is Notwithstanding this perception of things happen to good people, no matter this flexible power to criticize so many the Jews, there was, in fact, a vibrant and how pious. How to explain the tension aspects of this world, even when they creative post-biblical rabbinic tradition between ideal and reality? One way to do have nothing to do with real Jews or Ju- evolving at the same time that Christi- so is to imagine a source of corruption, daism, that has made anti-Judaism such anity was evolving. When the late medi- an agent of confusion seeking to orient us a useful tool for so many people in so eval Church eventually awakened to the toward the deadly material world, rather many different times and places. realities of Talmudic Judaism, it had the than toward our transcendent ideal. Ju- David Nirenberg is a historian at the Uni- confiscated, tried and burned, daism has been used to imagine the part versity of Chicago and author of Anti-Juda- because it deviated from the Christian of the world that is materialistic, fleshy, ism: The Western Tradition. construction of who the Jews needed to the enemy of our immortal soul. be: fossils of an Old Testament that had Christianity and Islam both teach us to long ago lost its validity and vitality. love God more than money, family, the Talmudic Jews, then, as opposed to the world and even your own life. The op- blind unbelievers that Augustine beheld posite is also true—if you love the world, AVNER FALK in the Jews, were now seen as rejecting then you’re turning away from God. The EXTERNALIZING EVIL the truth deliberately, and there was little Jews are often used to represent this er- need and less tolerance for them in a prop- ror, an error that is, of course, common Many anti-Semitic tropes are the prod- erly ordered Christian society. Christian to much of humanity. When Jesus says, uct of two unconscious processes. One is teachers soon concluded that the Jews had “Store not your treasures on earth,” he’s “splitting,” the unconscious division of killed their Messiah and their God inten- teaching all humanity but using the Phar- external emotional objects into “good” tionally. The popular imagination ran wild isees as his negative example. The Qur’an and “bad.” This tendency is illustrated with this myth of the deliberate unbeliever, uses a similar strategy when it says that in fairy tales such as Snow White, in nourishing the demonization of Jews and the Jews are the greediest for life, that which the child has two mothers: the promoting blood libels, well-poisoning they will abandon God for worldly gain. “good” mother who has died and the

36 MARCH/APRIL 2014 “evil” stepmother who torments. This havior patterns that further antagonized hate everyone who doesn’t look like us, splitting leads a person to view the the Christians and created a vicious circle then there’s a cost, and the children will world in black and white—the good us in relations with the majority. While the be less likely to succeed. In this way, trade versus the bad them. human species may be more technologi- gradually undermines the transmission The other process is unconscious pro- cally sophisticated today, we have not yet of hatred from generation to generation: jection and externalization. In the Mid- progressed much psychologically. People Hamburg today has the lowest frequency dle Ages, for example, German peasant need to have enemies, so anti-Semitism is of committed anti-Semites in Germany, children were strictly raised to be clean not going to disappear any time soon. and another Hanseatic city, Lübeck, and proper, even while they lived with Avner Falk, an Israeli clinical psychologist, is voted massively against the Nazi regime their pigs, so they unconsciously pro- the author of : A History and even after it came to power. jected their own “dirty” and “bad” wishes Psychoanalysis of Contemporary Hatred. Hans-Joachim Voth is professor of economics onto the Jews. Germans during this time at the University of Zurich. wholly believed in the existence of the Judensau—“Jews’ sow”—a huge, ugly pig with tusks that was the wife of the Devil. The Jews were said to be their offspring HANS-JOACHIM VOTH and were depicted as suckling her and ECONOMIC PATTERNS SHLOMO SAND eating her excrement. Numerous towns JUDEOPHOBIA’S NEW EXCUSE in Germany prominently displayed this The research says there aren’t any easy image in sculptures, woodcuts, paintings economic explanations for anti-Sem- Instead of anti-Semitism, I like to say and drawings on bridges, churches, pub- itism. When one compares the towns “Judeophobia,” since I don’t believe in a lic squares and municipal buildings. and cities that committed pogroms in Semitic race—that concept was invented Similarly, as in the myth of Abraham the 14th century with those that didn’t, by anti-Semites in the 19th century. Ju- and Isaac, or of Laius and Oedipus, the they’re all incredibly similar—they’re deophobia has a long history, stretching ancients used to sacrifice their firstborn next to each other and have similar from the 4th until the 20th century, and son while unconsciously projecting economic functions and demographic is rooted in Christianity, which said Jews their infanticidal wishes onto their . compositions. But one of those places killed the son of God. Until the 1950s, Christians later projected them onto the burned its Jewish citizens in 1349-50, Judeophobia was legitimized by the Jews, saying they killed Christ and mur- and the other didn’t. One thing that does press and even the pope. It was in the dered Christian babies to make matzohs. stand out is that whatever happened in 1950s that Judeophobia became less and In the same way, Adolf Hitler was a sexual the 14th century lasted throughout the less legitimate in Europe’s public square, deviant—it is well documented that he next 600 years: The same places that did but it continued underground there and could only reach orgasm when he made or did not attack Jews did more or less in the United States. women defecate on him—but he accused the same thing in the 20th century in Today, we’re seeing the beginning Jews of wanting to indulge in sexual per- terms of persecution before and during of hostilities against Jews that started versions and of wanting to pollute Ger- the Nazi era—they voted more for the as anti-Zionism but have become anti- man blood. Hitler suspected that he was Nazis, committed more pogroms in the . This popular hostility is not from partly Jewish, so in his case, in addition to 1920s, attacked their synagogues with the Middle Ages but has emerged from unconscious projection, he also displayed greater frequency in 1938 and deported Arab and Muslim emigration. The Is- unconscious splitting, with the idea of more Jewish citizens. raeli-Palestinian conflict has nourished “We Germans are good; Jews are bad.” This pattern of the past being able this new anti-Semitism, and we cannot As a minority among Christians, Jews to predict what happens in the 1920s ignore the fact that in some way, the cre- have lived in two contradictory condi- and 1930s is consistent, except in cities ation of Israel gave rise to this. The con- tions: believing themselves to be the with extensive trade, especially in Han- tinuation of this conflict will only lead Chosen People, while being despised and seatic cities. What this seems to suggest to more hostilities against innocent Jews discriminated against by others. Inevita- is that in a non-trading location, deep- who have nothing to do with Israel’s bly, Jews have internalized the dual com- est Bavaria, for example, teaching one’s politics. As an Israeli citizen, my duty is plexes of being both superior and inferior, children to hate people who are differ- to fight against the Israeli government which, psychologically, is very difficult. ent produces no real cost. However, if I and to not give the new anti-Semitism This problematic self-image caused be- live in Hamburg and tell my children to an excuse for this propaganda.

