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David Harris Oped featured in
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Dear John,
To view the totality of antisemitism in our contemporary world,
American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris writes in The Times
of Israel, requires two things - adopting a nonpartisan approach
and using trifocal lenses. Only then can the full scope of the
challenges be identified and confronted. Please read on.
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Best wishes,
Kenneth Bandler
AJC Director of Media Relations
Combating Antisemitism: We Need Swivel-Headed Jews
The Times of Israel
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By David Harris
February 3, 2021
For the last two decades, American Jewish Committee (AJC) has been
blowing the whistle on the rising tide of antisemitism worldwide.
When asked the source, our answer has always been the same, depending
on the specific circumstances: Look in one of three basic directions
far left, far right, and jihadists. Too many in our hyper-partisan
world, however, would prefer to shy away from this trifocal analysis.
For them, it doesn't necessarily sit well politically, the facts
be damned.
But, true to AJC's mission, we don't have a particular ax
to grind or, if you will, a "preferred" enemy to confront.
We're a Jewish front-line, nonpartisan agency that doesn't
get to pick and choose our threats because they might suit a partisan
outlook.
Whether it's the march in Charlottesville and the chants of
"Blood and soil" and "Jews will not replace
us," or the 11 victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life
Synagogue in Pittsburgh, or the fatality at the synagogue in Poway, or
the "Camp Auschwitz" neo-Nazis at the Capitol on January
6th, or, most recently, the crazed Republican Congresswoman Marjorie
Taylor Greene, who's an embarrassment to her party and the
nation, or the dark web that supports the radical right, we know the
threat from the far right is real, deadly, and urgent.
And as dangerous as it is here in America, in recent years the far
right has also flexed its muscles, particularly in some strongholds in
Western and Eastern Europe (and created international networks with
likeminded individuals and groups). Think groups and parties like AFD
in Germany, Jobbik in Hungary, National Rally in France, Nordic
Resistance in Scandinavia, Golden Dawn in Greece, etc. In some cases,
they have even vied for (and won) seats in regional and national
parliaments.
Grave as these challenges are, the dangers for Jews, alas, don't
end here. Nor, therefore, can our concern and focus.
For one thing, the far left also poses daunting challenges, especially
in the academic, cultural, and intellectual spheres, not to mention
the political world, including now in the U.S. Congress.
Many in this arena seem to have a problem with one country on earth
(and its supporters) and it just happens to be the only
Jewish-majority nation around, with a Jewish population of nearly
seven million people.
No other nation awakens the far left's misguided passion in the
way that Israel does. Only democratic Israel is constantly in their
crosshairs. They celebrate self-determination for the Palestinians,
but would deny Jews the right to live and defend themselves in their
own ancestral homeland.
Is this obsessive, relentless attempt to challenge the Jewish
people's national aspirations not a dangerous form of
antisemitism? Of course it is, and has been acknowledged as such by
the UN Secretary-General, French President, and other astute leaders.
And when was the last time, for example, that anyone saw a protest by
these self-professed human rights campaigners of the far left about
mass murder in Syria; the Venezuelan government's wholesale
destruction of a country; North Korean concentration camps; or
Iran's serial violations of the rights of women, gays, and
religious minorities?
Their blatant selectivity speaks volumes, even as they shout that to
ask such questions is only an attempted distraction -
"whataboutism" - when it's actually an
exposure of their hypocrisy.
But bifocal lenses aren't sufficient, either. Trifocals are
needed.
Consider: Every fatal attack against Jews in Europe in recent years,
except for Halle, Germany, has been carried out by Islamist
extremists.
From the kosher supermarket in Paris to a Jewish school in Toulouse,
from the Jewish Museum in Brussels to the synagogue in Copenhagen,
from the murders of Ilan Halimi and Sarah Halimi in Paris to the
Israelis (and Bulgarian) killed in Burgas, they were all perpetrated
by jihadists.
Add to that the genocidal ambitions of Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas,
incendiary Salafist teachings in some madrassas around the world, and
the ubiquitous antisemitism in segments of the Arab media.
By all means, we must shout from the rooftops our utter revulsion when
Congresswoman Greene spouts her wacko theories, is assigned a seat on
the House Education Committee, enjoys inexplicable support in her
district, and is reportedly attracting significant financial support.
Jewish dismay also needs to be manifested when members of Congress,
from the other end of the spectrum and a different party, level toxic
dual-loyalty charges against Americans who support the U.S.-Israel
relationship, suggest that Israel is guilty of, yes, blood libels, and
support groups calling for Israel's disappearance. And add the
small handful of fellow legislators who support them, as well as those
in Congress who endorsed their re-election last year and even,
shockingly, contributed to their campaigns.
In other words, those who genuinely care about antisemitism must open
their eyes wide and be swivel-headed and not allow partisan political
thinking to narrow the field of vision and sense of outrage.
David Harris is the CEO of American Jewish Committee (AJC). Please
join 79,300 others and follow him on Twitter @DavidHarrisAJC.
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