The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20091217075855/http://www.jpost.com:80/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447430597&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
RSS | Advertise With Us | Blogs | Judaica Gifts |   30 Kislev 5770, Thursday, December 17, 2009 9:58 IST |
Subscribe! Judaica Gifts
RSS Feeds E-mail Edition
Home Headlines Iranian Threat Jewish World Opinion Business Real Estate Local Israel Blogs Arts & Culture Français Classifieds
Israel Middle East International Health & Sci-Tech Features Travel Cafe Oleh Magazine Sports Israel Guide Subscribe
Specials
Tamir Rent a car
Car rental in Israel, special prices
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers a 20% discount on online reservations
Israeli Basketball
Watch Live Israeli Premier Basketball Games
Jerusalem Post Lite
Light Edition of the Jerusalem Post for English improvement
Desert lodging & activity
Tents, camping & cabins, various activities and meals in the Negev
The Best Jewish Charity
Learn how Efrat saved 30,000 lives of Jewish children
ג'רוזלם פוסט לייט
עיתון חדשות באנגלית קלה התורם לשיפור השפה האנגלית
Tour guides in Israel
Choose you’re your tour guide in Israel
Israel guide
Your guide to Israel
Green Israel
Protecting Israel's environment
ג'רוזלם פוסט לייט
עיתון חדשות באנגלית קלה התורם לשיפור השפה האנגלית
Web  JPost.com  
Middle East & Israel Breaking News » Opinion » Op-Ed Contributors » Article

Anti-semitism is making a loud comeback


Print Subscribe
Toolbar
+ Recommend:
facebook twitter del.icio.us reddit fark
What's this?

Decrease text size Decrease text size
Increase text size Increase text size

Article's topics: Anti-semitismForeign MinistryEurope 

Leading experts from around the world will gather in Jerusalem this week for the Foreign Ministry's Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism where there will be much sobering discussion.

A desecrated Jewish...

A desecrated Jewish gravestone in a cemetery in Britain [illustrative].
Photo: AP [file] , AP

This year witnessed an upsurge in violent anti-Semitic attacks unprecedented in recent times. Perceptions of the 22-day defensive war in the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009 certainly triggered this most recent spasm of worldwide anti-Semitic activity, but that event in and of itself cannot explain the phenomenon away. It was the way certain media covered the event that was the key factor.

The US was practically the only global bright spot with respect to anti-Semitic attitudes and incidents in the past year, notwithstanding isolated yet serious and potentially deadly incidents of its own to contend with. This, at a time, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, when a plurality of Americans agree that the US "should mind its own business internationally, constituting a significant shift since 2002 when nearly two-in-three disagreed with this sentiment." It was therefore particularly heartening to note that a similarly timed The Israel Project (TIP) poll finds that the number of Americans that think the US should support Israel doubled over the same period of time to 60 percent.

CLEARLY, THE media plays a leading role in nurturing and solidifying such beliefs. While many in the US strenuously believe the American media is biased toward Israel, in fact the press in the US is quite tame and balanced in its depiction of Israel and its Jewish majority compared to its counterparts in Europe, Latin America and the Arab world.

In a landmark study of Europeans, Edward Kaplan and Charles Small of Yale University found unequivocally that individuals with extreme anti-Israel views were more likely to be anti-Semitic. As media outlets proliferate via satellite and 24/7 cable TV, the platform for spreading anti-Israel views and consequently anti-Semitism has increased exponentially.

It is for that reason that it is critical to recognize that the vast majority of Americans, Latin Americans, Europeans and Arabs form their opinions about international affairs largely by what they see on television. According to polls conducted for The Israel Project in the US, TV news is cited by 62% as the way their views on the Middle East are shaped, and to a lesser extent the Internet (mostly through mainstream news sites) and newspapers.

In the Arab world, a full 90% of people get their information about the Middle East from TV. Throughout the world today, wherever television watching is pervasive, family, universities and religious institutions all have a far lesser impact in forming opinions on the issues that so clearly impact on foreign policy views than in decades and centuries before.

Outside of the US much of the international media uses the language of "genocide," "Holocaust" and the names of concentration camps drawing a parallel between Nazi Germany and Israel on a regular basis. Such language and imagery serve to delegitimize any Israeli action, while fueling the image of the Jew as the new Nazi. Cartoons with anti-Semitic themes are rampant throughout the world where the juxtaposing of brutal Israelis in the guise of the stereotypical Jew or as a Nazi is the norm. Especially during times of war, Israeli soldiers are relentlessly depicted as war criminals, murderers of innocent civilians and children, militant beasts whose disappearance would obviously be a blessing.

It is therefore no surprise that the aftermath of the Gaza war, a war reported on tirelessly on TV news stations throughout the world, the number of anti-Semitic incidents exploded.

In France, home to the world's third largest Jewish community after Israel and the US, the first half of this year saw significantly more violent anti-Semitic acts and threats - 631 recorded incidents, more than in the entire previous year. As in other European capitals, these include arson attacks against schools and community centers and physical attacks on individuals. Richard Prasquier, the head of CRIF, France's main Jewish umbrella group, was quoted as saying earlier this year that "anti-Semitism is back" and that although France itself is not an anti-Semitic country, "there is a climate of hatred against Jews that manifests itself through insults and often physical attacks."