MARCH/APRIL 2014 / MOMENT 37 Shlomo Sand is a professor of history at Tel century to signify a racist ideology. Some not make them anti-Semites. Aviv University and author of The Inven- people today use it only in this narrow Anti-Semitism still exists, and it has tion of the Jewish People. sense, while others (including me) use it spread round the world. But it does not to refer to hostility to Jews at any period, help us fight it if we close our eyes to oth- whether Jews are seen in racial, religious, er reasons for hostility to Israel or if we ethnic or cultural terms. see anti-Semitism when it is not there. It is contentious mainly because of Brian Klug is a senior research fellow in Philos- DAVID MAMET the highly politicized debate over Israel. ophy, St. Benet’s Hall, University of Oxford. A CONVENIENT SCAPEGOAT Critics of Israel, crossing a line in the sand, find themselves accused of anti- The great Barbara Tuchman, author Semitism. They react by accusing their of Bible and Sword, points out that anti- accusers, alleging that the charge against Semitism is independent of its object. them is nothing more than the machina- IRA FORMAN What Jews do or fail to do is not the de- tions of “the Israel lobby.” At once, this is A SERIOUS RETROVIRUS terminant. The impetus comes from the seized upon as an anti-Semitic slur, which needs of the persecutors and a particular in turn is denounced as a Zionist smear. Anti-Semitism and its resurgence can’t al- political climate. The Jews have been Round and round they go in an acrimo- ways be described in rational terms. Since stateless for 2,000 years and have been nious circle that gets ever more vicious. it’s been around for more than 2,000 years, blamed for everything that goes wrong. To break this circle we need to clarify asking “why” is not always the most useful Anti-Semitism is massively convenient what anti-Semitism is. At its heart is a exercise. Instead, one must first start with for any country in trouble—whether it’s negative stereotype of the “Jew,” in which perspective—how bad is it? One interest- Hitler during the 1930s, isolationists in Jews are seen as sinister, clannish, root- ing exercise is to compare today with the the United States or the “peace move- less, parasitic, cunning, money-grubbing, 1930s. There are some analogies, such ment” from the 1960s. Nowadays, it’s still power-grabbing and so on. as openly anti-Semitic, xenophobic par- convenient for any country in turmoil. The roots of this stereotype lie in an- ties with parliamentary representation— The Occupy movement, for example, is tiquity, especially the early Christian po- some with street militias—which haven’t against the one percent, and assumes that lemic against Judaism. Over the centuries been around since the 1920s and early means Jews—it doesn’t matter if Jews are the stereotype became detached from 1930s. In recent decades there have also actually rich or not. This is the elephant its religious moorings. It survived the been threats to eliminate the State of Is- in the room. In the absence of any enemy, sea change of the Enlightenment, which rael and demonization of Jews as vermin, people say, “Oh good, I know it’s prob- secularized the predominantly negative cockroaches and snakes. But there are also ably the Jews—that’s probably it.” narrative about Judaism handed down to many differences. Unlike the 1930s, there David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize-winning it by the very Christianity that it saw itself are many places for Jews to live, and Israel playwright, screenwriter and director and au- as overturning. It is deep in the culture of not only exists, but defends Jews. Iran, as thor of The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Europe; hence it exists to this day. And frightening and serious a threat as it is, is Self-hatred, and the Jews. because it is essentially a cultural phe- not the preeminent military power that nomenon, you can find anti-Semitism on Nazi Germany was. This is not to down- the political left as well as the right. play Iran’s potential nuclear capabilities, So when is criticism of Israel anti-Se- but if we look honestly, we have to say that mitic? When, directly or indirectly, it proj- this is not the 1930s. BRIAN KLUG ects the negative stereotype of the “Jew” Having said that, anti-Semitism is COMPLEX & CONTENTIOUS onto the Jewish state. Sometimes this is very serious and is getting worse. Anti- open and sometimes it is concealed. But Semitism is like a retrovirus, morphing Before we can broach the roots of anti- we must remember that the Israeli-Pal- from pagan anti-Semitism to Christian Semitism or explain why it still exists, we estinian conflict is a bitter struggle. Parti- anti-Semitism, to Enlightenment anti- must address the question, what is anti- sanship can lead to intemperate criticism. Semitism, to racialized anti-Semitism, to Semitism? This question turns out to be When “friends of Israel” are intemperate, now, an anti-Semitism that is associated both complex and contentious. this does not make them anti-Arab racists. with anti-Zionism. The complexity has It is complex partly because the word By the same token, when “friends of Pal- made this a difficult issue to address, but anti-Semitism was coined in the 19th estine” single Israel out unfairly, this does woe to all of us if we decide to throw up

