Other items in today’s column include:
*Coronavirus news and features
*Jewish American Heritage Month
*Recommended reading
SAN DIEGO — Rabbi Andrew Baker, an official with both the American Jewish Committee and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), says because of the coronavirus pandemic, there probably will be a drop in anti-Semitic incidents in 2020. However, this is because potential targets, such as synagogues and Jewish schools, have been closed during the pandemic. When re-opened, he said, they may become targets again.
Baker serves as director of international Jewish affairs for the American Jewish Committee and as the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism.
In a webcast interview on Thursday with Zack Silverberg, a Canadian who is a member of the World Jewish Congress’ diplomatic corps, Baker said that so far 30 countries in the 57-nation OSCE have adopted the working definition of Anti-Semitism promulgated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
Th definition states: “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.”
In its amplification of the definition, the IHRA lists seven examples of anti-Semitism related to Israel: These include:
- 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.
Baker said in parts of Western Europe, where there are large concentrations of Islamic immigrants, there is opposition to these tenets. He said that educational programs are needed to persuade people that one can still be critical of Israeli governmental policies without denying Israel’s right to exist.
He added that some polls in Western Europe have shown more than 30 percent of the respondents equate Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with the Nazis’ genocide campaign against the Jews.
Other IHRA examples of anti-Semitism include:
- 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).
In Eastern Europe, Baker said, another manifestation of anti-Semitism became apparent as nations there threw off their Communist pasts, and in some instances, glorified the memories of fascist predecessors who were complicit in the Holocaust. This has led to attacks on Jewish residents of these countries, who in many cases are Holocaust survivors or their children.
The rabbi noted that some right-wing political demonstrations against coronavirus quarantines have included depictions and rhetoric that paint the pandemic and its restrictions on public assembly as a Jewish plot. In a sense, he said, there are similarities between the coronavirus and anti-Semitism in that both are viruses for which there is no known vaccine. One must fight anti-Semitism the same way one fights the coronavirus, both by educating people and instituting protective measures for the community, he said.
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Coronavirus news and features
*Our thanks to Roz Allina for forwarding the video above of a music teacher sharing her amusing lyrics about the coronavirus pandemic.
*Marsha Sutton, writing in the Del Mar Times, says for those of us who have the means to get by, stay-at-home requirements are simply an inconvenience, whereas for others the pandemic is truly a catastrophe.
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Jewish American Heritage Month
*The Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) has chosen movie producer Steven Spielberg as today’s honoree, noting in particular his making of Schindler’s List and his subsequent creation of the Shoah Foundation’s Holocaust archives.
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Recommended reading
*Local Ukrainian official who demanded a list of Orthodox Jews in his city denounced as an anti-Semite, Fox news reports.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com