'Palestinian Authority is Capital of Anti-Semitism'

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'Palestinian Authority is Capital of Anti-Semitism'

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) The most ant-Semitic political entity is the
Palestinian Authority, says Haifa University's Prof. David Bukai at
the Fourth Annual Jerusalem Conference. Acclaimed columnist Caroline
Glick and anti-Semitism researcher Prof. Robert Westreich also spoke.

Middle Eastern affairs expert Dr. David Bukai of Haifa University,
speaking Monday at a Conference session on anti-Semitism in Europe and
the Islamic world, said that anti-Semitism in Egypt and particularly
in the Palestinian Authority is much more worrisome and significant
than in Europe.

Bukai compared the situation today with that of the Nazi days: "The
world's indifference to the Iranian threats is exactly as it was
towards Hitler's threats. Academia in those days supported the Munich
agreement of capitulation - and today it's the same story, with
appeasement once again leading the way... Extremist Islam wants to
bring the modern world back to the 7th century. They say this openly -
not like the Nazis, who tried to hide their intentions."

"However," Bukai said, "Iran is the wrong target for the war against
anti-Semitism. Iran is not motivated by anti-Semitism; it wants to
turn Iraq and Lebanon into Shiite countries, it wants to activate
Hamas and Hizbullah, it wants to strengthen the militant line in Gaza
and in southern Lebanon - but all this has nothing to do with anti-
Semitism... The main dispute in the Middle East is between the Shiites
(10% of the world's Moslems) and the Sunnis and the so-called moderate
nations. The Shiites are more threatening to Saudi than to Israel;
Israel is their excuse."

Other speakers did not agree; see below.

Palestinian Authority: Champion of Anti-Semitism
"In terms of anti-Semitism," Dr. Bukai said, "Egypt is very bad; anti-
Semitism in the Moslem world started there, and it is now found in all
strata of the country. But the main site of anti-Semitism in the
Middle East, and maybe in the whole world, is in the Palestinian
Authority. It is found in government announcements, and in the media,
and mainly in the schools. No other school system in the world has
anti-Semitism as bad as in the Palestinian Authority, which is filled
all over the place with calls for the destruction of Israel as a
Jewish state and its replacement with an Arab state. MEMRI and
Palestinian Media Watch bring this out very well. But I don't hear Eli
Weisel [who called for a world-wide struggle against anti-Semitism]
and others calling for action against the PA - perhaps it is related
to their support for the Oslo process..."

Bukai explained why it is that the radical secular left and radical
religious Islam have joined up with each other: "[The late Italian
journalist and author] Oriana Fallacci gave three reasons: 1. They are
both anti-American. 2. The left no longer has an ideology of its own.
3. There is no more proletariat, and Moslem immigrants in Europe have
taken their place. But the real explanation lies elsewhere. The reason
is that in truth, the left is very religious - it believes in absolute
truth, and absolute good and bad, just like Islam, and it posits that
there are believers and those who are not believers; both the left-
wing and Islam are churches - they both think they're always right,
and they never apologize; they both want a world based on their vision
of truth, backed up by verses of Marx and Muhammed; they both want to
control how we think, and punish those who do not fall in line; both
are autocratic and, actually, anti-liberal."

Caroline Glick Explains Europe's Anti-Semitism
Columnist Caroline Glick, Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem
Post, said: "Some feel that European anti-Semitism is the same as that
in Iran, but I don't think so. We must distinguish between interests
and sentiments. I disagree with Prof. Bukai in that I think there is
some anti-Semitism in Iran... In Europe, too, there has been a sharp
jump in anti-Semitism - some of it is traditional, built-in to their
structure and society, with roots in Christianity, etc. Beyond this,
there is great hatred towards the US and Israel - possibly a feeling
of jealousy and/or wanting to show that they are strong on their own,
etc. We must realize that it's not all anti-Semitism, but rather a
question of European interests. We have to always ask ourselves how
Europe sees its interests, and realize that anti-Israeli tendencies
there stem to some extent from internal political considerations,
based on their growing Moslem population. They have their own economic
problems that they have to deal with..."

