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July 2, 2004/Tamuz 13 5764, Vol. 56, No.41
When governments are anti-Semitic
RAFAEL MEDOFF
and BENYAMIN KORN
On a warm spring evening 60 years ago last week, a number of Jewish teenagers were physically assaulted by anti-Semitic goons on a public playground in New York City. The response of a leading official of the New York City Board of Education? That Jewish parents should keep their children indoors after 8 p.m.
The American Jewish Congress denounced Assistant Superintendent Frank Whalen's suggestion as "the shame of New York." AJC blasted the notion "that safety from physical assault for Jews lies in hiding behind closed doors."
Federal, state and municipal leaders help set the tone for what is morally or socially acceptable among the general public. A New York City official telling Jews to stay indoors in 1944 and a French official telling Jews to refrain from wearing yarmulkes in 2004 send the same dangerous message, by shifting responsibility for the violence from the attackers to their victims.
That's why it was important that Secretary of State Colin Powell took part in the recent Berlin conference on anti-Semitism and spoke out strongly. Powell recognized that in order to send a strong message to the international community, a senior U.S. government official had to take the lead. Moreover, in his remarks in Berlin, he went beyond general condemnations of anti-Semitism and went so far as to declare that comparing Israel to the Nazis crosses the line between legitimate criticism of Israeli policies and crude anti-Semitism.
In a recent speech in suburban Washington, another member of the U.S. delegation to Berlin, White House official Dr. Tevi Troy, linked the strong U.S. stance in Berlin to America's awareness of "what the United States did - and, especially, what it did not do, during the Holocaust," recalling how the State Department obstructed efforts to rescue Jews from the Holocaust.
Because anti-Semitism today is reaching epidemic proportions in Europe and the Middle East, it is more important than ever to understand how the United States and its allies failed to respond to it in the 1930s and 1940s. Public awareness of America's near-silence during the Holocaust can help strengthen the resolve of public officials to speak out today.
Powell's statement at the Berlin conference is a perfect example of what the State Department could and should have done 70 years ago.
And yet, consider the near-silence of the State Department regarding Arab government-sponsored anti-Semitism in its recently-released annual report on human rights around the world.
Regarding Egypt, the report stated that "anti-Semitism is found in both the pro-government and opposition press." There is no acknowledgment that government-controlled newspapers are overflowing with anti-Semitism. An anti-Jewish series that was broadcast on a private Egyptian television station is mentioned; the anti-Semitic programs on the government-controlled television station are not.
The report's section on Saudi Arabia noted that "there was substantial societal prejudice based on ethnic or national origin." No hint that part of the reason for anti-Jewish prejudice in Saudi society is the torrent of anti-Semitism in government-controlled media and schools.
Regarding the Palestinian Authority, the State Department report states only that during the past year, the PA regime "prohibited calls for violence, displays of arms, and racist slogans, although this rarely was enforced." No mention of the proliferation of racist slogans in media, schoolbooks and elsewhere.
The State Department report did mention one step taken by an Arab regime against an anti-Semitic institution. Under international pressure, the government of the United Arab Emirates announced the shutdown of the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-up, which, the report noted, distributed "books with anti-Jewish theme."
Incredibly, however, instead of praising the UAE for closing the center, the State Department report cited the action as an example of the UAE restricting freedom of speech. To the extent that the State Depart-ment's human rights reports color relations with the cited countries, the UAE could theoretically find itself penalized by the U.S. for having shut down a center that promoted hatred of Jews.
If our government has truly learned the lessons of America's woefully inadequate response to the Holocaust, the position articulated by the United States in Berlin must move to a consistent policy. That would send the international community an unambiguous message about America's commitment to combat government-sponsored anti-Semitism wherever it is found.
Rafael Medoff is director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, www.WymanInstitute.org. Benyamin Korn is associate director.
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