They have to be taught
The murderous attack on Israel ripped away what remained of a thin veneer that covered up growing antisemitism in America and some of the rest of the world. Until now it has only periodically raised its ugly head. The reaction by pro-Palestinian groups to Israel’s necessary and defensible response to the terrorist attacks from Gaza reveals how this disease has spread.
For years prior to the invasion, there were occasional demonstrations against Jewish and pro-Israel speakers on some college campuses. Now, students and even some college presidents have blamed the killings on Israel for its “occupation” of land that is rightfully and historically theirs. This is like blaming Jews for their own deaths in the Holocaust.
After the attacks by Hamas, swastikas emerged in several U.S. cities. The BBC reported antisemitic incidents “quadrupled in the UK.”
We are constantly warned that words matter, and they do. Words can be used to heal or to incite. The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has compiled a partial list of words used against Jews that have fueled hatred and violence, dating back to medieval times, and now reborn and spread by antisemitic websites.
Two of these include “Dirty filthy Jews” and “dual loyalty,” the latter used by ex-President Trump to suggest that Jews born in America are more loyal to Israel than the U.S.
“From the river to the sea” is another. AJC notes “At a London rally organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Oct. 9, demonstrators in front of the Israeli embassy chanted ‘From the River to the Sea’—a call for Palestinian control over the entirety of Israel’s borders, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
While it is free expression to advocate for Palestinians to have their own state, this chant is an undisguised call for the state of Israel to be eliminated, which is the point of the Hamas charter and the goal of Iran.
Add “Deicide” and “Blood Libel” to the list. AJC cites a protester’s sign in Miami that read “Jesus was Palestinian, and you killed him too!”
“In Los Angeles, protesters hoisted a banner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wearing a Hitler mustache and devouring a Palestinian child. Both tropes voiced in 2021 echo centuries-old methods of maligning Jews.”
Then there are the Holocaust deniers. These include people who say “The Diary of Anne Frank” is fake. Some also claim the Holocaust (if it happened) was a rationale for illegally establishing the modern Jewish state in 1948. Jews have had a presence in the land for nearly 4,000 years. There are also those who say the number of Jews killed during World War II was far less than 6 million.
No wonder Gen. Dwight Eisenhower ordered photographers to capture images at some of the Nazi death camps. He foresaw there would be people who would deny it happened.
Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein wrote a powerful song for the Broadway musical “South Pacific.” Producers wanted to keep it out of the film adaptation, but Hammerstein argued for its inclusion and prevailed. It’s called “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught.” Babies aren’t born haters. Antisemitic books like “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and other literature have been amplified today because of social media and various groups with which troubled minds associate, teaching them to hate Jews (and others).
There is no cure for antisemitism, but universal denunciation by all people of good will might help push it back in the closet, or under the Earth where it belongs. It also might help if some pro-Palestinian students were forced to listen to a Holocaust survivor and the true history of Judaism and Israel.