Showing posts with label anti-Israelism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti-Israelism. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Anti-Israelism: Combating the New Anti-Semitism

Anti-Israelism: Combating the New Anti-Semitism


Unfortunately, the deligitimization of Israel is becoming a very real phenomenon.
Unfortunately, the deligitimization of Israel is becoming a very real phenomenon. (Wikimedia Commons)
Standing With Israel
How does one effectively fight anti-Semitism and its newest mutation, anti-Israelism? The first ‎step must be to understand how these phenomena are manifested and who is behind them. ‎
Over the past decade, as anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism increased exponentially, many books ‎covering the subject have been published. Until now, aside from magisterial works of the late ‎Robert Wistrich and the excellent analysis by Daniel Goldhagen, The Devil That Never Dies: The ‎Rise and Threat of Global Anti-Semitism, there has not been a contemporary review of the ‎global battlefield covering the world's oldest hatred. There are other valuable studies but they ‎are of limited scope. ‎
Now a new study of considerable significance has become available. Manfred Gerstenfeld's ‎The War of a Million Cuts: The Struggle Against the Delegitimization of Israel and the Jews ‎and the Growth of the New Anti-Semitism is a compelling book that outlines the components ‎of the new anti-Semitism. The seemingly obscure title is explained in the text as referring to an ‎unlimited number of often small hate attacks from a huge number of sources. This differs from ‎the traditional anti-Semitism of concentrated attacks by major players, such as initially the ‎Catholic Church and much later Nazism and its many allies. What is radically new in this book is ‎that it presents a detailed strategy on how to fight the enemy.‎
Dr. Gerstenfeld served for 12 years as the chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, ‎a leading Israeli think tank. A former international strategic business consultant to some of the ‎world's largest multinational corporations, Gerstenfeld would today, after the death of ‎Wistrich, be considered the most qualified analyst of contemporary anti-Semitism with a focus ‎on anti-Israelism. He is a prolific writer and has published 10 books on this subject, including ‎pioneering studies on anti-Semitism on campuses in a variety of countries, the anti-Israelism ‎behind the pseudo-humanitarian mask of the hypocritical Northern European societies, the ‎attitude toward Jews as an indicator of the moral decay of the Netherlands, and the ‎increasingly important role that Holocaust inversion and other distortions have assumed in the ‎efforts to demonize the Jewish state.‎
His new book is a tour de force and undoubtedly represents his magnum opus. It is a readable ‎‎500-page volume that provides encyclopedic coverage of the subject. It is probably the first ‎book that reviews the delegitimization of Israel as an entity, identifying the motifs employed, ‎the categories of perpetrators, how the hate themes enter society and the extent of damage ‎incurred by Israel and Jews.
Citing a large number of examples from many countries, the central theme of the book ‎highlights the fact that our current struggle is immensely more complex than confronting ‎classical anti-Semitism in which hatred focused on single messages, such as the killing of Jesus ‎or genetic inferiority of Jews. Today the onslaught comes from many diverse sources, applies ‎many different motifs and uses a great variety of methods and transmission channels.‎
His opening chapter is a lucid analysis of how anti-Semites have adopted and integrated anti-‎Israelism as a new mutation of traditional Jew hatred. The successive chapters discuss how ‎ancient hate motifs have been espoused and upgraded by the current enemies of the Jewish ‎people. Gerstenfeld demonstrates how Muslim anti-Semitism today has effectively adopted ‎the role of Nazi anti-Semitism and is at the forefront of the hatred and violence against Jews­--which not only emanates from Muslim countries but wherever Muslim migrants have settled.‎
He skillfully illustrates the interfacing and interaction between Muslims in Western countries, ‎politicians, the traditional media, social media activists, nongovernmental organizations, ‎church leaders, academics, trade union leaders, right-wing extremists, social democrats and ‎above all, those on the extreme Left now bolstered by Jewish self-haters who complete the ‎witches' brew from which the current onslaught of poisonous anti-Semitism has emerged. ‎
Gerstenfeld demonstrates that anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism use the same core motifs. He ‎cites a variety of studies indicating that over 150 million European Union citizens embrace ‎a satanic view of the Jewish state--where they believe the Israelis behave like Nazis or seek to ‎exterminate the Palestinians. He systematically exposes the shameless, naked anti-Semitism of ‎the majority of U.N. representatives. These include the Europeans who are increasingly ‎inclined to either abstain from or vote in favor of outrageous resolutions, often initiated by ‎rogue states, which apply double standards and single out Israel for censure. Gerstenfeld ‎demonstrates that anti-Semitism is not only part of Europe's history, but also of its culture. His ‎depiction of a new criminal Europe warrants serious debate.‎
He also analyzes the impact of the ongoing campaigns of delegitimization on Israel and the ‎ramifications for Diaspora Jews--especially in Europe--who find themselves increasingly ‎discriminated against.‎
Gerstenfeld outlines his plans to organize the fight on behalf of embattled Israel and the Jewish ‎people. He is strongly convinced that the Israeli government has failed to deal with this ‎problem for decades by mistakenly considering it a minor irritant instead of appreciating the ‎immense consequences of losing the war for the world's public opinion. He sees a desperate ‎need for the Israeli government to set up an advanced, well-staffed and amply funded anti-‎propaganda agency which will globally refute the loathsome lies and defamation and humiliate ‎and shame those responsible. ‎
The first task of this agency would be to deal with research, an important component being ‎the creation and updating of a databank of "enemies of Israel and the Jewish people." Each ‎new incident of hate-mongering could thus immediately be tracked to their combined past ‎mischief. One would also be able to identify the vulnerabilities of Israel's enemies. ‎
Gerstenfeld states that many enemies of Israel today enjoy a free anti-Semitic lunch. He ‎suggests that we could, for example, identify some of the academically weakest adherents of ‎the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and expose their professional failures ‎among their university colleagues and in their profession internationally. He claims that it ‎would not even cost much money. As most people are cowards, he believes that many would ‎think twice before joining the BDS movement. ‎
The second activity the anti-propaganda agency would deal with would be the monitoring of ‎new developments concerning hatemongering. His suggestion that this should be done in ‎three different categories is commendable. ‎
The first would be by activity, e.g., calls for violence, Holocaust inversion, BDS, etc. The second ‎would be by perpetrators, such as Muslim states, Muslims in the Western world, media, ‎politicians, liberal churches, NGOs, academics, social democratic parties, trade unions, etc. The ‎third would monitor developments in various countries. ‎
A third department of the proposed anti-propaganda agency would focus on activism, either ‎directly or indirectly. One proposal is that tens of thousands of youngsters willing to defend ‎Israel could be trained to identify how Israel's enemies work, what lies and fallacies are ‎used and how to expose them. Today the defense of Israel is chaotic. More coordination ‎would enable much more with the same means.‎
The book includes an introduction by former Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar, who ‎describes the book as "an excellent contribution to better understanding the indirect attacks ‎against Israel." It also contains endorsements and commendations from Czech Culture Minister ‎Daniel Herman, former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata, former Dutch ‎Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal, former Swedish Development Cooperation Minister Alf ‎Svensson, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, and others.‎
This book should be considered a compulsory manual for anyone engaged in public activity to ‎promote the case for Israel or combat anti-Semitism.‎
Isi Leibler is a veteran international Jewish leader with a distinguished record of contributions to the Jewish world and the cause of human rights. His website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com. He may be contacted at ‎ileibler@leibler.com.
For the original article, visit israelhayom.com.
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