 |
| Do
you not see the difference between anti-Israeli sentiment and the
negative view of Israel's actions that are held by supporters of
Israel? People like me are pro-Israel but oppose Israeli cruelty and
theft of the land of the indigenous Arab-Palestinian
people. |
James
Holton
Asheville, NC, U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| Absolutely. I thank you
for the question because it is important to establish, from the
outset of this discussion, the distinction between criticism of
Israel - justified or even unjustified - and anti-Semitism, which is
a very different thing. It is worth noting at the outset, too, that
two dangers exist side by side: the danger of treating all criticism
of Israel as anti-Semitism; and the danger of discounting
unequivocally anti-Semitic outpourings as mere "criticism of
Israel." (A similar question was asked by T. van den Berg from Tiel,
The Netherlands; Matthew Weaver, Magdalena, USA) |
|
 |
|
|
| Israel is a regional and occupying superpower. Why
shouldn't this be expected to create hostility? Why is this
different from "anti-Americanism," of the kind presented in William
Lederer's 1957 bestseller "The Ugly
American"? |
James
Adler
Boston, Mass., U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| This question brings us to the core issue:
the definition of anti-Semitism. I would
suggest a test of irrationality. Hatred of Jews - or for that matter
of Israelis - that is rooted in irrational, inexplicable, visceral
sentiments, and not backed by rational argument (no matter how
extreme) qualifies as anti-Semitism within this
definition. [Conversely,
according to Landau's definition, hatred of Jews based upon any
rational argument (no matter how extreme) does not constitiute
anti-Semitism.] By the same token, therefore, an
irrational and visceral hatred of another nation or object, American
for instance, comes out of the same dark recesses of the human
condition - and they can be compared to
anti-Semitism. |
|
|
|
|
| History is rife with instances of anti-Semitism. Do you
think this current surge is a mixed blessing in that it is a
reminder to all Jews that the fate of Israel is inseparable from
that of the Jews of the Diaspora? |
Julian
Kaye
El Cerrito, U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| At present, the
rise of anti-Semitism around the world, especially in Western
Europe, has indeed enhanced Jewish solidarity worldwide.
But there is no guarantee that this situation will prevail
indefinitely. It has been argued that to the extent that Israeli
actions and omissions trigger or exacerbate anti-Semitic
mainifestations, Jewish communities suffering such manifestations
may with time grow weary of this form of victimhood by
association. |
|
|
|
|
| Is
there really an increase in the 'old anti-Semitism'? Or is it
Arab/Muslim anti-Semitism reflecting the emotions built up from the
never-ending Palestinian-Israeli soap
opera? |
Daniel
Goldwater
Auckland, New Zealand |
|
| David
Landau: |
| What seems to have
happened in many countries over the past 32 months of intifada is
that the "old (Christian) anti-Semitism" of both the far-right and
far-left variety, have been powerfully exacerbated by "new" Muslim
anti-Semitism linked to the Middle East situation. Not only have the
left and right varieties been boosted, they have been fused by the
impact of the new variety, so that the upshot is an alloy of
the most poisonous and pernicious nature. |
|
|
|
|
| At
precisely what point does the 'anti-Zionist' discourse become
'anti-Semitic' in nature? |
Matt
Aberman
California, U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| This is a very difficult
question to answer - particularly as a member of a newspaper which
itself is sometimes accused of anti-Semitism by irate readers
(presumably Jewish). My own rule of thumb, which I offer
with diffidence, is that the line is crossed when Israel's right to
exist as a sovereign Jewish state is challenged. I feel
that when people argue against the very validity of the basic
Zionist premise - that the Jews have the same right as any nation to
a homeland of their own - then one is veering into anti-Semitic
territory. [What other nation has a "right of return" and an
ethno-theocracatic government?] |
|
|
|
|
| Do
you really think that aggressions from excited hooligans watching
the situation in the occupied territories is anti-Semitism? Are you
seriously suggesting that France is
anti-Semitic? |
Marcel-Francis Kahn
Paris,
France |
|
| David
Landau: |
| Didn't Dreyfuss seriously
think that France was seriously anti-Semitic - and that was a few
decades before any excited hooligans started watching the situation
in the occupied territories. |
|
|
|
|
| Since
Germany has the second largest Jewish community in Europe, does the
Israeli public still think there is anti-Semitism in Germany? And if
so, what do you think has to be done to change
that? |
Stefan
Kiel, Germany |
|
| David
Landau: |
| The Israeli public, to the
extent that I can represent it, is acutely aware - and appreciative
- of the constant vigilance of the German authorities against any
anti-Semitic excesses in that country. German politicians have
traditionally maintained a frank sensitivity to the particular
danger still present in their country. A man like Joschke Fischer
never misses an opportunity to reiterate the lessons of the
Holocaust and the need to inculcate them into the younger
generation. Muslims living in Germany, unlike perhaps those in other
European countries, understand full well just how intolerant the
German establishment and German society are today to manifestations
of anti-Semitism. |
|
|
|
|
| When
will Israel and the Jews understand that assimilation is the answer
to anti-Semitism? It's the kid in the schoolyard who tries to be
different who gets beaten up. Can you imagine what it would be like
here in America if every nationality in this country only married
their own kind and thought about their historic homeland more than
they thought about America? |
Frank
Link
Fort Lauderdale, U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| I must say it is
incongruous and somewhat jarring to see a question phrased quite in
these terms in this multi-cultural age. No Jew was more assimilated
than Alfred Dreyfuss, but that did not save him from anti-Semitism.
