By Allen Hertz. This is the final report in a three part exploration of Antisemitism, its root and cause. We at Israel Seen want to thank Mr. Hertz for being so gracious in giving us the opportunity to share his scholarship with our readers.
Introduction
This letter builds on my two 2009 Jerusalem Post articles which also appear on this website. The first newspaper piece entitled “When Does Criticizing Israel Become Anti-Semitic?” used contemporary human-rights methodologies to explore the modern meaning of anti-Semitism. The second article entitled “Aboriginal Rights of the Jewish People” interpreted Jewish history in the light of the modern political and legal doctrines of aboriginal rights and the self-determination of Peoples. As previously, emphasis here is on the key principle of non-discrimination which is fundamental to human-rights methodologies and bedrock for understanding how to properly address matters pertaining to Jews, Judaism, the Jewish People and Israel.
The Jews partly to blame in the 1930’s?
My question to you about what you thought back in the 1930’s assumed that you then already knew that the Jews were having a hard time in Europe. I asked you what you then thought about that sad news, because I wanted to know whether at that time you ever imagined that the Jews were perhaps partly to blame for the harsh treatment that they were getting from the Nazis. The reason I inquired was to make a telling point about the insidious and persistent nature of anti-Semitism.
Always a reason for targeting the Jews?
In the minds of Jew-haters, there is always a plausible rationale for abusing the Jews. Back in the 1930’s and 1940’s the rationale was what Germany’s leader Adolf Hitler regularly expressed in his mad ravings. Today, the rationale is in the anti-Israel rants of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But you must know that Muslims and Arabs have generally been despising and oppressing Jews for the last 1400 years. In fact, part of the proof of the continuous Jewish presence in the Holy Land has been the sad chronicle (since the 7th century CE Arab arrival) of periodic Muslim and Arab persecution of the aboriginal Jewish community there.
Anti-Semitism an illness?
Also tainting the minds of some Jews, anti-Semitism is simultaneously a toxic ideology and a mental disorder. Anti-Semites are emotionally predisposed to believe bad things about Jews, Judaism, the Jewish People and Israel. Anti-Semites are emotionally unable to discipline themselves to regularly apply to Jews, the Jewish People and Israel the identical standards regularly applied to other Peoples and countries in the same or similar circumstances. This persistent discrimination is nourished by stubborn cognitive dissonance regarding Jewish history and peoplehood. The circumstance that the Jewish People has been under history’s spotlight for more than two millennia does not deter anti-Semites from ambivalence or rejection with respect to key issues such as the Jewish People’s existence as a People like other Peoples; its political right to self-determination; and its aboriginal right to a part of its historic homeland where, in greater or lesser numbers, Jews have lived continuously in each and every year since antiquity.
Some Jews anti-Semitic?
Recent days again prove that there are some outspoken Jews whose minds have fallen prey to anti-Semitism. And how could it be otherwise? The larger Western and Muslim societies have for centuries been warped by an enduring discrimination against Judaism, Jews and the Jewish People that is one of the ideological foundation stones of both civilizations. Therefore I can understand why some Jews are themselves uncomfortable and discriminatory with regard to Jewish topics, including matters touching Israel. Whether consciously or not, their thinking is biased by the anti-Semitism that is almost everywhere around them. And, there have always been some Jews who seek substantial personal gain by ostentatiously attacking Judaism, Jews, the Jewish People and Israel.
Can Jews escape by betraying their own People?
Some highly-placed French Jews of the 1930’s and 1940’s scorned their pitiful Jewish cousins from Eastern Europe. In fact, there were some elite French Jews who shared many of the anti-Semitic feelings of their Christian neighbours. But, that demonstration of Jewish solidarity with Christian prejudice did not save those snobbish French Jews from the Nazi gas chambers, as was discovered by a long-time Jewish friend of the Vichy French leader Marshall Philippe Petain.
Primed to believe bad things about Israel?
Like many non-Jews, some Jews in Europe and North America are today strangely expert on the topic of “the many crimes” of Israel. But truth be told, Israel is a country like any number of other countries, though one now in a particularly tight situation. This recalls to mind the 1990’s when Canada was in peril. Then, the international press had already given up on Canada which “smart talk” predicted would collapse in the face of Quebec separatism. What nonsense that turned out to be! But such faulty assessments occur when the media relentlessly push a skewed story line. By contrast, proper journalism requires bare facts in a broad, horizontal context. Sad to say, such a comparative optic is generally absent in reporting about Israel. This in itself is a manifestation of the tsunami of anti-Semitism now washing over Europe and the Middle East, but also with major impacts elsewhere.