Almost identically in the UK, the Jewish Community Security Trust recorded double the amount of anti-Semitic incidents in the first half of 2009 as compared to the same period in the previous year. CST head Mark Gardner said, "British Jews are facing ever higher levels of racist attack and intimidation that threaten the well-being of our otherwise happy and successful Jewish community."

In Latin America, with 250,000 Jews in Argentina alone, the climate is becoming increasingly hostile. Anti-Semitic incidents, including swastikas drawn on Jewish schools and graffiti ordering Jews to leave the country have, according to Julio Schlosswer, secretary-general of Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, "created a climate of worry, a climate of terror." Particularly worrisome in Latin America is the atmosphere that has been created by regional leaders such as Hugo Chavez who consistently berate Israel in the Latin American press with vile comparisons of Israeli defensive actions to those of the Nazis, thus fostering an official imprimatur on hatred.

And in places where there are virtually no Jews, anti-Semitism abounds. In a recent poll done in the Arab world by The Israel Project, we found Jews are simply reviled, with 98% of Jordanians saying they have unfavorable opinions of Jews. Egypt was a veritable bright spot with only 69% saying they had an unfavorable view of Jews. The fact that Al Jazeera is the most watched news station throughout the Arab world can, to some extent though obviously not wholly, explain why Israelis/Jews - most Arabs do not recognize the difference - are so incredibly despised.

Continued
1| 2 | Next»

RATE THIS ARTICLE
Print Subscribe
Toolbar
+ Recommend:
facebook twitter del.icio.us reddit fark
What's this?
Post comment | Terms | Report Abuse
41. Anti-semitism is making a loud comeback
Lee Roy - (12/15/2009 07:13)
40. response to "hallo - USA" (#25) ...
Al - USA (12/15/2009 01:35)
39. anti-semitism reply to Hallo
Marty - USA (12/15/2009 00:56)
38. Anti-Semitism
Marty - USA (12/15/2009 00:36)
37. Response to # 10
Joel T. Levene - Canada (12/15/2009 00:08)
36. let's see...
eliot - (12/14/2009 23:44)
35. Anti-semitism
bannister - USA (12/14/2009 23:41)
34. To Ariel 12. What I said was quite clear. I was being saractic but it washed over a few heads here. I am so proud of Stacey. Hope she gets record deal
Dana - UK (12/14/2009 23:31)
33. Prophecy is Happening Right Before our Eyes
Susan Renee - USA (12/14/2009 22:44)
32. about antisimitism
Marc frija - U.S.A. (12/14/2009 22:35)
31. To City Buddha, #23
Arnold - Canada (12/14/2009 22:30)
30. Let's raise cash to turn the tide. Someone, please, organise it!
Maurice Jones - UK (12/14/2009 21:58)
29. At
Ross - Canada (12/14/2009 21:45)
28. One can not "combat" Jew hatred with multicultaralism, democracy, secularism etc
Meir - (12/14/2009 21:43)
27. #2 Norman is correct: Arab/Moslem propaganda greesed by petrodollars
Vladimir - USA (12/14/2009 21:41)
26. To Ariel, you criticise Dana and UK for its attitudes to minorities, but is this the same ariel who never has a word to defend israeli arabs with?
def leppord - US (12/14/2009 21:35)
25. jews and israel are congenitally/culturally incapable of shouldering any responsibility for negative attitudes about Jews and Israel.
hallo - USA (12/14/2009 21:32)
24. I can't wait...
Yishai - Canada (12/14/2009 21:28)
23. Anti-semitism is making a loud comeback
City Buddha - USA (12/14/2009 21:19)
22. Let's ban Minarets
IRAN#1 - (12/14/2009 21:10)
21. Even though Anti Semitism in the USA is not overt...except in minor vandelism .. we Jews should be more prepared for worse.
Bar K - usa (12/14/2009 21:04)
20. 12 it means what it says.
Simon - UK (12/14/2009 21:03)
19. #4. Dana - Stacy Solomon
Jake Kastner - USA (12/14/2009 20:53)
18. As long as Israel projects weakness and not strength Anti-senites keep on coming
Al - (12/14/2009 20:50)
17. Jews out there. don't talk . come home. whatever is in need of fixing in Israel come help fix it . it is YOUR HOME
I C TRULY - ISRAEL (12/14/2009 20:49)
16. As a jew who went through a non-jewish public school system in one of the most antisemitic places in the world
Out Caste - South Africa (12/14/2009 20:46)
15. I note the words "Muslim" and "Islam" didn't appear in this article.
Raymond in DC - USA (12/14/2009 20:45)
14. Israel Jews Dismantling Settlements & Left-Wing Jews Here & Abroad
Gad - Israel (12/14/2009 20:41)
13. # 9 "The (US) media may be treading softly due to the threat of AIPAC et al.
The other Bob - USA (12/14/2009 20:38)
12. to Dana: do you hear what you say?
Ariel - Israel (12/14/2009 20:36)
More...
eTeacher
Nefesh B'eNefesh
Kadish
JPost.com
KKL Picture of the week
Got a Question?
Have a question about something in this story? Ask it here and get answers from other users like you.

Web  JPost.com  
 
 
 
© 1995 - 2009 The Jerusalem Post. All rights reserved.    About Us | Media Kit | Exclusive Content | Advertise with Us | Subscribe | Contact Us | RSS
The online edition of The Jerusalem Post – JPost.com – provides first class news and analysis about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Whether news about Iran, Gaza, Syria, Fatah, Hamas or Hezbollah, JPost.com covers the burning issues of the Middle East and the Israeli-Arab conflict.