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Combating
Antisemitism:
Education
by Dr. Robert Rozett
In a European
Union survey conducted in November 2003, 59 percent of respondents
named Israel as the primary threat to world peace. Additional
surveys revealed that 61% of the German population would be happy
with less public discussion about the Holocaust; 11% of Italians
believe that Jews fabricated the Holocaust, and a remarkable 8% of
Italians said they would like to see Jewish citizens leave their
country. The findings of these independent surveys were verified
in the report commissioned by the EU about antisemitism in its
midst. The subsequent shelving of the report by the EU, which Yad
Vashem protested vehemently, indicates the severity and complexity
of the problem of European anti-Semitism today.
Undeniably, the
results of these polls illustrate a deep-rooted and broad-based
antisemitism bubbling to the surface in Europe. Greek composer
and cultural icon Mikis Theodorakis recently added his voice to
the chorus, calling the Jewish people “the root of evil.” Making
Israel and the Jews the archenemy of peace, or the source of all
the world’s ills, is a new version of the old Nazi mantra: “The
Jews are our misfortune”—a staple of Hitler’s propaganda, which
ultimately led to the horrors of the Shoah.
In the late
1990s, the Swedish government—fearful of a growing trend of
Holocaust denial in Sweden—published and freely distributed
throughout Europe millions of copies of a basic history of the
Holocaust. Around the same time, Swedish premier Goran Persson
founded the Taskforce for International Cooperation on Holocaust
Education, Remembrance, and Research. Yet even such
significant actions seem unable to overcome the overpowering,
demonized image of Israel and the Jews in much of the public mind.
Last October, a
Swedish newspaper article highlighted the local spread of a
virulent strain of antisemitism imported from the Middle East. In
response, Jan Samuelsson, a Swedish professor of comparative
religions and an expert on Islam, justified Muslims’ hatred of the
Jews. Ignoring Israel’s unprecedented overtures towards peace or
Arab rejectionism of Israel’s right to exist, Samuelsson declared
that Muslims’ adoption of Nazi ideology and the dissemination of
the [fabricated] Protocols of the Elders of Zion, are
understandable responses to “the atrocities that the State of
Israel conducts against Arabs in the Middle East.”
More worrisome
than Samuelsson’s tendentious response is that it was published in
the same newspaper as the original article. Such ‘evenhandedness’
and the inability to differentiate between a thoughtful article
and a hateful screed is commonplace in European media. The
practice of granting equal time in the supposed name of fairness,
without delving into the contexts of thorny, deeply rooted
problems, has nurtured much of the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish
bias now so prevalent throughout the continent. To people like
Samuelsson, as is implicit in his comments, even suicide bombings
of innocent civilians may be justified as reactions to Israel’s
‘devilish’ acts.
But demonization
of the Jews is not just a European phenomenon—it is already
accepted practice in large parts of the world. The infamous
comments made by former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir
Mohamed at the recent summit of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference—in which he stated: “…today the Jews rule this world by
proxy. They get others to fight and die for them”— went
unchallenged, and were even praised, by delegates from the 57 OIC
member states present. Insofar as attitudes toward Jews are often
a litmus test for social tolerance, this entrenched and growing
hatred poses an extremely serious threat to world democracy.
While these
deplorable attitudes may not be sufficient grounds for the
perpetration of another Holocaust, history has shown us they are
certainly prerequisites for massive violence against Jews and
others. The torching of a Jewish high school in France in
November and the shocking bombing of two Turkish synagogues during
Sabbath morning services, followed by the bombing of the British
consulate and a British-based bank, demonstrate clearly that
violence has gone well beyond mere rhetoric.
Antisemitism
must be combated with serious and widespread education about the
Holocaust. Unfortunately, traditional modes of education have yet
to make a serious dent. The world media must make every effort to
break through two-dimensional stereotypical representations of
Israel and the Jews through serious education, and by replacing
simplistic presentations with those that address the complexities
that are integral to our world. For the past half century, Yad
Vashem has been at the forefront of Holocaust education and,
through its multi-language seminars, educational materials and
online information, has played a significant role in the battle
against antisemitism in all its guises. Yad Vashem stands ready to
further any serious educational initiatives to combat the forces
of hatred so reminiscent of those that led to the Holocaust.
The author is
Director of the Library
Copyright ©2004 Yad Vashem The Holocaust
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority |
