Antisemitism is beginning to spread around the world. No, I do not mean merely disagreeing with one or another of Israel’s policies. Many of those disagreements are ideological in nature and need to be debated out in a serious manner between the various parties involved. Sadly, in today’s world, those disagreements are not debated seriously but often shouted out as though the loudness of the argument is equivalent to the accuracy of the argument.
Rather, I am talking about true antisemitism. For instance, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has a definition. “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
The US Department of State fleshes out the definition with the following examples, see https://www.state.gov/defining-anti-semitism/ :
- Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
- Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
- Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
- Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust
- Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
- Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
- Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
- Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
- Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
- Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
Antisemitism is found in many places, however, recently I found an example of antisemitism in a manga. It was a rather gross example, so I hope you will pardon me, but I think it important that you see how bad it has become. The manga below is either a Japanese or a Chinese manga translated into English. However, someone hacked the account on which the main translation was stored and replaced one chapter with the images like the one below. Outside of this chapter, other chapters are simply manga chapters with no antisemitism.
The rest of the manga does not show any signs of antisemitism. The sad part is that someone felt the need to destroy the translation work of someone else. I say destroy because chances are that people will flee from this manga translation. Who wants to keep checking to see whether a hacked translation has been replaced? Worse, many mangas are read by minors. In this case, they have now been exposed to a deadly disease, that of antisemitism.
Attacks against synagogues are increasing around the world and in the USA. Ironically, various of those synagogues do not necessarily support the politics of Israel. The attacks have become bad enough that President Trump has felt the need to soon sign an executive order defining Judaism as a nationality in order to be able to better be able to deter those who cross from political disagreement into true antisemitism.
We need to be clear, both as a nation and as individuals, that we stand against antisemitism. This does not mean that I agree with all the politics of Israel. I do not. I think that Israel needs to repent for many of the policies it has applied to Gaza, the West Bank, the settlements, and Christians within their control. But, Judaism is bigger than Israel, just as Christianity is bigger than Constantinople. (I am Eastern Orthodox.) Antisemitism is every bit as wrong as racism against any other group. It needs to be publicly and clearly opposed, just as we oppose any type of discriminatory behavior.
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