Israel linked to the Jewish People?
The close to 6 million Jews living in Israel are now almost half of world Jewry and 75% of that country’s population. Worldwide, most Jews see Israel as “the Jewish State.” This means that Jews generally regard Israel as their aboriginal homeland and the political expression of Jewish self-determination as a People among the world’s Peoples. An approach based on modern human-rights methodologies would therefore understand the topic of Israel as inextricably linked to that of the Jewish People, which for 2000 years has been an historically-victimized entity.
The Jewish People owed protection and reparation?
Questions regarding the Jewish People and Israel deserve the same empathy and sensitivity normally accorded matters touching, e.g., Black Americans and the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada. The latter two populations are also instances of historically-victimized groups, which human-rights methodologies identify as meriting both enhanced protection and significant reparation for deep historical wrongs.
In the same way and to a similar (or greater) extent, superadded protection and reparation are owed to the Jewish People whose centuries-long sufferings have certainly been no less than that of Black Americans and the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada. Modern human-rights methodologies can therefore offer some criteria as starting points for crafting fair assessments of Israel.
What do human-rights methodologies suggest?
1. Caution should be exercised with regard to loose talk about Israel which is the aboriginal home of the Jewish People, for 2000 years a pre-eminent example of an historically-victimized population.
2. Anti-Israel words and deeds are prima facie suspect with reference to the well-known chronic tendency to discriminate against Jews, which has been historically epidemic in Western and Islamic countries.
3. No other People has suffered more deeply than the Jewish People and no other People has greater entitlement to protection from the hate speech and evil-doing of racists, bigots and ideologues.
4. Accusations against Israel require reasoned substantiation that must regularly apply to Israel standards identical to those normally applied to other countries in the same or similar circumstances.
5. It is anti-Semitic to persistently target Israel and to persistently apply to Israel a more exigent standard than regularly applied to other countries in the same or similar circumstances.
How do anti-Semites act toward Jews and Israel?
Anti-Semites (including some Jews) invert each one of the foregoing propositions. First, they are notoriously incautious with regard to their wild talk about Israel which they savagely attack on every possible occasion. Second, anti-Semites are emotionally disposed to credit the most outrageous anti-Israel accusations. Third, anti-Semites regularly accord Jews, the Jewish People and Israel less protection than normally afforded other Peoples and countries. Fourth, anti-Semites consistently fail to regularly apply to Jews, the Jewish People and Israel, the identical standards regularly applied to other Peoples and countries in the same or similar circumstances. And these are not trivial sins!
Propaganda war against Israel?
No small country could easily survive the weight of such comprehensive and persistent discrimination. We in Canada ought to know this when we reflect on the endless lies separatists told about our great constitutional democracy. There was then a propaganda war against Canada, as today there is an even more dangerous campaign of discriminatory misinformation aimed at harming Israel and the Jewish People. If unchecked, this persistent discrimination could significantly contribute to the likelihood of Israel’s defeat, probably resulting in the death or flight of the close to 6 million Jews there.
Will Israel’s 6 million Jews be killed?
Whether by Jews or non-Jews, such persistent discrimination is reprehensible beyond description! Dare we forget the Holocaust of the 1940’s? And in centuries past, there were also many other large-scale attacks on Jews, whether by Christians in Europe or by Muslims in the Islamic lands.
Historically, anti-Semitism has shown itself to be an “action item.” This means that expressions of hatred for Judaism and the Jewish People have in the past paved the way for persecution, including the widespread killing of Jews. So, we can readily understand that persistently discriminating against Israel could similarly lead to the killing of the Jews there, by one or more of conventional, chemical, bacteriological and nuclear weapons.
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad often expresses hatred
for the Jewish People and Israel.
Is his hate speech prelude to killing the 6 million Jews there?
Allen Z. Hertz was senior advisor in Canada’s Privy Council Office serving the Prime Minister and the federal cabinet. Earlier he was in the Foreign Affairs Department where he advised on intellectual property rights. He participated in treaty negotiations, including for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and represented Canada at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He wrote the 1987 federal Green Paper on “Semiconductor Chip Protection in Canada” and was founding editor of “Computer Law: A Report for Business and the Professions.” He taught history and law at universities in New York, Montreal, Toronto and Hong Kong. As an undergraduate he was at McGill University, and then did graduate work at Columbia University where he received an M.A. and a Ph.D., in history. Dr. Hertz also has international law degrees from Cambridge University and the University of Toronto.
