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Downloaded Online Via (Accessed October 8, 2018) Recommendations regarding Governments, Political Organizations, and Institutions The Shoah was the most horrendous expression of Jew-hatred and shattered the illusions of Western culture. Nevertheless,eighty years after the November 1938 pogroms known as “Kristallnacht,” antisemitism is reviving to ashocking extent, and most measures of governments to fight antisemitismseem to have had only alimited effect. The year 2018 marks not onlythe eightieth anniversary of Kristallnacht but also the seventieth anniversary of the UniversalDeclaration of HumanRights. The anniversaries of 2018 thus give us both reason to mourn and to celebrate. Fighting antisemitism should be in the self-interest of all because the vio- lence and hatred of antisemitism often targets Jews first but never stops at victim- izing Jews only. History teaches us thatthe intolerance and violence of antisem- ites can often be aprecursor to the targeting of other minorities as well. While antisemitism appears on its surfacetobeaphenomenon uniquely directed against Jews, it hasbroader significance. The nature of antisemitic groupsand their theories is such thatul- timately it leadstohatreddirected against those parts of society thatreject antisemitism. It therefore constitutes amajor danger not only to Jews but to societyatlarge. Thus all govern- ments and governmentalagencies of all stateshaveaspecialresponsibility to do their utmost to repress and eradicate antisemitism. To confront antisemitism and to renderitimpotent,antisemitism must be active- ly challenged by political decision makers who have the power to affect and im- pact our world. While civil society has an important role to play, the fight against antisemitism cannot be left onlyinits hands. The task of eradicating antisemit- ism, as well as other forms of bigotry and hatred, must be apartnership of civil society and government.History showsthatwhenever governments supported and protected their Jewish citizens, Jewish minorities thrivedand proved benefi- cial for the societies in which they lived. Whenevergovernments did not accept the responsibility to protect their Jewishcitizens, persecution and murder en- sued, and state economies and cultures suffered from the loss of some of their most important contributors. The following is an attempt to assess the problems facing contemporarygov- ernments and their agencies as well as intergovernmental agencies regarding the recent manifestations of antisemitism, and to suggest aline of recommendations for possible action to combat them. Three introductory remarks are in order. OpenAccess. ©2019, Armin Lange, Kerstin Mayerhofer,Dina Porat, LawrenceH.Schiffman, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 License https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110618594-040 530 Recommendations regarding Governments 1. Although to some extent we address government here as awhole, i.e., as the institution whose responsibility it is to protect all citizens, we are aware that separation of powers is one of the most important characteristics of demo- cratic governments. Several policy recommendations concern all three branches of government, legislative,judiciary,and executive,for example, if antisemites can be employed by anybranch of government.Weare also aware that not all democratic systems practice the trias politicas,i.e., the separation of powers into threebranches, but have chosen other formsof the separation of powers. 2. When taking alook at the contemporary political arena, it becomes quite clear that recommendations maymainlybeoffered to democratic countries: their public life includes debates, venues for avariety of opinions, and above all, responsibility of the state towards all its citizens—majorityand minori- ties alike. On the other hand, it is preciselythis democratic variety of opin- ions that opens the door for all hues of political ideologies to be heard, lib- eral ones alongside xenophobic and segregating ones. The UK Labour party under JeremyCorbyn’sleadership is astriking example of fierce debates and of antisemitic statements and connotations expressedinthe public sphere. Governments and regimesinnon-democratic or anti-liberal countries exploit antisemitism and other prejudices for their political goals, both domestic and external. An example is the use of antisemitic attacks against the Jewish-Hungarian businessman GeorgeSoros in his homecountry and else- where. 