Another totally assimilated Jew, Theodore Herzl, understood from
watching the Dreyfuss trial that, contrary to your assumption
assimilation does not save Jews from anti-Semitism. Not long after,
large numbers of German Jews who, too, were confident that their
assimilated - and in many cases converted - status would protect
them, went up in smoke in Auschwitz. |
|
|
|
|
| Christian anti-Semitism was based largely on religion, Nazi
anti-Semitism on race - don't you think that the current political
hostility to Israel (regardless of its rationality or irrationality)
is a fundamentally different phenomenon? |
Walter
Benn Michaels
Chicago, U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| Scholars have suggested,
among them the British Chief Rabbi, Dr. Jonathan Sacks, that hatred
of the state of Israel as a Jewish collective, rather than hatred of
individual Jews, is the anti-Semitism of the 21st century. I am not
sure if I fully agree with that thesis. But what I find lends it
cogency, is indeed the irrationality which sometimes characterizes
modern-day Israel bashing and is so reminiscent of classical
anti-Semitism. |
|
|
|
|
| What
kind of influence are the new Arab media and the highly popular TV
stations in Arabic having on the Arab population and the spread of
hatred against the Israelis in particular, and Jews and Zionists in
general? |
Esteban Bromberg
Buenos Aires,
Argentina |
|
| David
Landau: |
| I would suggest an
alternative outlook on these developments. The Arab world, before
the new media and TV stations came into being, managed quite well to
spread and propagate hatred against Israel. The new TV stations,
such as al-Jazeera, whatever else they disseminate, disseminate
INFORMATION. That cannot be a bad thing. To the contrary, it is in
Israel's interest that the broadest possible Arab audience have at
its disposal the information, the facts, the news in real time, upon
which to make its own assessments rather than be fed tendentious
information from government sources. (A similar question was asked
by Eddy in Toronto, Canada) |
|
|
|
|
| What
can the State of Israel do in order to protect Jews in the
Diaspora? |
Henryk
Paszt
Paris, France |
|
| David
Landau: |
| It can exist. It can be
strong. It can be right. This very existence of a strong and just
Jewish sovereign state is the surest bulwark that Jews in the
Diaspora can have. Israel's history is replete with instances when
it stepped in to protect or save other Jews. In the early years of
the state whole communities were brought over from Middle Eastern
countries. Later, Romanian Jewry was literally bought into freedom,
and later still the Jews of Ethiopia were airlifted to safety by
Israeli operatives. At the same time, Israeli power and pretensions
are not omnipotent. The massive task of saving Soviet Jewry,
physically and spiritually, was accomplished not by Israel alone,
but by the entire Jewish nation, led by Israel and American Jewry,
working with people and countries of goodwill the world
over. |
|
|
|
|
| Don't
you think that many Israeli officials and many leaders in the Jewish
diaspora use the charge of anti-Semitism to stifle legitimate debate
on Israel and its policies? |
Balint
Molnar
Ottowa, Canada |
|
| David
Landau: |
| I do think so.
And I think, moreover, that your accusation is generally
more validly levelled at Israelis of the right than of the left. The
cry "The whole world is against us," is too often harnessed to serve
an agenda of evading or blurring tough, but legitimate questions
levelled at Israel itself. The purported rationale is this: since
the whole world is against us there is no point, indeed no need, to
defend ourselves or justify ourselves in the face of such questions.
However, there often is a real need to do so and resorting to the
anti-Semitism "cop-out" is a time hallowed way of dodging the
issues. |
|
|
|
|
| In
which country in Europe did you find the highest level of
anti-Semitism and why in that country? |
Uri
Dotan
New York, U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| France has the dubious
honor to figure at the head of most observers' lists. This is
generally ascribed to the high number of Muslims - some six million,
mostly from North Africa - living in France at this time. Their
reaction to the intifada has fed into strong latent strains of
anti-Semitism that have informed French society for more than a
hundred years. Another country that is sometime forgotten, but
should not be left out of the roll of dishonor, is Austria, where
anti-Semitism was rife above the surface before the intifada, too.
