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The NEW Anti-Semitism
...an End Time Factor?
The new anti-Semitism
By Clifford D. May
In the early 1940s, genocidal anti-Semitism expressed itself in the
Holocaust: 6 million Jews rounded up and exterminated.
In 1948, genocidal anti-Semitism took the form of five Arab armies
attempting to drive Israeli Jews into the sea.
In 1967, a second conventional war was led by Egypt, Jordan, Syria and
Iraq. The "Voice of the Arabs" radio station declared the goal:
"extermination" of Israel. Ahmed Shuqayri, the first leader of the
Palestine Liberation Organization, added: "We shall destroy Israel and
its inhabitants."
Since the collapse of the Camp David talks in 2000 — when Yasser Arafat
turned down an independent Palestinian state on 93 percent of the West
Bank and Gaza — radical anti-Semitism has taken the form of suicide
bombings in Israel's streets, shops and restaurants.
Former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Abu Mazen said this month
many of those responsible believed "after the killing of 1,000 Israelis
in the Intifada, Israel would collapse." Well, about 1,000 Israelis have
been slaughtered, but Israel has not collapsed. Instead, the Israelis
are demonstrating terrorism can be defeated.
So genocidal anti-Semitism is taking another form. This week, the New
York Times gave Michael Tarazi, an American lawyer who advises the
Palestine Liberation Organization, space on its Op-Ed Page to make this
audacious argument: Having failed to eradicate Israel with tanks and
terrorism, Palestinian leaders are now "being forced to consider a
one-state solution."
Yes, "forced" to consider demanding a "right" to flood Israel with
people who hate Israelis, people loyal to such terrorist organization
such as Hamas, and who want to replace Israel with a radical Islamist
state.
And if Israelis refuse to willingly become a despised minority in their
own country, ruled by people who have waged genocidal campaigns against
them, that will demonstrate, Mr. Tarazi declares, "Christians and
Muslims, the millions of Palestinians under occupation are not welcome
in the Jewish state." "Not welcome." Imagine that. The nerve. The
chutzpah.
As Mr. Tarazi well knows but neglects to mention, there is only one
Jewish state on the planet. It's about the size of New Jersey. By
contrast, there are 22 Arab nations and more than 50 predominantly
Muslim countries, covering an area larger than the United States and
Europe combined.
In these lands, Jews are, to varying degrees, conspicuously unwelcome.
In Jordan, a relatively liberal country that has diplomatic relations
with Israel, Jews are denied citizenship. In Saudi Arabia, no synagogue
or church may be built.
Mr. Tarazi forgets to note, too, that half of Israel's Jews have their
roots in such places as Egypt, Yemen, Iraq and Iran — but that after
intense persecution they fled what had been their families' homes for
centuries. Similarly, Christians have fled Syrian-controlled Lebanon and
from Bethlehem and Nazareth since those cities came under Yasser
Arafat's control.
Nor does Mr. Tarazi appear to recall that almost 15 percent of Israel's
citizens are Muslims. They enjoy more rights and freedoms than Muslims
elsewhere in the Middle East — including the right to free speech, to
vote and to worship as they choose. You do not see graffiti on mosques
in Israel.
Israeli Arabs have been elected to Israel's parliament and serve on its
supreme court. The CNN cameraman recently taken hostage in Gaza is an
Israeli citizen. That was not mentioned in much of the coverage because
it was thought that those who took him captive might not know, and it
would go better for him if they didn't. Israeli Muslim Bedouins and
Druze even serve in Israel's armed forces — and many have given their
lives to defend their country.
But Mr. Tarazi believes he can convince "the international community"
that if Israelis are unwilling to open their doors to millions of people
who have been indoctrinated to believe butchering Jews is a form of
"martyrdom," it is the Israelis who are the bigots and oppressors.
If I'm wrong about this, there's a simple way for Mr. Tarazi to prove
it. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged to remove all Jewish
settlements from Gaza. Mr. Tarazi should tell him not to bother. Mr.
Tarazi should advise the Palestinian Authority to "welcome" the Jews
living in the Gaza — and the West Bank, as well.
If and when a Palestinian state is created, those Jews would comprise
only a small percentage of the population — much smaller than Muslims in
Israel. This way, Mr. Tarazi could show he sincerely wants to see "all
faiths and ethnicities live together as equals."
But Mr. Tarazi is not sincere. He wants Gaza and the West Bank judenrein.
And eventually he wants what is now Israel to become "jew-free" as well
— by whatever means. He really isn't choosy.
In 2004, this is the form genocidal anti-Semitism takes. In the long
run, anti-Semites seek a world free of Jews. In the short run, a world
free of a Jewish state will do.
If they can disguise such extremism as a fight against bigotry, a
"struggle for equal citizenship" and against "apartheid," and if they
can push such boldly Orwellian propaganda on the pages of the New York
Times, they would be crazy not to.
But people such as Mr. Tarazi are not crazy. They know exactly what they
are doing. They just hope people like you won't be able to figure it out
until it's too late.
Clifford D. May, a former New York Times foreign correspondent, is
president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, an institute
focused on terrorism. This article was distributed by Scripps Howard
News Service.
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