Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Saturday 9 November 2013

With European Antisemitism Soaring, "We Must Not Allow Antisemites To Define Hate"

It's becoming shriller, the morally bankrupt insistence of the repellent Israel-demonising Left and its cheerleaders of all stripes that their rabid hostility to the State of Israel does not constitute antisemitism.

And with antisemitism significantly on the rise in Europe, as shown in this BBC synopsis of the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency's [FRA's] just released major report (to which it gives the link), it's little wonder that Israeli parliamentarian Dr Shimon Ohayon, who chairs the Knesset's Lobby for the Struggle Against Antisemitism, has been stressing in meetings with representatives of the European Union, including members of the European Parliament and the EU's deputy envoy to Israel, that the EUMC Working Definition of Antisemitism (text here) should be fully implemented by all European agencies.

Observes Ohayon:
A back in Budapest
"Antisemitism in Europe is at its greatest peak since the end of the Second World War and there are now places on the continent where Jews can no longer live and many others where no outward expressions of Jewishness are tolerated.  Europe needs to deal more seriously with this rise in hate which is creating an untenable situation for the Jews of Europe. However, to really fight Antisemitism, the European Union first needs a fundamental definition which law enforcement agencies and judicial bodies can use to prosecute those who target Jews and Jewish institutions.
I call on all relevant European agencies to recognize and legally ratify the Working Definition of Antisemitism as adopted in 2005.
It's back in Germany
The lack of a unified and vigorous definition means that anti-Semites will continue to act with impunity knowing that their actions can not be prosecuted,” MK Ohayon. “We must not allow anti-Semites to define hate. [Emphasis added] Jews need protection before the law and the law needs guidance or it will be rendered useless and irrelevant.
 There are many anti-Semites who have been fighting against the ‘Working Definition’ for many years so they can continue their attacks on Jews and the Jewish State. The European Union needs to tell these people that their racism and hatred will no longer be acceptable and their actions will be punishable before the law."
Ohayon's call has been echoed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.  In a letter to the EU's Foreign Affairs chief, Baroness Ashton, written from Paris on 6 November, the Center's director for international relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, points out:
In the land of L'Affaire Dreyfus
"The BBC Trust, in addressing a complaint, had upheld the definition, in characterizing as anti-Semitic, a broadcaster’s critique of comments on Israel made by a Member of the UK Parliament. The Trust has now, apparently, reversed its ruling following the Definition’s removal, claiming:
‘A press officer at the FRA has explained that this was a discussion paper and was never adopted by the EU as a working definition, although it has been on the FRA website until recently when it was removed during a clear-out of non-official documents. The link to the FRA site provided by the complainant in his appeal no longer works.’
.... [He recalled the] hard work in negotiating the document and the delay in its publication. Nevertheless, its acceptance and dissemination represented an achievement for the EU in the struggle against anti-Semitism. Indeed, its removal is even more disconcerting just as the FRA is about to issue a further study of the worrying rise in anti-Jewish attacks across Europe."
A dark sentiment in Edinburgh
Emphasising how 'especially disturbing it is to read the satisfaction of [the despicable website] “Electronic Intifada” that the Jews seem to have been robbed of an EU defence mechanism [example by Ben White here],' he remarked pertinently:
"One can only speculate the reaction to a similar move related to Islamophobia."
 Adding  his voice to the demand is Dr Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, who, notes the BBC synopsis, states:
A darker one still on a north London pavement
"the fact that a quarter of Jews are not able to express their Jewishness because of fear should be a watershed moment for the continent of Europe and the European Union.
The Jewish reality in Europe is of great concern and the authorities need to deal with incidents of hate and intolerance in a holistic manner, to really combat these manifestations before it is too late.
We would like to see concrete steps being taken, including creating legislation to specifically deal with anti-Semitism and racism, bolstering law enforcement agencies and ensure a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism, even, and perhaps specifically, when opinion-shapers and decision-makers engage in these forms of hate."
When, incidentally, will the BBC, so politically correct in most things, adopt this spelling of antisemitism, one that, favoured by the Vidal Sassoon Centre, has been in use for a number of years, and which expresses the fact that since there's no such force as "semitism" there is no counter to that non-existent force?

Ben White reacts ...
(Regarding the rise of antisemitism as revealed by the FRA, Jonathan Sacerdoti has a well worth reading article  here)

5 comments:

  1. You overlooked the fact that today - November 9 - is the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht Pogrom in Germany.

    It may be history but the poisonous effects of that violent outburst of anti-Semitic savagery organized by the German state against the Jewish people still live with us in the present.

    No - the lessons of November 9 haven't been learned in Europe.

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    Replies
    1. Quite right, Norman. btw, I am looking forward to this book, due out in Feb. next year:
      Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East
      by
      Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz







      Blurb:
      During the 1930s and 1940s, a unique and lasting political alliance was forged among Third Reich leaders, Arab nationalists, and Muslim religious authorities. From this relationship sprang a series of dramatic events that, despite their profound impact on the course of World War II, remained secret until now. In this groundbreaking book, esteemed Middle East scholars Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz uncover for the first time the complete story of this dangerous alliance and explore its continuing impact on Arab politics in the twenty-first century. Rubin and Schwanitz reveal, for example, the full scope of Palestinian leader Amin al-Husaini’s support of Hitler’s genocidal plans against European and Middle Eastern Jews. In addition, they expose the extent of Germany’s long-term promotion of Islamism and jihad. Drawing on unprecedented research in European, American, and Middle East archives, many recently opened and never before written about, the authors offer new insight on the intertwined development of Nazism and Islamism and its impact on the modern Middle East.

      Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center of the Interdisciplinary Center, Israel. He is the author of many books and publishes frequently on Middle East topics. He lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. Middle East historian Wolfgang G. Schwanitz is visiting professor at the Global Research in International Affairs Center of the Interdisciplinary Center, Israel, and an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum of Pennsylvania. He lives in New Jersey.

      Delete
  2. Anyone can see Europe is past the tipping point. And if we take an historical view, we will conclude that the only period which stands out, the only period which is abnormal is the brief period from say 1947-67 where Europe wasn't rabidly genocidally antisemitic. Jew hating and Jew killing is the norm in Europe, it always has been and frankly, just like the Arab states will even escalate AFTER all the Jews in Europe are gone. With ~ a million Jews left in Europe you have to accept that at most only half of them would ever leave. When they do, the half million remaining will persist for a generation and then wink out. Jack Straw and Ashton and all the rest can sing a little song and dance a little dance. But the truly odd thing, at least the thing the Straws and Ashton's will never anticipate is that in a very real way the Jews of Europe are a kind of firebreak. Once they're gone, the final collapse into a Medieval Islamic caliphate will be in a wink. Once it becomes not only acceptable for Europe to ethnically cleanse itself of the Jews, once it's encouraged by those states, the rest as they, is just commentary.

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    Replies
    1. There was some heightened antisemitism in Britain around the time of the hanging of the two sergeants, of course - a monstrous act - and in Europe there was a very strange and inexplicable outbreak of antisemitism in 1960 which went as suddenly as it came, and which as far as I know has never been explained.

      Delete
  3. Ben White's new post unwittingly reinforces the Knesset member's comment as quoted in my header -
    http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ben-white/pro-israel-groups-keen-revive-discredited-anti-semitism-definition

    ReplyDelete

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