What is antisemitism and how do you spot it today?
Here’s what it means to be antisemitic and how to identify it.
Raging antisemitism in Europe this month has been whitewashed with ridiculous labels like “hooliganism” or “violence tied to a soccer game.”
Let’s put an end to the gaslighting.
This antisemitic violence is what “globalize the intifada” − a call for worldwide violence against Jews and Israelis − looks like, and it’s spreading like wildfire across Europe.
In Amsterdam, Israeli fans and Jewish people recently were hunted down and attacked after a soccer match between a Dutch club and an Israeli team.
Jews on the streets of Amsterdam were attacked and forced to hide from an antisemitic mob. Many of the attackers even recorded their acts, just like the Hamas terrorists did on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jews attacked in modern pogrom
The irony is not lost on me that this attack on Israelis and Jews, a modern-day pogrom, was premeditated and coordinated on the eve of the Kristallnacht anniversary, when members of the Nazi Party and their supporters destroyed close to 8,000 Jewish-owned businesses and homes in 1938.
Just hours after the recent attack, I traveled to Amsterdam. I wanted to hear directly from the Jewish community and political leaders − and what I heard was nothing short of an emergency.
Dutch Jewish leaders voiced deep concerns about the ability to live openly and freely as Jews in the Netherlands, questioning aloud: “Is it time to close up shop?”
I also met with Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Justice Minister David van Weel, who were all committed to combatting antisemitism and holding the attackers responsible.
Now that these reassuring statements have been made, they need to be followed by immediate, concrete actions.
As I landed in Berlin, the next stop on my European tour, I learned of an eerily similar attack − this time targeting young Jewish athletes on a soccer field. Players from TuS Makkabi were bombarded with antisemitic slurs during the game. Spectators grew increasingly hostile and the young Jewish athletes were eventually chased by a violent mob, knives in hand. They were traumatized, and it was a miracle they escaped unharmed.
Youth planned to hunt Jewish people in Belgium
Reports of the next attack lit up my screen before arriving in Belgium. Antwerp police noticed on social media that local youth were organizing a “jodenjacht” (or Jew hunt) in the city. Jews were at risk of being hunted, for the second time in several days, on the streets of Europe, as riots flared up again in Amsterdam.
While I applaud the Belgian police’s efficiency in this instance, we must contrast it with the situation earlier this year. An Israeli soccer team was scheduled to play against the Belgian national team, but the Belgian soccer federation couldn’t guarantee the security of the Israeli team or their fans. They opted to cancel the game rather than find the courage to press forward.
This failure of leadership allowed the bullies to win, capitulating to threats instead of confronting them. We can’t abandon the field to antisemites.
President Emmanuel Macron of France appears to agree. Despite the calls of critics, in an unmistakable act of solidarity, he attended the recent Israeli-French soccer match last week. In recognition of his political courage, I changed my travel plans to attend as well.
What I saw, heard and felt in Europe has been nothing short of appalling, and it should serve as an alarm bell for everyone in the United States – we’re next. This kind of terror easily could easily spread and appear on our shores.
As some ask themselves how this happened, it’s clear to me. Anti-Zionist calls for Israel’s eradication have not only paved the way for antisemitism but also provide a rationale for it.
That is because Zionism – supporting Israel’s right to exist – is indivisible from Jewish identity. And so, slandering the Jewish state as illegitimate or evil easily extends to the notion that all Jews, by association, are illegitimate and evil.
As populations across Europe are increasingly radicalized by anti-Zionist propaganda flooding their news and social media feeds through platforms like Al Jazeera or TikTok, we shouldn’t be surprised when violent imagery explodes into real violence.
In the United States, it began with campus protests. Then it extended to faux wanted posters and red triangles defacing synagogues and homes. Now, months later, what remains are the core organizations that openly embrace the hate-filled, violent ideologies of Hamas, the Iranian regime and Hezbollah.
As history has shown us time and time again, antisemitism starts with the Jews – but never ends with the Jews. It is a virus that eventually will sicken entire societies. It will destroy everything in its path.
Amsterdam was a warning. America will be next. For all our sakes, it is time for leaders to act before it’s too late.
Jonathan Greenblatt is the CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
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Publish date : 2024-11-19 02:12:00
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