"People - and certainly politicians - are afraid to make any form of
criticism against Islam in Europe," Glick explained. "For instance,
there are two Cambridge University students who are in hiding because
of a satirical piece they wrote against Moslems... Europeans have
built many monuments to the Holocaust, and are always talking about
learning the lessons of the Holocaust, but the fact is that they are
not learning the right ones. Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka
Fishcher says that the previous generation was militaristic, and that
the present generation must be pacifistic. But that of course is not a
correct analysis of the problem; everyone was militaristic at that
time - but Germany's problem was that they were simply evil; we, at
least, have to understand that."

Media is Derelict in not Explaining or Warning
Glick had strong criticism of Israel's media for "sitting on the edge
of a volcano and ignoring it, not telling us what is going on, not
educating us, not warning us about what is happening. In general here,
public discourse is very superficial, if at all, and looks only at the
tip of the iceberg. For instance, we are told that because of a woman
who spoke not nicely to an Arab woman in Hevron, that's why Europe is
giving hundreds of millions of dollars to terrorist elements in
Ramallah and Gaza. We are told that because of a few youths on an
isolated hilltop outpost, this is why Europe is not preventing Iran
from attaining nuclear power. These are absurd claims, with no logic
and no cause and effect - but this is what we are fed. Part of the
problem is that the EU itself perpetuates this situation by giving
hundreds of millions of dollars to Taayush and Peace Now and the
Geneva initiative and others like this, in order to make us not
understand what is truly going on."

"But we must realize that their hostility comes [not only] because of
anti-Semitism, but also because of their desire for cheap oil and for
their own economic interests - and we must explain to them that their
real interest is to fix their own societies and turn the jihad back
against itself. Most people, in the EU just as here in Israel, are
concerned about themselves and their welfare, and we must remind them
of that. They don't want an Islamic take-over, and we must tell them
the truth - that the reason that Islam has taken over Europe is the
same as why Israeli-Arabs here feel that they can violate the law:
Because we have allowed foreign ideologies to take over our public
arena. If we realize and are smart enough to know our ideologies and
to show what we have in common with Europe, then even if they hate us,
our mutual interests will take the day."

Prof. Westreich: Muslim Influence Growing in Europe
Prof. Robert Westreich of Hebrew University, the Chairman of the
International Center for Anti-Semitism Research, said, "It appears
that there has been a rise in anti-Semitism over the past six years,
but it must be said that it is not everywhere. In addition, there is a
cyclical nature to these increases in anti-Semitism... I must say that
I was in China recently, and I did not find any negative preconceived
notions against Jews - showing that they don't have the same
tendencies as the Christian-western world. The same is true in India.
So we see that this mental illness did not infiltrate every single
corner of the world. This is just a small consolation, of course,
because we know how dangerous it is..."

Relating an incident that occurred just recently, Westreich said, "A
university in Leeds, England invited a Jewish convert to speak about
Islamic anti-Semitism - but suddenly, just a day before the address,
the university canceled his appearance, citing security concerns. I
know personally that this was just an excuse, and that in fact the
university simply gave in to pressure from the local Muslim
population. This is just one example of many. It is the result of a
process of the last 30 years, involving of course a great increase in
Moslems in Europe, as well as a feeling of defeatism that is taking
over... Essentially, they don't want the West to win [in its struggle
against Islam]. Prime Minister Tony Blair was forced to quit because
of the war in Iraq - and also because of his support for Israel in the
recent war with Hizbullah... The mainstream [in England] is very quick
to blame US policy and Israel for various problems. I've even heard
people say there that the very formation of Israel was a mistake...
The dominant opinion is that if you mention Islam as the reason for
it, you are guilty of racism."