TORONTO-JERUSALEM – Antisemitism “adapts itself to the spirit of the time” and is now evident in the form of anti-Zionism, according to Professor Robert S. Wistrich, director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA) at the Hebrew University.
“Anti-Zionism has become the most favoured vehicle for expressing anti-Jewish sentiments that are considered politically incorrect in academic circles,” he asserted.
Speaking to the Jewish Tribune just a week before the release of his A Lethal Obsession: Antisemitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad (published by Random House), a 1,200-page encyclopedic work spanning more than 2,000 years of history, Wistrich discussed what he sees as the “common thread among many variations” of antisemitism.
“Jews have been perceived throughout the ages as being a distinctive people, even when Jews have tried to forget that fact and remove these distinctive aspects,” he stated. “Antisemitism has always adopted a singling out of the unique and distinct characterization of Jews, but it has done it in a negative way; in fact, a demonization of the Jewish ‘other’ as threatening, evil.
“Something I’ve noticed is that however hard some Jews have attempted to run away from their Jewishness – whether religious, cultural or ethnic – this has never helped,” he added. “In a strange, distorted way, I don’t think they [antisemites] are wrong in that there is a difference.”
According to Wistrich, in the ancient world the Jewish difference and source of conflict was mainly monotheism versus paganism, even at the highest point of pagan culture such as the Hellenistic era.
“Pagan antisemitism was not insignificant,” he said. “It represented a real clash of values, as can be seen in the story of Chanukah. But with the advent of Christianity, we do see the beginning of a line that creates stereotypes painting Jews and Judaism as being not just a physical or cultural threat, but as a metaphysical one.”
Roots of leftist antisemitism go back to late ’60s
Regarding the Israel-bashing prevalent among gays, feminists and others who would be persecuted under the regimes dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state, the author dedicated several chapters to the “background of these strange distortions,” going back to the political and cultural roots in the late ’60s.
“I think the Six Day War transformed the perception [of Jews] among many non-Jews. It expelled the myth that Jews had to be compensated after the Holocaust, which for 20 years served as a fragile shield against the worst outbreaks of antisemitism. But in the post-’60s, in the West, the image of the Jews as perennial victims and of the state of Israel as a small, besieged island in the Middle East and to a degree as a socialist utopia, seen through rose-coloured glasses – this was all turned around. Israel was perceived from this point on as an occupying power, a colonial entity. It was a quick transformation. And once you’re seen as the victim, you’re always right; you can do no wrong.
“I was a student then and I remember the atmosphere very well. I belonged to the left at the time and this was one of the things that turned me away. I could see the seeds of it [antisemitism] already.”
Wistrich devoted a chapter of his book to bigotry at the UN.
“Even I was shocked when researching it,” he commented, adding that the “power of antisemites is always underestimated. The obsession with Israel is very much apparent. [For example,] the Iraq/Iran war was the bloodiest conflict in the Middle East,” yet it received so much less attention at the UN.
“I think the Jewish people are facing the most serious and potentially dangerous moment in its history since the Shoah,” he declared. “I don’t say that lightly. Iran presents an existential danger…. Its links with antisemitism are downplayed in the American media – a big mistake.
“The situation is necessary to grasp. The idea of cleansing the Middle East and the world of Jews is fundamental to Islamism. This is the first time this has happened since Nazism,” he said, adding that one should make a “distinction between Islam, one of the great monotheistic faiths, and Islamism, which builds on manipulation and distorts and says the world has to be conquered for Allah.”
As for the recent talks in Toronto delivered by former Mossad head Ephraim Halevy, who downplayed the Iranian threat, “I would obviously disagree with each word of that. I think he has not the remotest understanding of what I’m talking about…looking at it from a completely different perspective. He hasn’t studied any of this material [that] I study every day…. You would have to be blind, deaf and dumb to ignore, every single day, the propaganda…. As a historian, I can say that even the Nazis were more careful, used more euphemisms.”
Multiculturalism can be a ‘double-edged sword’
When researching the situation in Canada, Wistrich used B’nai Brith Canada’s Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents as an important source of information.
“Antisemitism is there and is not a negligible problem,” he said, notwithstanding the fact that “the Canadian government in recent years is among the most pro-Israel in the world and takes a lead in many issues.
“There is one chapter – ‘Multiculturalism and its Discontent’ – where I discuss Canada, among others. It’s a stunning paradox. Multiculturalism was embraced as a positive development by Canadian Jews and was seen to provide many opportunities [and] tolerance of differences. But now we see in Britain, France, Australia…[that] multiculturalism can also be a double-edged sword. It can have negative side effects for Jews and we are seeing some of them now,” such as “cultural relativism. Certain common values are being eroded.
“There is a Canadian government that is responsive to the Jewish community but that might not always be the case.”
He took issue with the recent expression of “concern” voiced by Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) over the recent Swiss ban on the construction of minarets alongside mosques. According to a CJC press release, “state-imposed bans on essential elements of houses of worship are inconsistent with freedom of religion.”
“It’s not just about religious freedom,” Wistrich argued, pointing out that Switzerland is a “model democracy, notwithstanding its black marks with Jews…. People expressed a view that I do not think is Islamophobic. What they said is they do not want minarets on their landscape because they think it is in some way a threat to them. That could be debated. Islam – not just Islamists – has taken a very aggressive position in the societies in which they live, a position that no Jewish community in the diaspora has ever taken…. In some cases they try to impose shariah [Islamic law].
“Jewish communities should definitely be against intolerance of other minorities, but that doesn’t mean you give a blank cheque. In any case in Western Europe where the Muslim community has grown significantly, the position of the Jewish community has declined. What is going on here? Are they going to do anything for the Jewish community? There’s something a bit reckless about rushing to take their position. There will be no gratitude; that’s for sure.
“The year 2009 was the worst year for antisemitic incidents in Great Britain since they began recording about 25 years ago…same in France…. Nobody would question that Britain is democratic, multicultural. Its government is not anti-Israel, although not as pro as Canada. But in society you see a coarsening of attitude.”
According to information released this week by the Jewish Agency, antisemitic incidents in western Europe have reached the highest level since WWII.
Jews are ‘on the front line’
Wistrich was in the US when the massacre at the Fort Hood army base by a radicalized Muslim American major occurred.
“I saw all the politically correct statements” following the shooting, he said. “This [American] administration has been in denial for a long time, but reality is the greatest teacher. Part of the process is that they are beginning to understand there is a problem with Islamists in America.
“Obama’s Cairo speech is meaningless today,” he said. “He got slapped in the face…. He is still portrayed in the Arab world as a puppet of the Jews, although he is probably the least sympathetic American president to Israeli concerns in the postwar decades,” Wistrich observed. Israel’s building freeze in Judea and Samaria “had a brief and ironically disastrous effect…. Obama got nothing from the PA or the Arab world. It was supposed to be a quid pro quo, but he got nothing. Obama is not antisemitic. It was delusional to think he could bring about a shift in attitude.
“We are in a war of civilizations and Jews are on the front line, whether we like it or not,” he asserted. “First, you have no chance if you don’t recognize the problem. It’s very important that we are clear-headed and clear-sighted, because to fight back will require a concerted effort.
“We have to pray as well as act,” he suggested. “As Jews in particular, we have to draw on all our resources, spiritual, as well as military and economic.”
