"On the road from Durban..."

"'I have been told that the last words uttered by Pearl in the videotape, immediately before his throat was slit, were 'Yes I am a Jew and my father is a Jew',' the official said." (Brian Williams)

News and commentary on anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli bias.

Part 1: 2001/09/12 - 2001/12/28
Part 2: 2002/01/04 - 2002/04/29
Part 3: 2002/05/02 - 2002/06/29
Part 4: 2002/07/04 - 2002/08/29
Part 5: 2002/09/05 - 2002/11/25
Part 6: 2002/12/02 -

April 2002
"Anti-Israel Events on Campus" (ADL, 2002/04/29)
"Apartheid in the Holy Land" (Desmond Tutu, The Guardian, 2002/04/29)
"Saudi Government TV broadcasts sermon calling to annihilate the Jews - 'annihilate them soon'" (IMRA, 2002/04/28)
"Liberte, Egalite, Judeophobie - Why Le Pen is the least of France's problems" (Christopher Caldwell, The Weekly Standard, from the 2002/05/06 issue)
"The New Fascism" (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 2002/04/26)
"Europe and 'Those People' - Anti-Semitism arises again" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2002/04/26)
"All they are teaching gives peace no chance - At a few Gaza schools, children get an education in hate" (Anna Badkhen, San Francisco Chronicle, 2002/04/25)
"At the UN It’s Ok to Be Anti-Semitic" (Ruth Wisse, History News Network, 2002/04/22)
"Synagogues burn as Europeans rage" (Al Webb, The Washington Times, 2002/04/22)
"The West is turning on Israel today because it is losing confidence in itself" (Mick Hume, The Times, 2002/04/22)
"The Return of an Ancient Hatred" (The New York Times, 2002/04/20)
"Europe’s Inverted Morality" (David Harsanyi, FrontPageMagazine, 2002/04/19)
"Muslims rampage through Amsterdam - 75 Swastika's and 'the Jews are dogs'" (Ronald Eissens, Magenta/IMRI, 2002/04/16)
"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)
"Palestinian Schools: Breeding Grounds for Hate" (John Perazzo, FrontPageMagazine, 2002/04/10)
"Brooklyn's 'Arab Street' - A hate rally, just minutes from Ground Zero" (Brendan Miniter, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/04/08)
"Anti-Israeli protests spread" (BBC News, 2002/04/07)
"Between Rome and Jerusalem" (Francis X. Rocca, The American Prowler, 2002/04/04)
"The peace process at work" (National Review/The Corner, 2002/04/04)
"Burning Synagogues" (The Wall Street Journal, 2002/04/04)
"A Muslim plea for introspection" (Irshad Manji, Jewish World Review, 2002/04/02)
"French, Belgian synagogues burned" (CNN.com, 2002/04/01)

March 2002
"Church targets Israel conflict in painting of dead Jesus" (Karen Rice, Scotland on Sunday, 2002/03/31)
"Palestinian Authority off the deep end: text of commentary charging Israelis with being Nazis, Tatars, Mongolians all wrapped into one" (IMRA, 2002/03/31)
"Anti-Semitism in the Egyptian Media: February 2001 - February 2002" (ADL, spring 2002)
"'Passover massacre' at Israeli hotel kills 19" (CNN.com, 2002/03/27)
"Nobel winner: Ramallah being turned into concentration camp" (Amira Hass, Haaretz, 2002/03/26)
"Arafat's Harvest of Hate" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2002/03/26)
"Saudi Government Daily: Jews Use Teenagers' Blood for 'Purim' Pastries" (Special Dispatch No. 354, MEMRI, 2002/03/13)
"A Foul Wind" (Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, 2002/03/10)
"Saudi schools fuel anti-US anger" (Charles M. Sennott, Boston Globe Online, 2002/03/04)

February 2002
"Anti-Semitic Crime Surges, Worrying French Jews" (Suzanne Daley, The New York Times, 2002/02/26)
"The Chosen One" (Michael Kamber, The Village Voice, 2002/02/25)
"Filmed Execution of WSJ Reporter Sets Off Revulsion" (Brian Williams, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2002/02/22)
"Saudi Government Official: American Jews are 'Brothers of Apes and Pigs'" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch No. 343, 2002/02/08)
"The Return of Anti-Semitism" (Hillel Halkin, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/02/05)

