Woke Antisemitism

Antisemitism comes in many forms, among them Islamist, Christian, economic, and conspiratorial antisemitism. Many correctly associate antisemitism with the far right and yet it is increasingly prevalent on the progressive left.

David L. Bernstein is the author of Woke Antisemitism: How Progressive Ideology Harms Jews. The Holocaust Foundation interviewed David at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy at the University of Oxford.

Antisemitism in New Zealand 2021 - Download the Survey

The Holocaust Foundation contributed to the Survey of Antisemitism in New Zealand 2021, conducted by the New Zealand Jewish Council. The full report can be downloaded via the link below.

Survey of Antisemitism in New Zealand 2021

Dr Manfred Gerstenfeld: Antisemitism integral to European culture

First published by Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, reproduced by HAFANZ with permission

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: For about 20 years, the EU has been largely inactive, incompetent, negligent, and at times even evil in the battle against antisemitism. During that period, Jew- and Israel hatred has greatly increased in the EU. The EU Commission has announced that in 2021 it will present a comprehensive strategy on combating antisemitism. No such strategy can succeed without a detailed explication of the lengthy history of antisemitism in Europe. If the strategy does not explicitly admit that antisemitism is integral to European culture, it will fail.

The EU Commission has stated that in the coming year, it plans to tackle the issue of antisemitic incitement. Its program for 2021 states: “Given the rise in antisemitic violence and hate crime, the Commission will present a comprehensive strategy on combating antisemitism to complement and support member states’ efforts.” The EU also intends to adopt a declaration against antisemitism at its December summit.

Europe’s lengthy history of antisemitism, which has lasted well over a thousand years, had its origins even before the notion of Europe existed. No EU strategy against antisemitism can be effective without a detailed explication of the history of Europe’s millenarian antisemitism. This will require, first of all, a focus on the Roman Catholic Church, but will also have to involve attention to individual figures like Erasmus, Martin Luther, Voltaire, nineteenth century early French socialists, and Karl Marx.

The EU document will have to explain how vile and rabid Christian antisemitism laid part of the basis for the second major wave of this hatred, national ethnic antisemitism, and its most extreme genocidal expression: Nazism.

In the years since WWII, a third mode of antisemitism gradually took form: anti-Israelism. The EU and a number of its member states have participated in this version of antisemitism from time to time. All this has to be detailed and illustrated; otherwise, the ultimate document will be invalid.

An important milestone in the distortion of the EU reality of antisemitism occurred in 2003, when the Center for Research on Antisemitism (CRA) at the Technical University in Berlin was asked by the European Monitoring Center for Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) to analyze the data and summarize the findings on antisemitism that the European organization had collected.

American scholar Amy Elman detailed this failure in her 2015 book, The European Union, Antisemitism and the Politics of Denial. In an interview she said: 

The CRA completed its document in October 2003. It found that violent attacks against Jews often rose from virulent anti-Zionism across the political spectrum. Moreover, it specifically identified young Muslims of Arab descent as the main perpetrators of physical attacks against Jews and the desecration and destruction of synagogues. Many were victims of racism and social exclusion themselves.

The EUMC did not publish the study and insisted that the one month period covered in the CRA investigation was too short. It also claimed the report was never intended for publication. The CRA researchers commented that their focus on Muslim perpetrators of antisemitism and anti-Zionist attacks unsettled the EUMC. They stated that this EU Agency had repeatedly asked them to alter their ‘divisive’ findings. After the researchers refused this revisionism, the EUMC shelved their report in November 2003.

Gradually, studies began to be published on the extreme antisemitism of various European countries, but the EU did very little. One critical event was the publication of a study in 2011 by the University of Bielefeld that was conducted on behalf of the German Social Democratic foundation Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. It found that at least 150 million citizens of the EU aged 16 and older held the view that Israel is demonic.

