There is little doubt in my mind about where the increase in
antisemitism comes from. Although it is a complicated phenomenon — the result
of a confluence of factors and events that have arisen over the last couple of
years — there is still hope that it can be turned around by a project I am very
much in favor of. More about that later.
Antisemitism is one of the oldest hatreds on the face of the
earth, dating back to biblical times.
For the last 2,000 years much of it stemmed from
Christianity’s accusation that we – the Jewish people - killed their god, and
from our refusal to recognize him as our savior. That prejudice is surely contributed
to Nazi Germany’s success in exterminating six million of us. They had willing
partners among much of the Christian population in the countries they invaded.
That began to change when Pope John XXIII admitted the
Church’s culpability in the Holocaust and ordered a change in Church doctrine
that viewed us in a positive sense for the first time in 2000 years. A change
implemented by his successor, Pope Paul VI, in Vatican II.
But Jew hatred among some still lingered. A few fringe Christians were overt about those
feelings, but they had little impact on the masses. There were likely more than
a few mainstream Christians who quietly harbored such prejudices as well, but
they rarely expressed them publicly. And for the most part, we all got along
reasonably well.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Muslim world had their own
reasons to hate us. They rejected the idea of a Jewish state in the middle of a
region they believed belonged only to Muslims. When the UN decided to partition
Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab (the original two-state
solution), Israel immediately accepted it. The surrounding Arab nations
rejected it and went to war. Israel won. Arab nations tried it again in 1967.
Israel not only won that war but regained all the land of biblical Israel
(Judea and Samaria - the West Bank).
Arab Jew hatred only
intensified after that. Arab Refugees from Israel’s war of independence that had been under
Jordanian jurisdiction, now came under Israeli jurisdiction. The hatred was then
further exacerbated. All kinds of lies and exagerations about how these
refugees (now called Plaestinisn) were being treated becamse the narrative of Palestinins
and their far left supporterd in academia. Their influence on students resulted
in their calls to support BDS and referring to Israel as an Apartheid state.
And then came the October 7th Hamas massacre of 1,200 Jews
and the capture of 250 hostages and Israel’s war against them. That resulted in
accusations of genocide against Israel and war crimes against her leaders. (That
these were false accusations and why they were false - is beyond the scope of this post.)
After two years of this — combined with the overt
antisemitism of Palestinians; their far-left supporters; and the preexisting right
wing Christian based antisemitism - and we have a perfect storm.
Now - 80 years after the Holocaust - Holocaust deniers are popping
up out of the woodwork and gaining legitimacy from popular antisemitic
podcasters who have given them undeserved platforms and recognition.
Most Americans, whose primary concerns are economic, do not
pay much attention to what goes on in the Middle East. So when a biased media
presents a skewed picture that makes Israel look like it has been committing
war crimes, many simply accept it. This is one of the reasons support for
Israel has declined. When Israel’s own prime minister is constantly vilified by
Democratic members of Congress and by media outlets that not so subtly show
their disdain him, it is no surprise that this affects public opinion.
What does this mean for the future? Will the Holocaust cease
to be remembered? Will Holocuast deniers be given legitimacy thereby minimizing
or fully denying what happened to our people?! And thereby stoking the flames
of Jew hatred in ways not seen since pre-Holocaust days?
Most young people are don’t know much of anything about the
Holocaust and are easy prey for deniers. And have no basis for challenging them
since their knowledge of the Holocaust is practically nonexistent. Add to that
their favorite entertainers calling Israel’s leader a war criminal and hearing
the word ‘genocide’ thrown around casually, and it becomes clear why
antisemitism has surged.
Fortunately, a majority of our political leaders on both
sides of the aisle are not antisemitic. Both sides are determined to fight it,
even if their approaches differ.
Surprisingly, Hollywood has done a better job than most
institutions on this front. Nearly every year there is at least one Oscar
worthy film that reminds the world of the horrors that truly happened. Despite
all my criticism of Hollywood, I give them tremendous credit for this.
However, what a charter school in Harlem did is, in my view,
the real solution to Holocaust denial. As noted in a Jewish Insider article:
Standing inside a gas chamber, Natalie Francisco felt history — the darkest kind — come alive in a way no classroom lesson ever could.
Francisco, an 11th grader at Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts–Harlem, told Jewish Insider that “witnessing Auschwitz-Birkenau, literally being inside a gas chamber, brought the horror of it all to me in a way that reading or studying history could not.”
“It was super emotional to think about the sheer inhumanity and the vast scale of it. I will carry the memories of the visit for the rest of my life,” she said.Francisco was one of eight high-school students who took part in the school’s inaugural six-day trip to Poland last month, which included visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Plaszów concentration camp, and the Warsaw Ghetto.
(Without getting sidetracked too much, I do want to make the
following point: Success Academy is what public education should be. This
high-performing school serves low-income students and gives them the education
they deserve — unlike many public schools in the area that fail to educate at
all. This is what school choice is about. Parents should have the right to send
their children to a school like this instead of being forced into inferior ones
just because of their ZIP code. But I digress.)
When young people actually visit the place where millions were murdered simply for being Jewish; when they physically see the gas chambers and the barracks where victims lived before they were marched to their deaths; THAT is the most powerful antidote to antisemitism. Every high school should have a program like this. It would be money well spent to educate young people about the truth of the Holocaust rather than leaving them vulnerable to Holocaust deniers being platformed by people like Tucker Carlson. Once they experience a trip like this, they will see through such lies — and Holocaust denial will eventually be placed in the trash bin of history, where it belongs.
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