38 MARCH/APRIL 2014 our hands because of that complexity. We tion. When Jewish girls applied for officially mandated, legal discrimina- ought to take this issue of modern-day these jobs, however, they would not get tion based on religion. Jews were con- anti-Semitism as equally concerning as them. Most historians have called this stricted to the Pale of Settlement and the Soviet Jewry movement and equally anti-Semitic, but I am not sure if this disenfranchised. Throughout the czar- deserving of attention. is true. Was it anti-Semitism or anti- ist period, both the legacy of Christian Ira Forman is the U.S. State Depart- unionism—or did the phone companies Judeophobia and the empire’s official ment’s special envoy to monitor and com- simply have a vision of which group rhetoric on the Jew fueled popular anti- bat anti-Semitism. would make good workers? Instead of Jewish prejudices. A convert to Christi- anti-Semitism, I would describe the sit- anity was no longer a Jew in accordance uation with a more analytic statement: with the law, yet conversion did not ex- Jewish women could not get jobs with actly safeguard ex-Jews from bouts of the phone companies because the com- popular intolerance. HASIA DINER panies recruited telephone operators The revolutions of 1917 abolished reli- MISDIAGNOSED IN AMERICA among the Catholic high schools. To gious and ethnic discrimination. In reality, say it is anti-Semitism tells me nothing. the Jewish condition in the Soviet Union I am always suspicious of the way “anti- Similarly, African Americans and oth- evolved into a twofold predicament. Ju- Semitism” is used—it is an easy, conve- ers complained about Jewish merchants daism was nearly suppressed, and it’s a nient label used to end a conversation or in their neighborhoods in the 1920s miracle we survived there as a religious analysis instead of exploring what is really and 1930s. But when these merchants identity. Jews were officially defined as going on. This does not mean that there were replaced in the 1970s by Korean an ethnic group with a spoken Germanic is not a thing called anti-Semitism, but I merchants, guess what—they started language (Yiddish). While the Soviet think it is profoundly overused. It is not complaining about Korean merchants. people’s memory hadn’t been cleansed of at all uncommon now, or in the past, to Was this really anti-Semitism, or anger, Judeophobia, the Soviet rhetoric on the describe a situation as “anti-Semitism” hatred, resentment, jealousy and hostil- Jewish question obviated the targeting of any time somebody does not like some- ity toward the shopkeepers who were Jews as an ethnic, social and intellectual one else’s political attitudes or behavior not from the neighborhood, regardless group. Following World War II and the vis-à-vis the Jews. For example, today, the of who they were? These are just a few Shoah, state-sponsored discriminatory Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) examples to show just how slippery the measures were widely practiced in the campaign is labeled anti-Semitic. Why category is. Obviously, quotas against Soviet Union. And that’s how it remained is it that somebody cannot take a politi- Jews were anti-Semitic. The Nurem- from the 1960s through the 1980s, when cal, moral, ethical stance and say, “I think berg laws were anti-Semitic. But I think I grew up in the Soviet Union. the policies of the Israeli government are much of the behavior that is labeled as With the formation of the State of reprehensible and the only way to push anti-Semitic is really something else. Israel, a rhetoric of anti-Zionism began Israel to change is to boycott their prod- Hasia Diner is a professor of Hebrew and to loom large over the horizon of Jew- ucts”? I am not sure why that constitutes Judaic Studies at New York University and ish life in the USSR. Following Israel’s anti-Semitism, but it is immediately tarred author of We Remember with Reverence victory in the Six-Day War and the be- with that feather. Among other problems, and Love: American Jews and the Myth of ginning of the exodus of Soviet Jewry, this means it is impossible to have a con- Silence after the Holocaust, 1945-1962. the anti-Zionist rhetoric permeated the versation about Israel or BDS because one Soviet mainstream to replace crude, vin- is accused of being anti-Semitic. tage 1950-1953 Stalinist anti-Semitism. In another example from American Anti-Zionism became a storefront for a history, in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, variety of Soviet anti-Jewish products. the phone companies in cities such as MAXIM SHRAYER Soviet-era Israel-bashing relates to the New York and Boston tended to recruit RUSSIAN OPPRESSION present-day reality of anti-Semitism in workers from Catholic high schools. the . Nowadays, not only These students were considered edu- To understand the roots and expres- heirs of thugs with axes but white-collar cated and neat—since Catholic schools sions of anti-Jewish prejudices in the pogromshchiks in Europe and America enforced a certain standard of orderli- Soviet Union, one must go back to the channel anti-Jewish prejudices into ness—and the companies believed these late modern era. The Jewish condition Israel-bashing. This brings us back to girls would not be prone to unioniza- in the Russian Empire was marked by the history of anti-Jewish prejudices in

MARCH/APRIL 2014 / MOMENT 39 Russian and Soviet lands, and to the les- The turning point was the Second Vati- they cannot claim to be martyred anymore. sons we can learn from it. can Council, which rejected the idea that It’s called Holocaust inversion. Maxim D. Shrayer is the author of Leaving Jews are collectively responsible for the Dina Porat is head of the Kantor Center for Russia: A Jewish Story and a professor at death of Jesus and called for other mea- the Study of Contemporary European Jewry Boston College. sures to end the demonization of Jews and at Tel Aviv University and the chief histo- other religious communities. However, rian of Yad Vashem. it only occurred against a significant op- position, and there remains a conservative wing of the Church that laments the Sec- DAVID KERTZER ond Vatican Council as a disaster. THE ROLE OF THE VATICAN David Kertzer is a professor of anthropology ALVIN ROSENFELD and Italian studies at Brown University and SECONDARY ANTI-SEMITISM The demonization of the Jews by the author of The Popes Against the Jews: Roman Catholic Church has played an The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern Over the past 15 years, there has been important role in the evolution of anti- Anti-Semitism. a strong upsurge in anti-Semitism. But