Russian version
The new anti-Semitism
- Информация о материале
- Автор: Victor Davis Hanson
Рейтинг: 5 / 5
Jewish World Review Sept.
28, 2006 / 6 Tishrei, 5767
Hating Jews, on racial as well as religious grounds, is as old as the
Roman destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Later in Europe, pogroms
and the Holocaust were the natural devolution of that elemental venom.
Anti-Semitism, after World War II, often avoided the burning crosses
and Nazi ranting. It often appeared as a more subtle animosity, fueled
by envy of successful Jews in the West. "The good people, the nice people"
often were the culprits, according to a character in the 1947 film "Gentleman's
Agreement," which dealt with the American aristocracy's social shunning
of Jews.
A recent third type of anti-Jewish odium is something different. It
is a strange mixture of violent hatred by radical Islamists and the more
or less indifference to it by Westerners.
Those who randomly shoot Jews for being Jews — whether at a Jewish
center in Seattle or at synagogues in Istanbul — are for the large part
Muslim zealots. Most in the West explain away the violence. They chalk
it up to anger over the endless tit-for-tat in the Middle East. Yet privately
they know that we do not see violent Jews shooting Muslims in the United
States or Europe.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promises to wipe Israel "off
the map." He seems eager for the requisite nuclear weapons to finish off
what an Iranian mullah has called a "one-bomb state" — meaning Israel's
destruction would only require one nuclear weapon. Iran's theocracy intends
to turn the idea of a Jewish state on its head. Instead of Israel being
a safe haven for Jews in their historical birthplace, the Iranians apparently
find that concentration only too convenient for their own final nuclear
solution.
In response, here at home the Council on Foreign Relations rewards
the Iranian president with an invitation to speak to its membership. At
the podium of that hallowed chamber, Ahmadinejad, who questions whether
the Holocaust ever took place, basically dismissed a firsthand witness
of Dachau by asking whether he really could be that old.
The state-run, and thus government-authorized, newspapers of the Middle
East, slander Jews in barbaric fashion. "Mein Kampf" (translated, of course,
as "Jihadi") sells briskly in the region. Hamas and Hezbollah militias
on parade emulate the style of brownshirts. In response, much of the Western
public snoozes. They are far more worried over whether a Danish cartoonist
has caricatured Islam, or if the pope has been rude to Muslims when quoting
an obscure 600-year-old Byzantine dialogue.
In the last two decades, radical Islamic terrorists have bombed and
murdered thousands inside Europe and the United States. Their state supporters
in the Middle East have raked in billions in petro-windfall profits from
energy-hungry Western economies. For many in Europe and the United States,
supporting Israel — the Middle East's only stable democracy — or even its
allies in the West has become viewed as both dangerous and costly.
In addition, Israel is no longer weak but proud and ready to defend
itself. So when its terrorist enemies like Hezbollah and Hamas brilliantly
married their own fascist creed with popular leftwing multiculturalism
in the West, there was an eerie union: yet another supposed third-world
victim of a Western oppressor thinking it could earn a pass for its murderous
agenda.
We're accustomed to associating hatred of Jews with the ridiculed Neanderthal
Right of those in sheets and jackboots. But this new venom, at least in
its Western form, is mostly a leftwing, and often an academic, enterprise.
It's also far more insidious, given the left's moral pretensions and its
influence in the prestigious media and universities. We see the unfortunate
results in frequent anti-Israeli demonstrations on campuses that conflate
Israel with Nazis, while the media have published fraudulent pictures and
slanted events in southern Lebanon.
The renewed hatred of Jews in the Middle East — and the indifference
to it in the West — is a sort of "post anti-Semitism." Islamic zealots
supply the old venomous hatred, while affluent and timid Westerners provide
the new necessary indifference — if punctuated by the occasional off-the-cuff
Amen in the manner of a Louis Farrakhan or Mel Gibson outburst.
The dangers of this post anti-Semitism is not just that Jews are shot
in Europe and the United States — or that a drunken celebrity or demagogue
mouths off. Instead, ever so insidiously, radical Islam's hatred of Jews
is becoming normalized.
The result is that the world's politicians and media are talking seriously
with those who not merely want back the West Bank, but rather want an end
to Israel altogether and everyone inside it.
© 2006, TMS
Russian version
Russian version
An introduction to MAOF
Haim Goldman
Haim Goldman
Dear Friends,
Would you believe that the undersigned has anything in common with
-- Professor Victor Davis Hanson (Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University),
-- Dr Charles Krauthammer, (Washington Post, Time, The Weekly Standard),
-- Caroline Glick (Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post),
-- Jonathan Tobin (Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent).
Amazingly, the editors of the MAOF website decided that the missives of the undersigned are worthy of translation and posting along the articles written by these distinguished authors.
The first letter was published without the consent of the undersigned.
However, after thorough examination of the laudable attitude of MAOF and of the excellent contents of the website, the undersigned had most graciously granted his permission for publication of his missives in both English and Russian.
“Analytical Group MAOF” [1] is an organisation founded about ten years ago by Russian-speaking Jewish intellectuals. The attitude of MAOF is definitely pro-Zionist -- unambiguously and unapologetically.
One of MAOF’s primary purposes is providing information and analysis about Middle-Eastern and world affairs as well as about Israel’s history, values and dilemmas. In addition to extensive publication activity in various media, MAOF also organises excursions and seminars. While the vast majority of the contents of the MAOF website is in Russian, texts originally written in English are provided in the original [2] as well as in Russian.
There are arguably about 250 millions of Russian-speakers worldwide and many of them do not read English. The indisputable motivation for the author’s permission was to grant those millions of disadvantaged people the grand benefit of reading the author’s ruminations. If the author is ever maliciously accused that his tacit motivation for authorising the publication was his craving to be listed along with the above-mentioned distinguished writers, his plea will definitely be “nolo contendere”.
The editors of MAOF expressed their gratitude by granting the undersigned a privilege that no other author got – the opportunity to review and correct the Russian translation before publication. The original letters of the undersigned are at [3] and their Russian version is at [4]. At of today, only two letters are posted but several other letters are pending translation.
You are kindly ENCOURAGED TO RECOMMEND the MAOF website to your friends and colleagues worldwide, particularly those who speak Russian. Those who do not enjoy the benefit of proficiency in the exquisite Russian language can find many thought-provoking and inspiring articles about Middle-Eastern and world affairs in the English section [2].
Sincerely,
Haim Goldman
28.10.2006
REFERENCES:
[1] http://maof.rjews.net
[2] section.php3? sid=37&num=25
[3] authorg.php3? id=2107&type=a
[4] authorg.php3? id=2166&type=a