I feel a lot of anger about anti-Semitism, but it did not start this way at all…

When I was a student at the University of Washington in the mid fifties I looked for a room in the university district and answered an ad. After talking for a few moments, the landlord asked me if I was Jewish. I said yes. She answered: "I do not rent rooms to Jews."
I started to laugh heartily and told her: “Thank you, thank you. I heard about this kind of thing but I did not believe it. Now I know.” And I had a big smile on my face.
She stood there with an open mouth. But it was fun and a big joke for me. You see, I was born and raised in Israel and never felt discrimination. I am proud of my faith and consider it outstanding. It certainly was her problem, not mine.

This anti-Semitism was not limited then to just ordinary people. Even the wife of a Washington State Senator had her own way of looking at Jews. When we talked about Israel at a formal gathering with foreign students in the capital Olympia, she asked me: "Are you a Jew?" I said, yes, she said: "You do not look like a Jew."
I decided not to answer her.

Many of my Jewish friends here had considerably worse experiences, they were beaten because they were Jews. That was the experience of many Jewish kids on their way to school in different American cities even as late as the mid sixties. And my friends carried their frustration and humiliation with them to this day.

I have to say this because it has been for long on my mind: US Jews of WWII should have been ashamed about their conduct regarding the Nazi Holocaust.
American Jews kept quiet about the Nazi’s murders of Jews; may be because the long anti-Semitism in the US then. The Jews here did nothing of value to help their own relatives that they left in Europe not a long time earlier. Yes, many American Jews felt strangers in the US and were fearful for their own low status, but this does not justify their inaction.

I was a youngster in Israel then. We, half a million Israelis were under British occupation and did not have almost any options. The British were determined to stop any Jewish immigration before, during, and after WWII. But despite that the undergrounds brought in thousands of “illegal” refugees.
Separately, although related, the US under FDR was anti-Semitic; not only it did not allow Jews to come here to escape Nazism, but also pressured other countries to reject any Jews. I believe it was one of the ugliest periods in US history. I saw Eli Wiesel deep pain about FDR and Churchill lack of any action to protest the murder of Jews from its inception, and “wonder” why they did not bomb the rail lines and concentration camps to slow down the Holocaust. He told us that he asked Generals from the US and Russia- but none gave him a meaningful answer.

But I want to talk more about the recent period.

I never felt discriminated against in the US; not on the job, not in my private life. So, I ignored this issue and thought it had disappeared in the US and in much of the world. The Arabs had taken up the baton of Jew-haters with vengeance, and, again, no country called them on that. But anti- Semitism did not die in Europe. It just took a different form: hate towards Israel – the Jewish state.
Look how many times the headlines say: “the Jewish state”. How many times they call Italy “the Catholic state”?

As we all know, the millennia-old discrimination- often hatred- against Jews was subdued around the world after the Holocaust and this seemed briefly to have changed to public and official admiration to the emerging state of Israel .
After the euphoria of the six days war, the admiration for a weak Jewish state slowly changed. But after Israel won the hard struggle of the 1973 war, things changed for the worse. The world was willing to accept the weak Jews, but not a strong Israel. Now Europe, and others were open in their dislike of Israel . Some said it is not politically correct to hate Jews so the hate is disguised as hatred against Israel. Whatever is the excuse, I started to realize that the old, ingrained deep Christian anti- Semitism never died down.

We do not want to look into this but it is imbedded in the teaching of Christianity. Some fifteen years ago I watched a two hour PBS documentary about the potential for another Jewish Holocaust. Christian clerics of different denominations discussed in great details their great concerned about a repeat occurrence. They pointed to portions of the New Testament that contained the negative teachings and what their experience tells them. They were all highly concerned that the root cause of hatred was in some of these teachings, and that it was still preached to many Christians around the world. Obviously it varies across the denominations and across the ministers and priests involved. But they believed that unless efforts are made by the leaders of Christianity to erase sections in the New Testament, or advocate against the negative teaching of hatred to Jews, we are likely to experience another Holocaust.

The strange attitude against Jews continues even in the US. A few years ago I gave a seminar about Judaism in a church. Afterwards I heard two women saying: “You know, they are not so different from us.”
The burning of three synagogues ten years ago in my city, Sacramento, and the vandalism of two synagogues by Nazi markings recently are ugly reminders. However, they are more likely to be done by loners, and I hope do not represent core hatred.

The outpouring of hatred on Israel emanating from most European countries, both by institutions and governments, are clear indications of anti-Semitism at its worst- deep, inherent, unashamed. The right of existence of no other county is so contested, so much under attack. Many UN organizations exclude Israel. Boycotts against Israeli products are initiated in many European countries.

While Israel cautiously defends its citizens against pre meditated murderers who use civilians as shields, Israel is singled out as the aggressor by both European and US media. While at the same time, the murder of hundred of thousands of Africans by Arab government of Sudan, to mention just one example, is rarely in the media. Just look at any American newspaper how they represent Israel vs. how they represent the intentional murderers of Israelis. Or for that matter how Israel is almost always singled out as the villain against Arab “militants” – obviously terrorists.

I thought that after the continuous murders of Muslims by Muslims in Iraq , the West would finally understand the murderous mentality of extreme Muslims, but I did not hear any outrage against this inhumanity even from Muslim countries. While hundreds have been murdered every month in Iraq by their “brothers,” little protest is expressed in the Western media, while if a terrorist is killed by Israel, Israel is castigating on the front-page.

These are but a few of the examples we can see all around us. Many are worse. But I hope you are aware of this trend of hate against Israel .


It is difficult for me to express my anger against the anti-Israeli, anti-Semitism that is so prevalent around the world.
I am deeply angry that for thousands of years we, Jews, have been discriminated, humiliated, expelled, and murdered just because we are Jews. And with no end in sight. I am so angry, I can’t express it in acceptable words to be seen in public.
Enough is enough. We should not, as a minimum, be quiet about it and should express our individual and collective outrage to those who may be able to change.

Now, in a quiet moment I know that anti-Semitism will stay with us for a long time. That is the reality and time to accept it. By accepting that anti-Semitism is here, and will continue, we may be less outraged and more likely to plan our response to it effectively rather than being surprised and frustrated. May be when we grasp that Israel will continue to be hated and vilified, we can spend our energy finding ways to smartly act against it.

Again, we can not do anything about these negative feelings against us, but we may find ways to reduce their occurrences and impacts.

Now, after I expressed my frustration I need to remember:
BY MAKING US ANGRY AND SURPRISED, THE ANTI-SEMITES ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL OF INTIMIDATING US AND DISTURBING OUR LIVES.
WHY HELP THEM?