THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 43, March 1, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ANTI-SEMITISM REVISITED
By Asaf Romirowsky
REVIVAL OF THE IDEOLOGY OF ANTI-SEMITISM: THE HISTORY & EVOLUTION OF WESTERN & ISLAMIC ATTITUDES
TOWARDS THE JEWS -- THE GRADUAL TRANSFORMATION FROM THE MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUSLY CHARGED ANTI-SEMITISM,
CONSISTING OF BLOOD LIBELS, CHRISTIAN POLEMICS & ANTI-JEWISH METAPHORS, TO THE MODERN RACIAL ANTI-SEMITISM
CULTIVATED BY ADOLF HITLER & THE NAZIS --THE MOST RECENT ANTI-SEMITIC IDEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION & THE
ISRAELI-ARAB CONFLICT
FULL STORY:
Recently, we marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Despite a solemn tone at many remembrance events across
the continent, numerous reports from Europe, Russia, and the United Kingdom reveal a real and disturbing rise in anti-Semitism.
How, after all this time, can such a horrific ideology still capture the minds of thinking Europeans? And why now?
Historically, the gradual transformation from Medieval religiously charged anti-Semitism, consisting of blood libels, Christian polemics
and anti-Jewish metaphors, to the modern racial/genetic anti-Semitism cultivated by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, has fostered a shift in
both Arab and European attitudes towards Jews.
The "new" racial anti-Semitism is built on the "old" Medieval one; the cycles of hatred towards Jews through Muslim and Christian
writings still repeat many old anti-Semitic canards, but remains willing to embrace junk science and social Darwinistic tropes
whenever possible. Europe today is seeing a slow but steady growth in anti-Semitism under the guise of anti-Zionism. Since 1945,
there hasn't been such a level of concern, anxiety, and even depression among European Jewry. As Robert Wistrich, the historian of
anti-Semitism, explains, "Europe cannot fight anti-Semitism if it appeases terrorists or blackens Israel's name. We need to insist that a
linkage exists between blind Palestinophilia, being soft on terror and jihad, defaming Israel, and the current wave of anti-Semitic
violence." [1]
Historically, Christians were, by far, the more actively anti-Jewish group. Muslims came to their anti-Semitism late, and were, for
literally centuries, much more concerned about financial rivalries than religion, due to the large economic role Jews played in the
Magreb – the medieval Muslim heartland of North Africa and the Middle East. With the post-Ottoman evolution of anti-Semitism,
the Muslim world began to spread the racial anti-Semitism it absorbed from the West and the Christian world.
As the historian of Islam, Bernard Lewis, writes:
"The Arab reader had at his disposal a wide range of anti-Semitic literature, all of it Christian
and European or American origin. It included the products of clerical and anti-clerical,
Rightwing and Leftwing, Socialist and Fascist anti-Semitism. Some of these books were
translated several times, and went through many editions. As well as books, there were
articles in newspapers and magazines, broadcasts, public lectures and exhortations, all of
which helped to familiarize the Muslim Arab reader with the set of themes and images
previously unknown to him – the Jew as a ritual murderer, as Freemason, as Capitalist, as
Communist, as reactionary, as subversive, and as the center of an evil conspiracy aiming at
the domination of the world." [2]
This most recent anti-Semitic evolution is primarily driven by the Muslim world's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through
the Arab media. The comparison of Israeli actions with Nazi actions trivializes the significance of the Holocaust: if the Israelis are no
better than the Nazis, then the Nazis' actions were no worse than the Israelis' actions. Such is the perception that the Arab world is
trying to disseminate in the West.
The Palestinian leadership uses these similarities to stimulate Arab and Western support and sympathy. Moreover, this emphasis on a
similarity between Nazism and Zionism bolsters Palestinian claims of oppression by Israel.
From an Islamist's perspective, the alliance between America and Israel is seen as the connection between Satans great and small.
Historian Barry Rubin explains: "The PLO never saw Israel as the sole adversary, but rather as a dependent of world imperialism, under
the direction of the United States of America." Anti-Americanism was an integral part of its program and activity, but there was a
contradiction, since the PLO also spoke of isolating Zionism "from the centers of power" – in other words, persuading the West to
abandon Israel." [3]
Thus, extremist terminology of big and small Satans creates an environment that stirs popular hatred towards Israel and America and
perpetuates the linkage. The "satanic connection" can be seen in the Arab/Muslim world's theory that the attack on the World Trade
Center was carried out purposely by a "global Jewish conspiracy" to solely blame the Arab world.