3. As aresultofthe recent wavesofimmigration of refugees and seekers of bet- ter economic conditions, the political map in Europe as well as in the U.S. has changed drasticallyinthe lastdecade. The discourse about this issue has resulted in heated debates and apolarization of the political field.Ade- bate on absorbing minorities almostalways has an impact on the local Jew- ish communities who are still considered aminority. Thisisespeciallytrue when most of the newcomers are Muslims comingfrom countries whereanti- semitismisstate policy and whereIsraelisviewedasanillegitimate state. Consequently, governments and intergovernmental agencies, no matter of what political inclination, face adeepening conflict that has been commonlyde- scribed as a “crisis of democracy,” that has changed the responses of govern- ments to specific issues, antisemitism included. Governments are facing anew reality in which terrorism is aserious threat.They are thereforeconstantlycon- fronted with the possible connection between antisemitism and terrorism and the deployment of police, armyand intelligencetoprotect the public, Jewish communities included. France is acase in point.InFrance, Jews and non- Recommendations regarding Governments 531 Jews have been killed together in terrorist attacks. Despite large budgets, for ed- ucationand security,the number of violent antisemitic incidentsinFrance in- creased in 2017.¹ Despite this complicated political picture, to which more difficulties arise daily, governmental and intergovernmental agencies have enhancedtheir activ- ities against antisemitismand have taken better steps for the protection of Jewish communities over the last 15 years. AccordingtoMike Whine,asenior represen- tative of the UK in pan-European bodies for manyyears, it is no exaggeration that therehas never been so much analysis of antisemitism and activ- ity to combat it as thereistoday.States now recognize that antisemitichate crime consti- tutes an abuseofbasic freedoms and human rights, and that they areobligedtoprosecute perpetrators.² How is it possible that despite these governmental efforts antisemitism is on the rise? The reports of the Kantor Center at TelAvivUniversity on “Antisemitism Worldwide”³ show thatinrecent years, governmental effortshaveindeed brought down the number of violent antisemitic incidents in some countries, yetother manifestations of antisemitismstayedonahighlevel and even in- creased, especiallyinthosecountries wheremajor Jewish communities reside.⁴ Furthermore, verbal and visual manifestations of antisemitism, such as threats, harassments, insults,and otherhateful expressions have all been severelyonthe rise in recent years. In addition, surveysshow that large parts of the world’spop- ulations harbor antisemitic prejudices.⁵ Such attitudes have resultedindeep Cf. KantorCenter for the StudyofContemporary European Jewry at TelAvivUniversity, “Antisemitism Worldwide 2017 Report,” April 11, 2018, https://eurojewcong.wpengine.com/re sources/antisemitism-worldwide-2017-report/, 54–5. M. Whine, “Can the European Agencies Combat Antisemitism Effectively?” Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 11, no. 3(2017): 371. General analysesofantisemitism worldwide have been conducted and documented by the Kantor Center for the StudyofContemporary European Jewry at TelAvivUniversity since 2009.The Annual Kantor Center Worldwide Reports on Antisemitism can be downloaded online via http://kantorcenter.tau.ac.il/general-analyses-antisemitism-worldwide (accessed October 8, 2018). Kantor Center for the StudyofContemporary European Jewry and the Moshe Kantor Database for the StudyofAntisemitism and Racism,General Analysis of Antisemitism Worldwide 2017, 5–17,http://kantorcenter.tau.ac.il/sites/default/files/Doch_full_2018_220418.pdf. Violent cases, which numbered worldwide 600 –700cases ayear from 2007 to 2014,number sincethen 350 –450. Due to differencesinmethodology,the results of the individual surveysdiffer fromeach other, but all point to asignificant rise of antisemitic prejudice in the world’spopulation. Examples for 532 Recommendations regarding Governments anxiety on the part of Jews who are alarmed by the hostile environment that sur- rounds them. Thediscrepancy,between the governmental and intergovernmental efforts and the reality on the ground,isthe reason that makes us dare suggest here anumber of recommendations, that we hope willhelp to rectify the situation. 1Recommendationsfor Decision Makers and Influencersinall Three Branchesof Government The recommendations below concern decision makers and influencers in all branches of government,atthe national, regional, and local levels. As outlined in the executive sumary (see p. 13–17), we would like to recommend policies that concern, on the one hand,the short-term restraining of antisemitism and, on the other hand,its long-term eradication in atime span of several generations. Pol- icies that concern the short-term suppression of antisemitism will lead to nothing if they are not accompanied by measures that are concerned with the long-term eradication of antisemitic
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