|
WRITE YOUR PROTESTING LETTER TO THE ISRAELI MEDIA - Whenever You
Locate
Israeli Anti-Semitism!
The Jerusalem Post, April 21, 2005
Global Anti-Semitism Goes Local?
By Michael Freund
The global rise in anti-Semitism over the past several years has left few
parts of the world unscathed. From Western Europe to the Arab countries,
Jews have become the targets of renewed vitriol and fury, leading various
Jewish organizations to intensify their efforts to monitor and track this
growing and worrisome trend.
But for all the attention being paid to international outbursts of
anti-Semitism, there is one place in the world where this phenomenon has
largely gone overlooked: right here in the State of Israel, under our very
own (Jewish) noses.
That's correct . there is anti-Semitism here in Israel, too, and plenty of
it. If you find this hard to believe, then just take a look at some of
what appears in the local press and decide for yourself. Take, for
example, an article that ran this past Sunday in Haaretz. Zvi Barel, one
of the paper's correspondents, wrote a piece entitled "To find shades of
the old Harlem, or a Jewish Sadr City, look to Hebron." His main
point: to compare the Jews living in Hebron's Avraham Avinu neighborhood
with Iraqi Shi'ites in Baghdad who carry out terrorist attacks against US
troops in the area.
Barel is, of course, entitled to his opinion about the Jews of Hebron, but
to compare them to followers of renegade Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is
simply twisted and hate-filled demagoguery.
Don't find it sick or offensive? Well, then, how about this from Amira
Hass, writing in Haaretz on March 21: "Israel has turned the liquidation
of Europe's Jews into an asset. Our murdered relatives are being enlisted
to enable Israel to continue not giving a damn about international
decisions against the occupation."
The last time I checked, accusing Israel of exploiting the Holocaust for
political gain is considered to be blatant anti-Semitism. Indeed, just
last month, the Anti-Defamation League released a report on anti-Semitism
in the Arab press, noting with dismay that "many newspaper articles
accused Jews of using the Holocaust to justify the persecution of others."
Yet, that is precisely what Hass herself was doing. And if you don't
believe me, just check out the headline of her article: "Using the
Holocaust to ward off criticism."
The anti-Jewish tirades in Israel's media don't end there. In a pre-Pessah
article in Yediot Aharonot recently, one writer mused, "That which the
Egyptians did to us, along with many other nations throughout our long
history, we are now doing to the Palestinians."
That's right: the Jews are cast as Pharaoh and his evil taskmasters,
playing the role of villains who enslave others.
And how about this pearl from Ma'ariv last October: "There is one
principal difference between the ayatollahs in Iran and rabbis in Israel.
There, religious rulings are compulsory; here they are merely a
recommendation. But as the need and the response to such recommendations
increases, so too the differences grow blurred."
The writer, one Moshe Gorali, was criticizing various rabbis for their
opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan.
Apparently, he saw nothing wrong with comparing Israel's sages to the
fanatical rulers in Teheran, the very same ayatollahs who seek Israel's
destruction.
It would be easy to dismiss the rantings of such people as little more
than angry rhetoric, the journalistic equivalent of those who spray
offensive graffiti on the sides of buildings.
But to do so understates just how dangerous such hatred can be. If
Israel's own newspapers are filled with anti-Semitic rhetoric, then how
can we expect anything better from our neighbors? And the fact that the
people who write such horrible things in the Israeli media also happen to
be Jewish should in no way excuse the gravity of what they do. An article
should be judged to be anti-Semitic on the basis of what it says, and not
because of the religious beliefs of the person who wrote it.
It is therefore time for Jewish groups worldwide to consider adding a new
section to their reports on global anti-Semitism, and to start monitoring
some of the odious and hateful language that appears in Israel's own
press.
As news consumers, it is our responsibility to raise our voices in protest
whenever anti-Jewish rhetoric rears its head. We should flood Israeli
newspapers that print anti-Semitic venom with phone calls, letters to the
editor and protests, just as we would any other newspaper around the
world.
Simply because the Israeli media operate in a Jewish country does not
place them above criticism, or excuse their decision to publish what no
one else would dare to say.
In the age of the Internet, when every newspaper has a potentially global
audience, there is no telling just how far anti-Jewish sentiments can
reach. The hatred may start at home, but it won't necessarily end there.
And that is why, now more than ever, we must do our utmost to bring about
an end to the self-loathing and self-hate that is so rampant among us.
______________________________________
WRITE YOUR PROTESTING LETTER TO
THE ISRAELI MEDIA - Whenever You Locate
Israeli Anti-Semitism! |
