Letter: New anti-Semitism

Today, historian Omer Bartov will speak on the “new anti-Semitism.” Bartov has referred to the new anti-Semitism as “genocidal.” But it is quite simply a construct of Zionist propaganda.

As scholar Norman Finkelstein argues, new anti-Semitism can be categorized in three ways. First, incidents are fabricated, especially on college campuses. Second, criticism of Israel is classified as anti-Semitism. Before the invasion of Iraq, the Palestinian rights movement’s involvement in protests was deemed anti-Semitic. Finally, anti-Semitic incidents in Europe result from what Finkelstein calls the “spillover” effect. Because people are constantly told Israel represents all Jews, these incidents increased markedly during Israel’s invasion of Palestinian cities in the spring of 2002.

Zionist polemicists have a vested interest in arguing that these incidents are most often perpetrated by Muslims, but are not a response to Israel’s behavior.

Claims of a “new anti-Semitism” themselves constitute a racist neoconservative discourse in Jewish political culture. Propagandists such as Abraham Foxman and Alan Dershowitz have written shabby books meant to provoke hysteria among Jews by arguing that the “eternal hatred” of European Christians has been adopted by Muslims. At their worst, these charges go beyond vulgarity, with Dershowitz’s assertion that “Arab and Palestinian leaders bore significant responsibility for the Holocaust.”

Zionist discourse is the only accepted form of racism on college campuses and in liberal society at this time. Locally, the student group Illinipac has promoted such racism by sponsoring speakers such as Daniel Pipes and Yaron Brook, who openly vilify Muslims. The “new anti-Semitism” is a smokescreen for this destructive hatred.

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David Green

University employee