Thus, the Syrian foreign minister Mustafa Tlass, author of The Matza of Zion, a book that argues that Jews ritually murder
Gentiles for their blood for use in Passover festivities, claimed, during a meeting in Damascus with a delegation from the British Royal
College of Defense Studies, that the Mossad planned the ramming of two hijacked airliners into the WTC towers as part of a Jewish
conspiracy. Former Egyptian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ahmad Al-'Amrawi, told the Palestinian Islamic Jihad mouthpiece
Al-Istiqlal that the Zionist movement and American intelligence organizations planned the attacks. He said the aim was both to
extricate Israel from its current crisis and to give the U.S.A. an opening to take over the oil reserves in the Caspian Sea." [4]
Hizballah, which literally means the party of God, and which was inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini, has been operating in Israel
promoting the idea that Jews are the enemy of the entire human race. Hizballah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad operate openly under the
auspices of the Palestinian Authority, eagerly promoting martyrdom through suicide bombings, with the hope to "liberate" Palestine,
destroy Israel, and defeat the West. Sheikh Husayn Fadlallah, Hizballah's most senior clerk, expressed his perception of Jewish world
domination in these words:
"Israel was not just a Jewish state in the formal sense of the word. It was the ultimate
expression of the corrupt, treacherous, and aggressive ‘Jewish' personality. Jews were
indeed ‘the enemy of the entire human race,' congenitally ‘racist' and condescending in
their attitude to other peoples, and ruthlessly bent upon global domination." [5]
This raises the question of whether there can ever be a sincere peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Any concept of peace is
fallacious, if the Arab-Muslim world truly believes that there is a global Jewish conspiracy such as the one described by the
Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Protocols, which first appeared in 1895, were probably written by members of the Czarist
Russian secret police based in Paris. Its authors' goal was to persuade the Russian population of a Jewish plot to dominate the world.
The Protocols gave rise to many spin-offs of Jewish conspiracies for global domination, different spin-off versions designed
for different countries at different times. Bernard Lewis explains the American spin-off:
"The Protocols, though by far the most successful, were not the only anti-Semitic
fabrication. Another, specially designed for an American audience, is a speech by Benjamin
Franklin urging the Founding Fathers not to admit Jews to the new republic, and warning
them of the dire consequences if they disregarded his words. The speech is a total
fabrication, but was not without its effect. A less troublesome and widely used method was
simply to assign a Jewish origin to anyone whom it was desired to discredit, and then to use
that person to discredit the Jews." [6]
Finally, the cycle of anti-Semitism has occurred over and over, with additions of radicalizations through religion, or genocide, or a
combination of both. The identification of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a primary source is significant, because,
when one wants to track anti-Semitism, all he has to do is look for "signs" from this document. Khomeini, Hitler, preeminent Islamist
intellectual Sayyid Qutb, and Yasser Arafat are all graduates of the school of modern anti-Semitism, where they learned to circulate
in many variations the Protocols. A recent example of this very notion is described in the Palestinian weekly Al-Sha'ab:
"The Jews are the decision makers and the owners of the media in most of the world's
capitals. Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Athens and finally Russia, where the Jews
worked for a long time to crush it underfoot…" [7]
From an Arab-Muslim perspective, the fact that the State of Israel was established right after the Holocaust illustrates the linkage
between Nazism and the continuation of Jewish domination. During the period of the Oslo Accords, the possibility of reaching a
plausible peace between Israelis and Palestinians created a reduction in violence and anti-Semitism. But the anti-peace camps on both
sides continued to spread ideas that "proved" The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be true. The Protocols have
attained the status of academic scholarship, not just a folk myth; this academic legitimacy fosters modern anti-Semitism, thereby,
raising a new Arab-Muslim generation that religiously believes in these "facts."
Finally, all of the above frame the Arab world's characterization of the State of Israel and Jews. If any change is to be made in the Arab
world, it should be the anti-Semitic rhetoric which is so deeply rooted in the agenda of so many terrorist groups that yearn to commit
more and more acts of violence against Jews.
NOTES:
[1] http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-25.htm.
[2] Lewis, Bernard. Semites and Anti-Semites, New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
1999, P. 200.
[3] Rubin, Barry. Revolution Until Victory? The Politics and History of the PLO,
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994, P. 21.
[4] MEMRI – "A New Anti-Semitic Myth in the Arab Press: The September 11 Attacks
Were Perpetrated by the Jews," January 8, 2002. at
http://www.sefarad.org/desinfo/20020124.html.
[5] Wistrich, Robert S. "Muslim Anti-Semitism: A Clear and Present Danger."
American Jewish Committee.
[6] Lewis, Bernard. Semites and Anti-Semites, New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
1999, P. 109.
[7] MEMRI – October 5, 1998 "The Jews Control the World: Update on Anti-Semitism
in the Palestinian Media" at
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Area=antisemitism&ID=SP0798.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Jews & Anti-Semitism
Europe, Europeans, & Anti-Semitism
The Israeli-Arab Conflict
The Middle East & the Arabs
Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
War & Peace in the Real World
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Asaf Romirowsky is a Campus Watch Associate Fellow for the Middle East Forum and the Israel Affairs Associate for the Jewish
Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
The foregoing article by Asaf Romirowsky was originally published in Front Page Magazine, February 28, 2005, and can be
found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
March 1, 2005
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume VII, 2005
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues