Antisemitism Alive and Well

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Dear Colleagues:

We recently marked 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and yet, we are clearly still learning the lessons of the Holocaust with the growth of anti-Semitism worldwide. The recent attacks in Paris are truly emblematic of an intensifying global trend. Our colleague Richard Landes reminds us that the events in Paris are a result of, “a consistent stream of powerful evidence for all the trends that now, in this latest jihadi assault, [that] so rudely shocked all of France,” something we should all take note of.

The Los Angeles-based human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center’s 2014 top ten list of anti-Semitic/anti-Israel incidents named six European countries as transgressors. Moreover, the 2012 ADL report saw significant increase in anti-Semitism in Hungary, the United Kingdom and Spain. A year later, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights examined attitudes among 5,847 Jews from nine EU countries. The unsettling results: 29% of the respondents are contemplating emigrating and 76% say anti-Semitism increased over the last five years. In addition, the same study concluded that 24% of Europeans – 37% in France, 27% in Germany, 20% in Italy – experienced some kind of anti-Jewish attitude.

Positively, in a ground breaking ruling German Judge Gauri Sastry  recently convicted a 24-year-old anti-Israel activist when he called for the killing of  Zionists concluded his ruling saying that, “‘Zionist’ in the language of anti-Semites is a code for Jew.”

Furthermore, in a recent piece I co-authored with Benjamin Weinthal, we make the same observation where we state that, “hatred of Israel can no longer be separated from loathing of Jews. Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are one and the same.”

Finally, all of the above is directly impacting our universities something we witnessed at a recent BDS vote at UC Davis where anti-Israel activists heckled Jewish students shouting Allahu Akbar. It was after the vote that the AEPi brothers found their house spray-painted with swastikas these are clear reminders of the true nature of the BDS movement and its goals.

Real and honest discourse regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict is desperately needed while at the same time establishing clear guidelines for freedom of speech versus hate speech.

As always, we welcome your feedback and article submissions.

Sincerely,

Asaf Romirowsky, PhD

Antisemitism Alive and Well

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AUTHOR

Asaf Romirowsky

Asaf Romirowsky PhD, is the Executive Director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME). Romirowsky is also a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a Professor ​[Affiliate] at the University​ of Haifa. Trained as a Middle East historian he holds a PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King's College London, UK and has published widely on various aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict and American foreign policy in the Middle East, as well as on Israeli and Zionist history.

Romirowsky is co-author of Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief and a contributor to The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel.

Romirowsky’s publicly-engaged scholarship has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, The American Interest , The New Republic, The Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Ynet and Tablet among other online and print media outlets


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