Semitism from its modern inception in what motivates this is not so easy to say. the 1880s through the Second World War A rule of thumb is that when the econ- and into the post-war period. In 1987, omy goes down, anti-Semitism goes up, Pope John Paul II called for a commission but that’s certainly not the only factor. to investigate whether the Church bore DINA PORAT Some of it is the diminution of histori- any responsibility for the anti-Semitism HOLOCAUST INVERSION cal memory over time. Some of it is born or the Holocaust. Eleven years later, the out of resentments and feelings of guilt commission’s statement, which became the As much as it sounds like a contradiction, that persist today, particularly in coun- official position of the Catholic Church, the Holocaust reinforced many negative tries that were most responsible for the said no. Its claim was that in the past, the images of Jews. Instead of the empathy Shoah. Germany has the category of Church had often encouraged anti-Juda- Jews were hoping for after the Holocaust, “secondary anti-Semitism,” anti-Semi- ism—a negative view of Jews based in reli- in recent years this has turned completely tism that comes to the fore when Ger- gion—but that the anti-Semitism that led upside down. Holocaust denial is a new it- mans are reminded too often of the old to the Holocaust was something different, eration of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, anti-Semitism that contributed to the since it was based on negative social, po- which says that Jews want to rule the world rise of the Third Reich. litical, economic and racial views of Jews. and have a plan to do so; Jews destroy, then Europe has never come to terms with This narrative, although comforting, has rule; Jews have the means to do so; Jews the genocide of Jews during the Holo- no historical basis. control the media and finance. The Ho- caust, so feelings of resentment toward From the beginning of modern anti- locaust denier says that Jews invented a Jews for living amid the peoples of Eu- Semitism near the end of the 19th cen- story, convinced the whole world that it’s rope today, reminding them time and tury, the Church was engaged in demon- true and received compensation without time again of what happened during the izing Jews. Starting in 1880, for example, any justification. Since the fall of the Soviet war, factor into today’s anti-Semitism. Civiltà Cattolica, a Jesuit publication Union, countries that had been under the This backlash against Holocaust con- under Vatican supervision, was filled yoke of the Soviets have said, “First we had sciousness and the appearance of Holo- with vicious, negative pieces on the dan- the Nazis, then the Soviets, and only the caust denial, minimization and relativ- gers that Jews presented to Christians in Jews get compensated—what about us?” ization indicates that some people have Europe, claiming that Jews sought to se- They see the Jews who are well-to-do and had it with the Jews; they don’t want to cretly enslave Christians through a clever enjoy education, health and participation hear any more about it, and they are now combination of capitalism and commu- in politics and culture, and say, “Now they throwing it back against the Jews. nism. Similarly, just weeks before Mus- want us to return money and assets that Individual Jews today are okay, but Jew- solini announced anti-Semitic racial laws were taken from us by the Soviets?” There ish collectivities are not. A person can love in Italy, the Vatican newspaper warned of has been a certain reversal here. The Jew a Woody Allen movie, read Philip Roth’s the threat of Jews to healthy Christian was the martyr for many years after the novels, enjoy klezmer music or eat bagels society and essentially approved the use Holocaust, but it’s not so anymore. If the and lox, but when it comes to the notion of of restrictions on the rights of Jews. Jews are stronger and have the upper hand, Jews as a people—particularly as a people

40 MARCH/APRIL 2014 with a powerful nation-state—it doesn’t tied absence, with flickerings of modern those who want to make the world free go over well. According to Europeans to- hate gestures: new graffiti, coded salutes of a Jewish state. day, we should be living in a post-nation- to crimes past? Is it possible to see both This is the oldest, most enduring and alist, post-religious, post-militarism age. realities simultaneously? To mourn as we most lethal of hatreds. If the Holocaust They look at the State of Israel and see a remember, to marvel as time passes and is a metaphor for radical evil, then anti- peculiar religion that belongs to a pecu- to be on guard when ugliness reappears? Semitism is a metaphor for radical hatred. liar people that asserts itself with a strong This is, in fact, our condition; to inter- There’s no other people, no other state, military, and they don’t like it. All of this weave a consciousness of painful memory that’s the standing object of state-sanc- adds up to suspicion of Israel and hostility and new appreciation. tioned incitement to hatred and genocide to that country and its supporters. We are a fortunate bunch, we who coming from governmental, terrorist and Alvin Rosenfeld is a professor of Jewish Stud- live in this current golden age of Jewish radical Islamic groups as is Israel and the ies and English at Indiana University and life. We’re more free, more secure, more Jewish people. director of the Institute for the Study of Con- powerful and more diverse as a people What makes today’s delegitimization temporary Anti-Semitism. than at any point in our history. It would of Israel different from the classical, his- behoove us to take advantage of our rela- torical delegitimization is its masking un- tive security and prosperity and, rather der the rubrics of all that is good, such as than be fixated on the next stirrings of the struggle against racism, and doing so Jew-hatred far away from the lives we’re under the effective cover of institutions ARI ROTH leading, look