The study was undertaken in seven European countries. Researchers polled 1,000 people per country over the age of 16 in the fall of 2008. One question was whether the respondent agreed with the assertion that Israel is carrying out a war of extermination against the Palestinians. The lowest percentages of those who agreed were in Italy and the Netherlands, at 38% and 39%, respectively. Other percentages were Hungary 41%, the UK 42%, Germany 48%, and Portugal 49%. In Poland the figure was 63%.

The European Commission should have been shocked by these findings. They showed that a “new Europe” only exists in part, while the old Europe of Jew-hatred and antisemitic incitement is very much alive. The EU should have also looked at the consequences of its own contribution to this problem in terms of its one-sided criticism of Israel and willingness to look away from the majority support of the Palestinian electorate for the genocidal Hamas movement, as well as its financial support for the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA is controlled by the second-largest Palestinian movement, Fatah, which financially rewards terrorists who murder Jews. (If the terrorist is killed, their families receive the cash.) The culture of glorification of death is very prominent in the Palestinian worldview, but the EU has nothing to say on the matter.

The EU also donates money to Palestinian NGOs that incite against Israel. NGO Monitor has pointed out that several of these NGOs are terror-linked. The EU also supports the biased UN Special Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). There is no valid reason for the existence of this agency outside the regular UN refugee assistance system.

In several EU member countries, antisemitism flourishes without any response from the EU. Sweden is one such case. Its third-largest city, Malmö, was the capital of antisemitism in Europe for a long time. This was mainly due to segments of its large Muslim population. It was made possible by inaction and sometimes even active participation in antisemitic propaganda by the local social democratic administration led by Mayor Elmar Reepalu. Malmö was gradually overtaken as Europe’s antisemitism capital by the much bigger Berlin. Another scandalous event in Europe (and a unique one, at least so far) was the closure of the Jewish community in the Swedish town Umea due to harassment by local Nazis.

Spain is another country where antisemitism is embedded at the highest level. The Podemos party denies Israel’s right to exist. Podemos is the junior partner in the Spanish Socialist Worker (PSOE)-dominated government of PM Pedro Sánchez. Any serious plan for an EU strategy against antisemitism should lead to the resignation or expulsion of the Commission’s High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, a Spaniard, who told Politico, “Iran wants to wipe out Israel; nothing new about that. You have to live with it.” This is the worst type of appeasement. A man like that should not have a place in an EU Commission that claims to have a strategy against antisemitism.

The EU appointed its first European Commission Coordinator on combating antisemitism, Katharina von Schnurbein, in 2015. She does her utmost in the field. The facts that she is not high in the EU hierarchy and has very little staff are yet more indications of the EU’s negligence in the battle against antisemitism.

In past years, a variety of studies have been published about the spread of antisemitism in a number of EU countries as well as the perceptions and experiences of Jews living there. The relative importance of perpetrators differs between countries. Overall, Muslim antisemitism is dominant, but in Germany, right-wing antisemitism is more prevalent. The latter is also increasing overall. Left-wing antisemitism largely expresses itself in extreme hatred of Israel.

It is important that well before work starts on the study, a detailed outline that includes the items that must be covered in it is presented to the EU Commission. The question is, who can or will do this? The Israeli government has many vested interests in interactions with the EU and is unlikely to do so. This is all the more so due to its own incompetence and neglect in the field.

This leaves the issue wide open for major Jewish organizations, but they are usually unfamiliar with a strategic overall view of European antisemitism.

As the EU Commission has committed to this study, this is a unique opportunity to confront Europe and press it to finally come up with a worthwhile strategic document that addresses the battle against antisemitism, the continent’s antisemitic past, and the EU’s own huge failures in the field.

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld (Ph.D. Amsterdam University) is former Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He specializes in Israeli-Western Europe relations, antisemitism, and anti-Zionism.

Disturbing Phenomenon of Antisemitism Amongst Children

Image: Ben Wicks

The Australian Jewish press recently reported disturbing incidents of antisemitic bullying of school children from as young as five years old, in both public and private schools in Victoria and New South Wales. 