Austria, which spuriously claimed victim status for
itself after World War Two, never underwent an expiatory
process - and it shows. [ What
hubris! Jews expect the nations of Europe to constantly grovel at
their feet, begging forgiveness for imaginary
offenses.] |
|
|
|
|
| Do you believe that, at times, anti-Semitism may play a
useful role in that it pushes Jews to immigrate to Israel or at
least toward greater Jewish
self-awareness? |
Robert
Akkerman
Brooklyn, U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| Even if I do believe that,
what practical conclusion might be drawn from it. After all, you are
not suggesting, and nor am I, that Israel or anyone else foment or
provoke anti-Semitism anywhere in order to enhance aliya or deepen
Jewish self-awareness. Of anecdotal interest, one figure in
Jewish history who did accept your thesis was Rabbi Shneur Zalman of
Liady, the founder of the Lubavitch Hassidic movement. He did
everything he could to support the Russians, inveterate
anti-Semites, against Napoleon, who had emancipated the Jews in
France and Germany, on the grounds that emancipation was bad for
Judaism. |
|
|
|
|
| Being
a Zionist student on a college campus in America has been very
difficult these past two years. Is this generation of "Israel
haters" the next generation of "Jew haters"? Or are the two actually
unrelated, as so many students against Israel claim it to be? Is
this a threat that should have students such as myself truly
worried? |
Yehuda
Northhampton, Mass.,
U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| I think the entire Jewish
world is aware by now of the really heroic fight that Jewish student
activists have been putting up on campuses across the U.S. and in
many European countries, on behalf of their loyalty to Israel. It is
really tragic that so many intellectuals, both faculty and students,
seem to be stampeded so facilely into positions which, as I
previously suggested, verge on the anti-Semitic in that they deny
Israel's very right exist. |
|
|
|
|
| It
seems that us reasonable (left-wing) Jews are destined to be
ostracized by mainstream Jewish opinion in the Diaspora and liberal
intellectual opinion elsewhere? Also, how do we attempt to reverse
the perception of 'Zionism' as a dirty
word? |
Neil
Solomons
London, U.K. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| While your frustrations
are wholly understandable, there is no place for despair. Some brave
souls in English intellectual circles are out there making the case
for a humane and moderate Israel and bravely battling anti-Semitism.
I am thinking for instance of Jonathan Freedland, the Guardian
columnist, who hides neither of these lights under a
bushel. |
|
|
|
|
| Considering the fact that Israel and Zionists around the
world use and abuse the word "anti-Semitic" in order to gain world
sympathy, don't you think that it is of poor taste to accuse Arabs,
who themselves are mostly Semites, of being
anti-Semitic? |
C.
Sirry
Cairo, Egypt |
|
| David
Landau: |
| Your question is more in
the realm of semantics than substantial polemics. Call it irrational
Jew-hatred rather than anti-Semitism since, as you rightly imply,
most Semites aren't Jews. On a deeper level, I would add, that
"Muslim anti-Semitism" is a misnomer. Not just because, as you say,
most Semites are Muslims, but because, for two thousand
years, the primary source of Jew-hatred was Christianity. There is
no inherent conflict between Judaism and Islam and there is much
truth in the assertion that Jews were not historically persecuted
under Islamic rule as they were in so many Christian
societies. |
|
|
|
|
| You
have extensively written of the importance of maintaining a close
relationship with the diaspora. Why? Why allow Jews in the diaspora
to have a say in what goes on in Israel. |
John
Madrid, Spain |
|
| David
Landau: |
| The fundamental tenet of
Zionism is that the state of Israel is the homeland of the whole
Jewish people. The Jewish people today is divided, essentially, in
three parts. A third live in Israel. A third live in the U.S. and
the rest of the diaspora. And a third are dead because they were
killed in the Holocaust. The affiliation of any individual Jew to
any one of these thirds is purely a matter of accident of birth (or
death). That is why, as I see it, Jews who by accident of birth
survived the Holocaust and now live outside Israel should indeed
have a say as to what goes on inside Israel. |
|
|
|
|
| The
media often add to the anti-Israel views of many in the world by
tilting stories against Israel. Haaretz seems to frequently
demonstrate these harmful characteristics, and itself adds to the
world's anti-Israeli attitudes (and perhaps to the world's
anti-Semitic attitudes) by the paper's unceasing criticism. How do
you justify such tilted reporting? |
David
Zion
New York, U.S.A. |
|
| David
Landau: |
| I do not justify "tilted"
reporting, but I do not have to justify it because we in Haaretz do
not practise it. To the contrary, we are scrupulously careful to
ensure that our reporting is as untilted as humanly possible. We
cover both sides of the conflict - our own, Israeli side with
sympathy and solidarity, and the Palestinian side with accuracy and
professionalism. We do indeed run critical articles and are
ourselves often critical too of Israeli government positions or
Israeli government actions. We know, moreover, that our very
wide reach, especially on the internet, enables many people,
including tendentious traducers of Israel, to use, misuse and abuse
our material for their propagandistic purposes. We know this, and it
troubles us. But we cannot forego our journalistic mission
to report the facts and to articulate the truth as we see
it |