more closely at the health such as the United Nations. This ideolog- A NEW GOLDEN AGE of our own community conscience— ical anti-Semitism is much more sophis- to celebrate our moment in history and ticated and arguably a more pernicious Remembered anti-Semitism is a defining recommit to our best values of pursuing expression of the new anti-Semitism be- piece of our collective identity—it’s cer- justice for all; of taking a thorough moral cause it is not expressed in any genocidal tainly a defining piece of mine—yet alert- inventory of our own conduct and do- incitement against Jews and Israel, which ness to episodes of global anti-Semitism ing our part to repair ourselves and the is overt and public and clear. elicits radically different responses in each world. We’ve been losing a lot of late in Irwin Cotler is a Canadian member of Par- of us. Some will see, in the rise of a neo- our Jewish community, and that’s not the liament, a former justice minister and attor- Nazi hate group or a far-right-wing po- result of anti-Semitism. That’s the result ney general of Canada and an international litical party, evidence that anti-Semitism of our own intolerance: of attempts to human rights lawyer. is alive and well, pernicious as ever, and shut down debate in the name of lock- that Europe, emptied of most of its Jewish step positioning; an insistence that only population, remains a ravaged reminder one voice speak for and about Israel when of all that Jew-hatred has wrought. Oth- in fact the nation is healthy and robust ers will see governments, liberal political enough to demand that many engage in MOHAMMED S. parties, church groups and educational the roiling debate that is Jewish democ- DAJANI DAOUDI ministries mindful of their country’s ter- racy—a debate that welcomes and inter- A PALESTINIAN PERSPECTIVE rible record and be admirably pro-active weaves multiple perspectives. in creating a healthier, more tolerant and Ari Roth is a playwright and the artistic di- In the beginning, anti-Semitism was educated consciousness of Jewish life and rector of Theater J in Washington, DC. based on religion. For centuries, Chris- its decimation in their citizenship. I’ve tians blamed Jews for inciting the Ro- experienced the moving impact of educa- mans to crucify Jesus Christ, and as a tional initiatives in Italy, Sweden, Germa- result, prejudice against Jews spread like ny, Austria and am noting the return of a a virus in Christian Europe. It became burgeoning Jewish life and growing Jewish IRWIN COTLER fashionable to blame Jews as a minor- population in Warsaw, Berlin, . STATE-SANCTIONED HATRED ity for the ills in society. Christians who In a way, it’s all about what we choose to perceived Jews as a threat to their power, see: either the return of Jewish life in Eu- In the past, the most dangerous anti- traditions and culture reacted by having rope with a simultaneous sensitivity to the Semites were those who wanted to them isolated in ghettos. This reached its trauma experienced with accountability make the world free of Jews. Today, the climax when the Nazis perpetrated the admitted, or a more starkly ravaged, emp- most dangerous anti-Semites might be Holocaust. On the Muslim front, Samuel

MARCH/APRIL 2014 / MOMENT 41 Huntington’s thesis of the “clash of civi- images, myths and misperceptions. ogy to delegitimize and demonize Israel. lizations,” which describes Islam as being I do not agree with the thesis that We see this most acutely on campuses in on a collision course with Christianity criticism of Israel is a guise for anti-Sem- Europe and now in the United States and and Judaism, agitated the Muslim world, itism, but would relate this trend to Is- Canada. We’re seeing students under tre- awakening the beast in the heart of radi- rael’s persistent occupation of Palestinian mendous pressure on campuses as they cal Muslims, who began to interpret the Territories, its lack of respect for human get caught up in this whole new wave of verses of the Qur’an to portray Jews as rights in its treatment of Palestinians, and contemporary anti-Semitism. Students anti-God and as despised and hated by its continued violations of international who have strong religious and cultural God, giving rise to anti-Semitism even law on many fronts. I believe that Israel is connections and affiliations with Israel among the sons of Sam. making world Jewry pay a high price for are being categorized as being part of this One of the most widespread at- its aggressive policies against the Pales- invalid, Zionist/Nazi apartheid regime. tributed to the Prophet says: tinians and that it is time for Israeli poli- The demonization of Israel and the “The Day of Judgment will not arrive cymakers to read between the lines the Jewish historical connection to Israel is a until the Muslims fight the Jews and the implications of such policy for the future violent form of anti-Semitism. The dis- Muslims kill them. Even if a Jew hides of Israel and to seek peace and reconcili- tinction that some so-called liberals in behind a rock or a tree, the rock or the ation to end the conflict. the United States want to make between tree will say: ‘O Muslim, O worshipper Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi is founding classical forms of anti-Semitism and cri- of God! There is a Jew behind me. Come director of the American Studies Institute tiques of Israel flies out the window in the and kill him,’ except the salt bush, for it is and director of libraries at Al-Quds Univer- Middle East and in Europe, and, mark my one of the Jews’ trees.” sity. He is the founder and executive director words, it will fly out the window here in This fabricated quote, which feeds of Wasatia, Moderate Islamic Movement in the United States in the near future. How anti-Semitism among Muslims, is in total the Palestinian Authority. can liberals advocate for boycotting and contradiction to the text of the Qur’an, divesting from Israel, when over the Green which affirms it is God who will judge on Line there