The abuse included: 

• taunting with names like, “Jewboy”, “the Jew”, “You cooked-up Jew”, “worthless Jewish rodent”

• being told to “get in my oven” 

• drawings of swastikas and Nazi flags being displayed or thrown at students 

• students performing Nazi salutes 

• the drawing of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele and talk of “dissecting Jews” 

• classmates throwing coins on the ground, and saying, “Look, the Jew will pick it up” 

• a Kippah being ripped from a boy’s head, thrown around “like a frisbee” and stomped on the ground 

• dirt thrown at a boy accompanied by the taunt, “Look, I found your ancestors. I found your grandma” 

• physical abuse 

• bullies following a boy into the bathrooms and commenting on his genitalia 

• a teacher comparing Palestinian terrorism to Jewish resistance during the Holocaust 

• a teacher delegitimising the children’s Israeli identity by instead labelling the boys as “Palestinian”

• cyberbullying and threats of stalking

Incidents of antisemitic hatred amongst such young children surely raise serious questions. Where do young people get such toxic ideas about a tragic event that occurred 75 years ago? 

The social media platform Tik Tok, which particularly targets youngsters, was recently exposed for promoting antisemitic videos. The combined ‘memes’ featured on Tik Tok gained over 6.5 million views. This might go some way to explaining antisemitism amongst children and young people.

More shocking, however,  is the behaviour of the teachers, who one would expect to know better. Teachers at the centre of the school dispute not only minimized the experiences of the students, one teacher erased the identity of the student by referring to him as a Palestinian. The imposition of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict onto individual Jews is one reason why the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance has formulated a definition of antisemitism which highlights the connection between anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism. 

The IRHA definition affirms the idea that criticism of Israel can be legitimate, just as it is for any other state, however, when it crosses certain boundaries, it becomes antisemitic. 

The IHRA definition states that when criticism of Israel:

• is couched in terms which employ or appeal to negative stereotypes of Jewish people generally;

• or denies the Jewish people their right to self-determination;

• or applies double standards by requiring of Israel standards of behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation;

• or holds Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel;

then the line has been crossed. It’s antisemitism.

Indeed, Dane Giraud has argued regarding the IHRA definition, that:

…as an educational tool, it could be an effective map to reorientate people after an onslaught in recent years that’s normalized anti-Jewish tropes to the point some just cannot tell what is and what isn’t antisemitic anymore. Creating a standard to raise awareness as to what the tropes certain groups are using truly represent is a positive if you, like me, view education as being a far better solution to racism than outright banning speech.

It is difficult to know how widespread antisemitic bullying is in New Zealand schools. Anecdotal evidence suggests that similar types of bullying occurs, but it tends not to be publicised. Indeed, HAFANZ was invited to a school last year, to teach on the Holocaust, directly in response to an antisemitic incident. The school, to its credit, acted upon the complaint by organising lessons on the Holocaust. 

This suggests that antisemitism may not be such a problem in New Zealand, however recent history shows that our country is not immune from this global trend in antisemitism; from the proliferation of antisemitic tropes on social media to mail-box drops, periodic bouts of antisemitic graffiti, anti-Israel rhetoric from some politicians, anti-Jewish speeches from certain Muslim groups and individuals to the fact that New Zealand’s only Jewish school requires security guards.

The recently launched ‘Shifting Jewry 2019 (Gen19) survey’ found a significant increase in the number of Jewish New Zealanders concerned about antisemitism. Whereas in the previous such survey in 2008, 84% thought that antisemitism was not a serious issue in New Zealand, the most recent survey showed that 44% of respondents viewed antisemitism as either a “very big” or a “fairly big” problem.

While the global community has in recent times been preoccupied by questions over racism, equal concern over Jew hatred has seldom been evident. Rather, BLM protests have often been accompanied by the destruction of Jewish shops and vandalising of synagogues, along with placards reading “Israel, laboratory of police violence”, “Who is the terrorist?” and mass chants of “Dirty Jews”.

