Smoking Out The Real Jew-Haters

by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield
Special to the Jewish Week

A recent article by British MP Denis MacShane in The Times of London argues that the economic depression worldwide is leading to a rise in anti-Semitism, and as evidence for his claim, he cites the growing number of violent and hateful acts against Jews across Europe.

MP MacShane is right that all decent people should not only be worried but should be taking action to stop this ugly trend. But he errs in his quickly made comparison between the conditions of Jews in the 21st century to those in any previous moment in history. And his erroneous comparison may actually retard efforts to combat the very serious problem he raises.

The real challenge is to distinguish between then and now so that we can appropriately

smoke out those who are the problem and combat them effectively. That will require more discipline than any party affected by this growing problem seems willing to demonstrate.

Those most urgently and properly attuned to rising Jew-hatred in Europe must acknowledge that "then" is not now. The Jewish people today possess greater freedom, power, and security than at any time in our history. To forget or deny that fact denigrates the enormous success represented by the existence of the State of Israel and the conditions under which we live in most of the world. While it's not always great, and America is genuinely better than any other country on this front, Europe today is a lot safer for Jews than it was for Jews 50 or 150 years ago.

Failing to acknowledge our relative strength and power makes it all the easier for critics to brand us as insensitive and unwilling to play any role other than that of the world's eternal victim. To the extent that they are correct, we diminish our own moral authority to call out genuine anti-Semites as the victimizers and haters they are. And, like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, by calling all critics "haters," we reduce an important category to an empty complaint. For example, as even MP MacShane points out, "Criticism of Israel is not (necessarily) anti-Semitic."

But phrases like "kill the Jews," "it was a good idea to use gas," and "don't buy from Jews," certainly are. No amount of anti-Israel sentiment, no matter how justified it may be in the minds of those who hold it, explains away language from Nazi Germany or medieval Europe. If it sounds like a Nazi or like a 14th century crusader, then it's appropriate to be concerned. And anyone who isn't concerned actually abets the problem. That, combined with the fact that a huge percentage of the rising attacks on Jews in Europe are traceable to Islamist organizations, is the real problem. And that is what critics of Israel need to address.

While not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, a great deal of anti-Semitism passes itself off as critique of Israel. And for anyone, Jewish or not, in Europe or anywhere else in the world, not to fight that trend is a terrible mistake. Not for the sake of Jews, but for the sake of humanity. This is not a Jewish thing, it's a human thing. When racial and ethnic hatred can take cover behind political critique, no people is safe.

Now is the time to act, but we must do so in light of the real strengths and weaknesses found on both sides of this debate. When we do, new alliances will be created which address all forms of racial and ethnic hatred against all people, and rob the haters of the political cover they seek to hide the true nature of their hatred.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is the author of You Don't Have to Be Wrong For Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, and is the President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.