are organizations backed by the Day of Resurrection regarding issues in Iranian Revolutionary Regime, the Mus- which people differ: lim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas and “Your Lord will judge between them on the CHARLES ASHER SMALL others, who have no regard for basic hu- Day of Resurrection regarding the things RADICAL POLITICAL ISLAM man rights? The stench of hypocrisy is all about which they differed.” over the place. We need to stop focusing It is in full contradiction to Quranic The biggest manifestation of anti-Sem- so irrationally on Israel and look at what’s verses such as: itism today is the rise of radical political happening in the region, where people are “[He/God] who did send down the Book Islam, a reactionary social movement being slaughtered by the millions. which brought as a light and guid- that is gaining power in many parts of the Charles Asher Small is the founder and director ance to the people”; “Children of Israel, world, from the Middle East and Europe of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisem- remember the blessing I have bestowed to even North America. Their agenda is itism and Policy and the Koret Distinguished on you, and that I have exalted you above the implementation of a narrow, reac- Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. the nations”; “Believers, Jews, Christians, tionary form of Islam upon societies that and Sabaeans—whoever believes in God marginalize women, remove gay people and the Judgment Day and does what is from society and do away with basic right—shall be rewarded by their Lord, notions of religious pluralism and citi- they have nothing to fear, or to regret.” zenship. While this social movement is AYAAN HIRSI ALI Part of the religious animosity in gen- implementing its agenda very effectively ISLAM’S ETERNAL SCAPEGOAT eral, and anti-Semitism in particular, is and using anti-Semitism to gain support, due to ignorance. Most Muslims don’t we in the West, for all sorts of reasons, I was born in Somalia but raised as a know much about Judaism, and what some are remaining silent. young child in Saudi Arabia, where ra- know may be distorted. Interfaith dia- Islamic reactionary social movements bid expressions of anti-Semitism were logue here is an important tool to bridge have taken the most pernicious forms of everyday occurrences. Many Palestinian the wide gap among various religious European anti-Semitism and fused them refugees were our neighbors and in their communities and to dispel stereotypical into their political and theological ideol- eyes, Jews possessed extraordinary, Harry

42 MARCH/APRIL 2014 Potter-like powers, with the ability to ELI VALLEY the world” subject to irrational hatred. cause death and destruction. We can never ABUSE & OVERUSE This is an abuse of anti-Semitism and a defeat these Yahuds was a common theme. dishonor to generations who suffered and Evil conspiracy theories abounded. If wa- If anti-Semitism isn’t the longest hatred, often died because they were Jews. But ter didn’t come out of the tap, Oh the Jews it’s probably the most resilient. Once fu- more than that, it reflects a breakdown are at it again. If someone fell ill, The Jews eled by Christian dogma, it found its most of moral clarity and a desertion from the have poisoned him. horrifying expression in secular ideology, obligations of power. The core of anti- On a tour in Belgium, when I was 23, and it continues to exist even in countries Semitism might be irrational, but there’s the guide said we were in the Jewish quar- populated by almost no actual Jews. Anti- a method to the madness of its abuse. ter. All the Somalis froze. Where are the Semitism is ultimately a theology, and Eli Valley, comic artist at The Forward, is Jews? we asked. The guide pointed out an like all theologies it is irrational at its core currently finishing his first novel. He tweets ultra-Orthodox man and his family walk- and therefore difficult to understand us- @elivalley. ing past. But they are people! And then I ing instruments of logic and reason. cried. That was when I grew up mentally. But in Jewish circles, anti-Semitism Anti-Semitism persists because scape- can be an easy discussion. It opens with goating has served the West well for “They hate us” and it closes with “They 2,000 years. It suits certain communities always will.” In recent years in America, EMANUELE OTTOLENGHI to blame others for their misfortunes. But the discussion has been complicated by ANTI-ZIONIST JEWS Arabs are Semites, too, so the term does two factors: the enormous post-war de- not really apply to them. Muslims be- cline in stateside anti-Semitism, and the As the new wave of anti-Semitism that lieve they are the recipients of God’s final enormous post-war increase in Jewish exploded in the aftermath of the Pales- words. Rabbinical Judaism can challenge institutional power—something we are tinian Intifada shows no signs of abat- the authenticity of the Qur’an and this reluctant to discuss precisely because of ing, some Jewish voices, mostly intel- is therefore seen as a threat. Arabs have the sensitivities surrounding anti-Semitic lectuals or academics, have responded to adopted Nazi and communist thinking tropes. Nonetheless, the battle against the latest assault on the Jewish people by about Jews as their own, translating The anti-Semitism continues to be an essen- excusing, justifying, downplaying and in Protocols of the Elders of Zion into Arabic. tial component of Jewish communal life effect, joining it. Israel’s detractors read- The establishment of Israel was wholly in the world’s most hospitable and safest ily seize upon such Jewish and Israeli alien to Arabs. Today Muslim countries society for Jews. censures of Israel as both evidence of are dictatorships, and the leaders use Isra- Just as anti-Semitism can thrive in the validity of their most extreme argu- el to try and deflect criticism from them- the absence of Jews, a fixation on Jew- ments and as a shield against accusations selves. The