January 2002
"Egyptian Government Weekly Reproduces Nazi Propaganda Forgery" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch No. 339, 2002/01/31)
"Are the French 'a shi*tty lot'?" (Suzanne Lowry, The Spectator, from the 2002/01/19 issue)
"British Magazine Raising Specter of 'Zionist Lobby'" (Forward, 2002/01/18)
"Arafat: 'Israel murders our children and use their organs as "spare parts" for organ-transplants'" (Islamic Association For Palestine, 2002/01/14)
"Prejudice and Abuse - Have the French and English learned nothing from the 20th century?" (Tom Gross, National Review, 2002/01/10)
"Blame it on the anti-Semitic media" (Yisrael Harel, Haaretz, 2002/01/10)
"A New Antisemitic Myth in the Arab Press: The September 11 Attacks Were Perpetrated by the Jews" (Special Report, MEMRI, 2002/01/08)
"Arab Antisemitism - Saudi Government Daily on the 'Culture of Hatred'" (Special Dispatch No. 328, MEMRI, 2002/01/08)
"Is Paris Burning? - Vichy-style Jew-hating surfaces in Western Europe" (Jonathan Mark, The Jewish Week, 2002/01/04)

"Anti-Israel Events on Campus" (ADL, 2002/04/29)
A summary of recent anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incidents on the university campus in the U.S.: "April 15 - Muslim student groups at University of California - Berkeley and UC - San Diego posted fliers featuring fabricated, distorted and out-of-context quotations from the Talmud and other rabbinical literature. Many of these anti-Semitic "quotations" are easily found on extremist Web sites. Samples include: "A Jew is permitted to rape, cheat and perjure himself, but he must take care that he is not found out, so that Israel may not suffer." ... "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated." ... April 9 - An anti-Israel rally, staged as a follow-up to the April 8 demonstration by Arab and Muslim students at San Francisco State University, featured posters bearing a picture of soup cans reading "Made in Israel," on the label and listing the contents as "Palestinian Children Meat," and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as the manufacturer. A photo of a baby, with its stomach sliced open, was also on the can, following the words 'according to Jewish Rites under American license.'"

"Apartheid in the Holy Land" (Desmond Tutu, The Guardian, 2002/04/29)
Archbishop Tutu not only condemns Israel's defense against terrorism, but also raises the specter of a powerful Jewish lobby making Americans "scared" to say what they really think. Also, he might ponder over why the checkpoints are there in the first place: "I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about. ... Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden? ... We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred; but we also condemn the violence of military incursions in the occupied lands, and the inhumanity that won't let ambulances reach the injured. ... People are scared in this country [the US], to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful - very powerful. ... The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic, and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust."

"Saudi Government TV broadcasts sermon calling to annihilate the Jews - 'annihilate them soon'" (IMRA, 2002/04/28)
"Shaykh Salah Bin-Muhammad al-Budayr, preacher and imam of the holy mosque in Medina, delivers the sermon... "O God, O revealer of the Book, mover of clouds, and vanquisher of infidels, defeat the usurper Jews. ... O God, destroy them. O God, scatter them. O God, annihilate them soon." ... Dr. Abd-al-Rahman al-Sudays, preacher and imam of the mosque [in Mecca], delivers the sermon... "Read history," he adds, 'to know that yesterday's Jews were bad predecessors and today's Jews are worse successors. They are killers of prophets and the scum of the earth. God hurled his curses and indignation on them and made them monkeys and pigs and worshippers of tyrants. These are the Jews, a continuous lineage of meanness, cunning, obstinacy, tyranny, evil, and corruption. ... The land is drenched with the pure blood of our brothers and sisters in struggler Palestine. They were killed like sheep. Scores of mosques were destroyed, hundreds of houses were demolished, and thousands of souls were killed. How many women have been widowed, children orphaned, and mass graves dug?'"

"Liberte, Egalite, Judeophobie - Why Le Pen is the least of France's problems" (Christopher Caldwell, The Weekly Standard, from the 2002/05/06 issue)
"But while crime was what brought voters to the polls, France has an even more ominous problem: a wave of attacks and threats against the country's 700,000 Jews that is unprecedented in the last half century of European history. ... What is surprising and confusing in all of this is that the "new anti-Semitism" in France is a phenomenon of the left. It has practically nothing to do with Le Pen. In fact, its most dangerous practitioners are to be found among the very crowds thronging the streets to protest him. ... In particular danger of embracing this Manichaean view of the Arab-Israel conflict are those who support Third-Worldism, neo-communism, and neo-leftism, whom Taguieff lumps together as the "anti-globalization movement." ... Bove, who rose to fame for vandalizing a McDonald's in southern France as a protest against American influence, is not merely the informal leader of the younger French left, the "hero" of the Seattle riots, and the guiding spirit of many of the anti-Le Pen protests that are now raging in Paris; he is also the most charismatic leader of the anti-globalization movement in the world. It was thus alarming to see Bove, after a pro forma denunciation of anti-Jewish violence, informing viewers of the TV channel Canal Plus that the attacks on French synagogues were being either arranged or fabricated by Mossad. "Who profits from the crime?" Bove asked. 'The Israeli government and its secret services have an interest in creating a certain psychosis, in making believe that there is a climate of anti-Semitism in France, in order to distract attention from what they are doing.'"