From BLM protests to Australian schools, we see and hear the same messages and tropes, underlining the need for ongoing education. 

Peter Wertheim of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry in addressing the Inquiry into Anti-Vilification Protections conducted by The Legal And Social Issues Committee of the Legislative Assembly Of Victoria pointed to the need for education, and specifically education on antisemitism.

It seems that generic education against racism will not address this problem, because many younger people fail to see antisemitism as a form of racism. They see Jews as part of the privileged, white elite who are immune from racism, a misperception which provides a disturbing insight into the appalling ignorance of history of many younger people.

Wertheim is correct to identify the need for specific education for young people on antisemitism, however, the problem is widespread and affects adults as well.

In October 2019, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Ahmed Shaheed, also affirmed the need for education and the importance of engaging the younger generation. ‘An increase in antisemitic incidents is being reported internationally - including violence, discrimination and expressions of hostility - and the problem is being boosted by the internet, with online antisemitism hate speech prevalent,’ he said. ‘Antisemitism is the canary in the coalmine of global hatred’.

An interview with Theresienstadt survivor Bob Narev MNZM

Our chairman, Holocaust survivor Bob Narev MNZM, recently shared his story in an interview for Shine TV. Bob is a survivor of Theresienstadt. Interviewer Gary Hoogvliet asked thought provoking questions ranging from Bob’s memories of the events of the Holocaust to faith and forgiveness.

Both Bob and his wife Freda, also a survivor, felt that they had arrived in paradise when they immigrated to New Zealand following the war. Bob remarked that while they have never personally experienced discrimination in New Zealand, he was concerned about rising antisemitism. He considers it not impossible that the terrible events of the 1930s and 40s could happen again.

Auschwitz

Auschwitz. In popular culture the term has become an archetypal symbol, a metaphor for ultimate evil. So mind-bending were the actions undertaken at this, the largest mass murder factory in human history, that Auschwitz has become ground zero on the moral landscape.

It was only last week that we for the first time visited Auschwitz. On three different mornings I arrived before dawn to film and photograph in and around what has become the very symbol of Europe’s determination to purge itself of Jews.

And yet, while our visit to Auschwitz was deeply disturbing, it has not been the most impactful aspect of our visit to Europe. Rather, it has been the overwhelming impression that much of Europe has not, and probably will not, take responsibility for the Holocaust. While the Nazis were the drivers, their work would not have been so devastatingly successful but for the active (or passive) cooperation of vast numbers of ordinary Europeans. There seems little acknowledgement of that reality. Instead there are too many cases of active denial and, increasingly, an aggressive rewriting of national histories.

So, what is Europe to do with its ancient hatred now that most of its Jews have been murdered or have since departed?

Guest Post: The Current State of Things

On Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019,  Ateret Violet Shmuel, human rights advocate, indigenous rights activist, artist, director of Indigenous Bridges, takes stock of the current state of things for her people.

Today begins Yom Ha’Shoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Today, a third of Americans and nearly half of British people do not believe that 6 million Jews, more than one-third of the entire population of Jews in the whole world, were systematically murdered by the Nazis. Those who believe that the Holocaust happened at all, far under-estimate the death toll.

Today, the global Jewish population is still only about 12-14 million, whereas before the Holocaust we were about 18 million. We have still not recovered.

Today, about 2.6 million British people don’t think the Holocaust happened at all. They believe Jews made it up.

Today, the British (Left) Labour party has hardened its open antisemitic stance, and are solidifying their relationships with genocidal antisemitic terror organizations, while kicking Jews out of the party.

Today, Poland has passed laws to restrict what can be said about Polish involvement in the Holocaust.

Today, we have seen Polish nationals take to the streets in both Europe and the US to demand that those evil Jews stop trying to make them look bad.