populations want democracy, hatred can thrive in the absence of anti- of anti-Semitism. and women want equality. They compare Semitism. In America, I think it reflects Anti-Zionist Jews, and those who ex- life in Israel with their lives, and the only a deeper discomfort with—or deflection ploit them as an alibi for anti-Semitism, defense their leaders have is to tell their from—contemporary communal Jewish do not merely wish Israel to behave differ- populations Jewish evil has got into you! reality. And much of that discomfort and ently; they object to Jewish identity that Children from the age of two are incul- deflection concerns the greatest example Zionism has nurtured among Israel’s Jew- cated and indoctrinated to detest Jews by of Jewish power in our time: Israel. ish citizens and Diaspora Jews alike—one their social, religious and academic leaders Which is not to say that genuine anti- that strongly embraces the notion of Jew- despite none of them ever having met a Semitism directed at Israel does not exist, ish peoplehood and reaffirms the histori- Jew. This is how easy it is to manipulate but that the fact of historic anti-Semitism cal bond between the Jewish people and billions of people. Hatred of Jews is taught has been used to neutralize criticism from the land of Israel. The current language of to ignorant people, and there is no cam- the outside and self-scrutiny from within. anti-Semitism is deeply indebted to them paign to counter such propaganda. In the decades coinciding with the mas- and needs them to make its case. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a fellow at the John F. Ken- sive colonization of the West Bank—per- After Auschwitz, anti-Semitism is a nedy School of Government at Harvard Uni- haps the most monumental expression of taboo, but prejudices may regain some versity, president of the AHA Foundation and Jewish power in history—we increasingly respectability when the objects of hatred author of The Caged Virgin: An Emancipa- insist that Israel has become the Jew writ endorse them. Anti-Semites rely on Jews tion Proclamation for Women and Islam. large on the global map, the “ghetto of to conceal their own prejudice and make

MARCH/APRIL 2014 / MOMENT 43 it presentable; anti-Israel Jews comply the Arab League, the Soviet Union, Iran, of anti-Semitism in China, it is only due to by presenting themselves as proud dis- the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Hez- foreigners’ stereotyping of Jews. senters, purporting to be “critical Jews,” bollah, the United Nations and numerous Jews are perceived as being excep- noble dissenters following in the footsteps international human rights groups—then tional businessmen; successful Chi- of biblical prophets. In truth, their rheto- such Big Lies enter the bloodstream of the nese who travel abroad for work are ric is neither prophetic nor critical, but is world and are accepted as true. often referred to—and, indeed, refer to constantly cited as evidence that accusing Instead of focusing on the carnage and themselves—as “Chinese Jews.” This is Israel of sinister crimes—such as using the millions of refugees in Afghanistan and an expression of flattery. Holocaust as blackmail against critics to Syria, the continuing genocide in Sudan, In 1992, China and Israel established cover up ethnic cleansing—is both histori- the Shia-Sunni religious wars, the Muslim- diplomatic relations, and the Chinese cally accurate and devoid of any prejudice. on-Muslim violence—instead of looking at press portrays Israel in a positive way. Yet there is very little that is Jewish about real gender and religious apartheid in the Trade, cooperation and tourism are grow- these intellectuals, even though they ap- Muslim world—people are focused on the ing between the two countries. Zionism peal to selective Jewish values that suit alleged crimes of the tiny little state of Is- is depicted as the nationalist movement their assaults on Israel’s legitimacy. rael. If that’s not anti-Semitism, what is? of the Jewish people, and in the eyes of Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at the Phyllis Chesler is the author of The New the Chinese, everyone has the right to Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Anti-Semitism: The Current Crisis and their own nation. The book Start-Up Na- author of Auto-da-fé: Jews, Europe and What We Must Do About It and an emer- tion by Dan Senor and Saul Singer was Anti-Semitism. ita professor of psychology and women’s stud- translated and sold millions of copies in ies at the City University of New York. China. Officials and academics admire the innovative and creative skills of Israe- lis. Studying the Torah has become quite fashionable, and authors try to insert the PHYLLIS CHESLER word “Talmud” into the title of any book A POLITICALLY CORRECT DISEASE XU XIN (e.g. Talmud for Business) because that vir- CHINESE PHILO-SEMITISM tually guarantees it will sell well. Anti-Semitism is a disease, one that is not Anti-Semitism will not gain the up- caused by the Jews who are the targets China has no history of anti-Semitism. per hand in China. Indeed, the Chinese of such irrational hatred. Anti-Semitism Religion has never had a hold on Chinese people have a very high opinion of Jews. is racism, pure and simple. Today, anti- society; as a result, anti-Semitism is an Xu Xin is professor of Jewish Culture at the Zionism equals racism. The irony is that alien concept. Prior to the 19th century, Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute of Jew- the State of Israel, which was supposed to there was absolutely no contact between ish and Israel Studies, Nanjing University. be a safe haven for Jews, has now, diaboli- Jews and China, and no Chinese termi- cally, become the reason for scapegoat- nology whatsoever about Jews. Only ing Jews globally. Longtime Christian, in the past 100 years have the Chinese Nazi and Islamic anti-Jewish beliefs are started to know and understand Jews. converging with a politicized “politically However, the majority of Chinese people STUART EIZENSTAT correct” version of anti-Semitism among have never met a Jewish person. THE ROLE OF DIASPORA JEWS the intelligentsia. This view has gone vi- If Chinese people develop any anti-Se- ral via the media and the Internet. The mitic views at all, these will have been im- From the European perspective, the propaganda Joseph Goebbels generated ported into China—such as the belief that predominant issue with respect to Is- is limited compared to what can be prop- Jews dominate the financial markets. The rael is human rights. A lot of the de- agated in every language, all day, every Currency War, written by U.S.