Page 32 - Jewish News

Page 32 - Jewish News_April 2020

P. 32

32A April 2020 COMMENTARY

Europe’s lessons for the struggle against anti-Semitism took place in Paris in 2014. An odd as-

By Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, March 2, 2020 sortment of people – “ultra-Catholics”
The Atlantic magazine invited Ameri- grettable caution about the dangers Majorities and minorities must respect as important to Britain’s democracy opposed to the idea of same-sex mar-
riage; the far right; elements of the far
can Jewish Committee (AJC) Europe of wearing a kippah in public. In the one another. And everyone, while leav- could be so vulnerable to takeover by left; and young people from immigrant
Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen to United Kingdom, each of the past three ing space for debate, should at least extremists and racists was unthinkable.

share her analysis of rising anti-Semi- years has brought a new high in anti- rally around a shared vision, finding But that should serve as a stark warn- backgrounds – demonstrated against
tism in Europe and the United States, Semitic incidents. The U.K. Equal- ground for common ideals rather than ing to people in the states that if that the government of François Hollande.
Some shouted “Jews, out of France!”
and recommendations, based on the ity and Human Rights Commission focusing on divisions. can happen in the Labour Party in the and “Jews, France is not yours!” pro-
experience in Europe, on what can has launched an investigation into the But unfortunately, we are living in U.K., it can happen here.” viding a sad reminder that people who
and should be done in the U.S. to fight Labour Party for “institutional anti- a time of identity politics, conspiracy In this context, it can lead to a situ-

all forms of hatred against Jews. “We Semitism,” and many Jewish members theories and lies. The ties that once ation where anti-Semitism can also have nothing in common can and do
have come to understand that no single have left the party. united our societies – truth, an idea of come from those who have made their come together in their hatred of Jews.
The most important lesson of the
country is immune to anti-Semitism. The picture is depressingly grim the common good – are falling apart. objective protecting minority rights. European experience for the U.S. is

Europe’s experience oﬀers a caution- across the European continent. Seeing Dialogue and compromise, the essence The French historian Pierre-André the need to analyze and confront all

ary tale for the United States,” Simone a similar phenomenon arise in the U.S. of our communities, are dysfunctional. Taguieﬀ defines this new Judeophobia
writes. feels for many European Jews like a Radical rhetoric on the left and the as an ideological framework in which forms of anti-Semitism without excep-
n October 28, 2018, I was at scary déjà vu, confirming to Jews on right is the political language of the Jews are no longer seen as an enemy tion, and to depoliticize the problem

entirely. Europe wasted many years
home in Paris, a blissful bub- both sides of the Atlantic just how bad day, aided – and, one might even ar- race, but as a people conveying the by not addressing the more contempo-
Oble, feeding my one-month- the situation has become. gue, provoked – by the echo chambers putatively racist ideology of Zionism. rary forms of anti-Semitism, because
old baby girl, when I got the news of Two recent studies from the Amer- of Big Data and social media. This allows the battle against Jews to
the massacre of Jewish worshippers ican Jewish Committee – one in France Extremists, whether religious or be presented as part of an antiracist or it was politically uncomfortable to do

at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pitts- with the Foundation for Political Inno- political, subscribe to exclusive ideolo- antifascist agenda, leading them to be so. It was diﬃcult for many to realize
and then admit, for example, that anti-
burgh. One thought repeated in my vation, a French think tank, and one gies based on the conviction that they excluded and sometimes even targeted. Semitism could come from individuals
head: That’s it. A haven for Jews in in the U.S. with SSRS, a leading poll- possess the absolute truth. At a time of The second source of resurgent who themselves were suﬀering from

the diaspora doesn’t exist anymore. I ing firm – showed heightened anxiety instability and change, they are looking anti-Semitism comes from the far right,

had feared for years that this moment among Jews. In France, 70 percent of for purity and authenticity, as French with the proliferation of white-nation- discrimination.
Those willing to combat anti-
would eventually arise, when the can- Jews have personally experienced anti- author Marc Weitzmann has argued. alist conspiracy theories as well as Semitism only when it stems from
cer of anti-Semitism would spread to Semitism, while in the U.S., a stagger- Whether for Islamists striving for reli- revisionist Holocaust-denial writings their opponents, while rationalizing the
liberal democracies around the world, ing 35 percent of the Jewish population gious purity, the far right striving to be online and oﬀ. Although the growing phenomenon when it comes from their

including to the one place that had al- reported that they had been the target “true Americans” or “true Germans,” populist movements on both sides of

ways seemed safe to me: the United of anti-Jewish hatred over the past five or even the far left seeking to rid the the Atlantic are not anti-Semitic at first own camp, are not helping. They are
States of America. years. world of “imperialists,” Jews are and glance, they often play with a certain merely playing a political game. Only
an approach that fights all forms of ha-

In France, the disease started near- A third of the respondents, both in always have been the perfect scape- sense of ambiguity, never entirely push- tred against Jews in equal measure can
ly 20 years ago. The first anti-Semitic France and in the U.S., said that they goats. ing away their anti-Semitic followers. be eﬀective.

murder occurred in 2003. Sebastian had taken concrete steps to hide their In Europe, just as in the U.S., anti- And finally, in Europe more so
Sellam, a young French DJ, was killed Jewish identity, including not display- Semitism is multifaceted. It is en- than in the U.S., a dramatic increase Europe also holds other lessons
by his childhood friend, who shouted ing visible Jewish symbols and refrain- trenched in parts of the left where an in anti-Semitism comes from within for the United States, some drawn
from the mistakes it made in confront-
after the murder, “I killed my Jew! I’ll ing from wearing traditionally Jewish irrational aversion to Israel can lead minority groups, in particular from ing anti-Semitism. We in Europe have
go to heaven! Allah guided me!” Since clothing in public. to the embrace of anti-Semitic tropes. within parts of Muslim communities. suﬀered from the lack of an eﬀective

then, 14 other French Jews have been The question in Europe, and also in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in the Nearly all violent anti-Semitic at-
killed simply because they were Jews. the U.S., is: Why is this happening now? U.K. provides one example; statements tacks in Europe over the past 20 years political response to increasing anti-
In 2018, there was a 74 percent spike The causes are multiple but, most m ade by Representative Ilhan Omar of have been committed by jihadists. Semitism. Too many years have been

wasted during which politicians first
in anti-Semitic hate crimes, followed important, the rising anti-Semitism Minnesota provide another. Anti-Semitism can be understood only denied, then hesitated, and finally paid

by another 27 percent increase in 2019. seems to be the symptom of a crisis As the former British Labour with this multifocal lens, keeping in lip service before realizing that the
Meanwhile, in Germany, anti- in the current system of liberal, plu- member of Parliament Ian Austin re- mind that the varied sources often are
Semitic incidents increased so sharply ralist democracies around the world. cently said in an interview with James interconnected. Take, for example, the problem had grown to such magnitude

that the country’s anti-Semitism com- Democracies thrive on shared val- Kirchick: “The idea that an institu- “day of anger,” a demonstration that that it had become diﬃcult to reverse
the tide. Public authorities must instead
missioner, Felix Klein, issued a re- ues, political debate and compromise. tion as robust as the Labour Party and continued on next page unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism
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