Today, we are watching as European Jews leave France, Belgium, England, the Netherlands, etc because of the sharp increase of normalized antisemitic hate speech and violent hate crimes.

Today, we are watching a global trend of far right antisemitic political parties beginning to gain power.

Today, almost one quarter of generation Z and millennial North Americans are not sure that they have ever heard of the Holocaust, or know what it was.

Today, we are watching the vandalisation of Jewish cemeteries with swastikas.

Today, I am watching in horror as people within *my* human rights, social justice, and grassroots peace groups justify the murder of Jews, by Nazis, white supremacists, and Islamic extremists. I have seen people who claim to be anti-fascists, spout fascism.

Today, even the most widely read centrist papers in the US “accidentally” run cartoons that use the old antisemitic tropes about those disgusting, inhuman, conniving Jews running the world and leading world leaders astray.

Today, we are dealing with the aftermath of the second deadly synagogue shooting in the US this year.

Today, antisemitic attacks against Jews have sharply increased in the last year.

Today, we are watching as most major news agencies publish intentionally misleading or objectively false stories about Israel in order to drum up hatred for the Jewish country under false pretenses.

Today, we are seeing Nazis and white supremacists openly marching in the streets, emboldened by current politicians.

Today, we are seeing fliers claiming Jews are pedophiles and murderers posted in suburban American public spaces.

Today, we watch as the Internet overflows with hateful memes about Zionists and Jews (left, right, and center).

Today, we watch as those who spout pure racist hatred under the guise of “legitimate criticism of Israel”, claim they are being unfairly attacked by Zionists and are undeserving of being labeled “antisemitic”. They claim, as they always have, that they are not the aggressors, but really the “victims” of those horrible Jews.

Today, we are watching as leaders on both the far right (Davis Duke, Richard Spenser, Patrick Little, Andrew Anglin, etc) and those on the far left (Louis Farrakhan, Linda Sarsour, Ilhan Omar, Jeremy Corbyn) meet in congratulatory agreement about the sinister role that Jews play in the world.

Today, we are watching western Jews branded as ‘whites’ in order to delegitimize their lived experience of oppression, sweep them into the category of oppressors, and reject their claims of victimhood.

Today, I think it’s time we acknowledge that we may have collectively forgotten the lessons of the Holocaust, and we should all be working much harder to make sure we are not complicit in spreading or normalizing hate. Today we really have to ‘up our game’ to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Because, friends, we really do have a problem.

Rewriting and distorting a difficult history

An Interview With The Last Nazi Hunter: Part II

(view PART I here)

The hateful attack on Jewish worshippers in a Chabad-Lubavitch center in Poway, near San Diego, has forcefully underlined the fact that bad ideas have tragic consequences.

The nineteen year old shooter, who in many respects appears to be an ordinary citizen with the same aspirations as other young people, had adopted a twisted view of Jewish people. The gunman’s letter, reminiscent of the antisemitic fabricated text, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, drew on many of the traditional antisemitic stereotypes about power, money and control, blaming Jews for Society’s ills.

Efraim Zuroff shows what these entrenched stereotypes can lead to, by highlighting the role of local communities in the violence perpetrated on European Jews during the Holocaust. The Nazis were able to carry out their murderous goals on a grand scale, because they found willing helpers - ordinary citizens with deeply entrenched antisemitic views.

The sad reality is that in every European country, even Denmark, the Nazis were able to recruit volunteers to help carry out mass murder. However, the difference between the Western and Eastern Europeans was that collaborators in the East became part of the mechanism of mass murder. 

Zuroff points out that until the fall of the Soviet Union, the countries of Eastern Europe had little opportunity to appropriately confront and process their role as collaborators in the Holocaust. An attempt to deal with an unconscionable history, combined with rising nationalist sentiment, has seen the narrative of the past rewritten in many of these countries and resulted in wholesale historical revisionism and Holocaust distortion.

Part II of our interview with Dr Zuroff at King David Hotel, Jerusalem.