-educated legitimization efforts—which cross the day, via the Internet. Song Hongbing, was published in 2007 line into anti-Semitism—come from the Politically correct progressives feel and became a bestseller in China. In my feeling that Israel is a Western country righteously justified in blaming the Jews opinion, the author is not an anti-Semite, that is not acting in accordance with because they say Israel is an apartheid state; but the book portrays Jews as playing a ma- Western human rights values. A May that is not true, of course. But, if propa- jor part in the international currency mar- 2013 BBC poll of 17 European Union ganda is funded well enough, which it has kets, and that had an impact on the Chinese countries ranked Israel fourth from the been for a long time—most recently by readership. But if there is the remotest sign bottom as one of the worst countries in

44 MARCH/APRIL 2014 the world on human rights, along with MICHEL GURFINKIEL by its silence wholly indifferent; by the North Korea and Iran. In a 2002 Anti- A FRENCH REVIVAL so-called Human Rights movement; by Defamation League study, 35 percent the BDS assaults; by, in America, our own of Europeans said their attitude toward For three generations, French Jews have innocently deluded voting pattern; by, in Jews was a reflection of their attitude enjoyed a golden age spanning the sec- America, our distancing from and grow- toward Israel. In European public opin- ond half of the 20th century, but the ing indifference to the State of Israel; by, ion, the Palestinians are the weak party, landscape has changed dramatically in in America, our ignorance, our triviality, victims of the Israeli “overlords.” This the last few years. The expression of anti- and our lack of any historical sense; and is not traditional anti-Semitism—since Semitic views, totally unacceptable until by much, much, much more. it’s not religiously based—but there is a a few years ago, is now commonplace. Cynthia Ozick is a critically acclaimed novel- transfer in which Jews and the Diaspora This revival is due to a fusion of native— ist and short story writer, whose works have are serving as surrogates for Israel. Op- but until now mostly dormant—anti- won the National Book Critics Circle Award position to Israeli policy has become a Semitism with a virulent form common and the O. Henry Award. basis for a minority of Europeans—but amongst Muslim immigrants. There not an insignificant minority—to have is a strange phenomenon of politically more negative views toward Jews. extremist ideologues teaming up with An important question is where the Muslims, who now account for 10 per- attacks on Israel’s human rights policies cent of ’s population of 66 million. cross the line to a new form of anti-Sem- These immigrants exhibited a naiveté on itism. For example, the academic boy- arrival—they did not understand that it cotts, like that voted by the Association of was unacceptable or politically incorrect American Studies, are not anti-Semitic— to be anti-Semitic. And they express this they are anti-Israel. Even though Israel in violent ways. is a Jewish state, it would be unfair to say Michel Gurfinkiel was editor-in-chief of that these people are anti-Semitic. They Valeurs Actuelles, is the founder and presi- VISIT are trying to change—even though I dent of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute, would say it’s the wrong way—what they a conservative think tank, and is a Shillman/ MOMENTMAG.COM consider to be an inappropriate policy Ginsburg Fellow at Middle East Forum. toward the Palestinians. We have to be FOR A FREE careful not to treat all disagreements E-BOOK WITH with Israel’s policy as anti-Semitic. There are too many people in the ADDITIONAL United States, too many people in the CYNTHIA OZICK RESPONSES FROM organized Jewish community, for whom AN OMNIPRESENT THREAT every criticism is not only inappropriate but is somehow anti-Semitic. That’s not The subject is vile and searing and om- MICHAEL BARKUN only wrong, it’s destructive. If we say ev- nipresent, but one cannot address it in BENT BLUDNIKOW ery criticism of anti-settlement policies a 15-minute interview; or, in fact, in an is anti-Semitic or de-legitimization, we interview of any length; nor, indeed, can ROBERT CHAZAN have less credibility to combat what re- one have the heart just now to address it in LEONARD DINNERSTEIN ally is anti-Semitism or when there really any superficial form or forum at all. Jews is inappropriate activity. So we have to be and the Jewish state are once again under EVA FOGELMAN very, very careful about how we treat this, siege everywhere: by the United Nations, ZVI GITELMAN at the same time as we’re very aggressive world headquarters of anti-Semitism; in combating de-legitimization efforts. by, it goes without saying, the religious MICHAEL GOLDFARB Stuart Eizenstat, former U.S. Deputy Sec- leaders of Islam and their constituents; JONATHAN JUDAKEN retary of the Treasury, Under Secretary of by the European Union; by the Obama/ SHMUEL TRIGANO State for Economic Affairs and Ambassador Kerry vise, including the appeasement of to the European Union, is Special Advisor to Iran, a regime sworn to the destruction & SERGIO WIDDER. the Secretary of State on Holocaust Issues. of the Jewish state, to which the West is

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