"The New Fascism" (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 2002/04/26)
"Watching televised clips from a recent pro-Palestinian rally in Washington, along with other such demonstrations over the last few weeks, can be a chilling experience. One woman chanted, "Israel will be no more" - apparently a call for the abject and utter destruction of the Jewish state. On posters the Star of David was juxtaposed to a swastika - the sick subtext of that message lost on no one. Many openly condemned the "Jews" and "Zionists" in a manner reminiscent of Nuremberg circa 1936. ... Despite the carnival atmosphere, this new virulent form of anti-Americanism has also an old and disturbing fascist ring to it. The subtext of the entire rally was really anti-Semitism and tacit support for suicide bombing as a means to attack Israel. ... But this time the racists, fascists, and faux-victims are from the purported Left and not the Right. ... They are not progressives, not even socialists, communists, or anarchists. Rather, their language is pure hatred - as well as anti-Semitic and fascistic. ... The only way to confront the new fascists is to speak honestly about them and not remain silent. Each time a Palestinian extremist uses the word "Jew," each time an activist praises Libya, Iraq, or Iran and either condones or praises suicide murderers, each time a screaming protestor slanders the present president of the United States as a killer, terrorist, and war criminal, each time we hear of conspiracies that explain our aid to Jewish Israel, we must all simply remonstrate, "Hitler would smile at every thing you say." And, of course, he would."

"Europe and 'Those People' - Anti-Semitism arises again" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2002/04/26)
"What we are seeing is pent-up anti-Semitism, the release - with Israel as the trigger - of a millennium-old urge that powerfully infected and shaped European history. What is odd is not the anti-Semitism of today but its relative absence during the past half-century. That was the historical anomaly. Holocaust shame kept the demon corked for that half-century. But now the atonement is passed. The genie is out again. ... What so offends Europeans is the armed Jew, the Jew who refuses to sustain seven suicide bombings in the seven days of Passover and strikes back. ... The French were the vanguard of this modern anti-Semitism that can tolerate the Jew as victim but not as historical actor. It was 35 years ago at the outbreak of the Six Day War that Charles de Gaulle cut off French support for Israel, denouncing its audacity in fighting for its life over his objections. But he did not stop there. He later went on to famously denounce the Jews as "an elite people, sure of itself and domineering." The rejection of docility - "sure of itself" - was Israel's real crime 35 years ago. It remains Israel's crime today. Israel's recent three-week Operation Defensive Shield, the boldest and most justified Israeli military offensive since the Six Day War, provokes precisely the same reaction, though not always expressed with de Gaulle's candor."

"All they are teaching gives peace no chance - At a few Gaza schools, children get an education in hate" (Anna Badkhen, San Francisco Chronicle, 2002/04/25)
"Six days a week, kindergarten teacher Samira Ali El Hassain tells her class of 30 5-year-old boys and girls what makes the world go round. "Here is how an egg becomes a chicken," she says to a student. "Here is how to draw a circle," she tells another. Hassain then quizzes the class about a previous, more serious lesson. "Who are the Jews?" she asks. The children know the answer by heart: "The enemy!" they reply in unison. "And what should we do to them?" Hassain asks in a voice that is as casual as when she discussed chickens and eggs. "Kill them!" the children cry out."

"At the UN It’s Ok to Be Anti-Semitic" (Ruth Wisse, History News Network, 2002/04/22)
"What Annan should have been seeking to end is the pernicious role of the U.N. as instigator and abettor of a possible international conflagration. The U.N.'s assault on Israel, in direct violation of its Charter, now rivals even the Jew-hating indoctrination that preceded World War II. ... In allowing the Arab countries to internationalize their war against the Jewish State, the United Nations has endangered Jews in new ways. Whereas earlier anti-Semitism could be identified with its evil sponsors and morally, if not militarily, countered, the United Nations lends its presumed legitimacy and prestige to anti-Semitism. ... By allowing Arab countries to conscript the U.N. for their war against the Jewish state, the democracies advertised the weakness of their system. Every advantage that Arabs have gained over Israel at the U.N. proclaims the strength of autocracies and dictatorships over liberal democracy. This lesson is reinforced every time there is a condemnation of the Jewish state."

"Synagogues burn as Europeans rage" (Al Webb, The Washington Times, 2002/04/22)
"A wave of anti-Jewish attacks - ranging from hate mail and graffiti to stonings, shotgun blasts, gasoline bombs and synagogue bombings - has swept Europe from Britain to Ukraine as the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians worsens in the Middle East. ...The French Interior Ministry has recorded nearly 360 crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions in April alone, coinciding with the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The destruction of the synagogue at Marseille was the sixth attack on a Jewish religious site in France in less than a week. ... The war did not eliminate anti-Jewish sentiment. Less than a year ago, a survey showed that 24 percent of all Austrians would "prefer" to live in a country without Jews. And even in supposedly neutral Switzerland, a survey reported by the BBC 'indicates that 16 percent of Swiss people are fundamentally anti-Semitic, while 60 percent have anti-Semitic views.'"

"The West is turning on Israel today because it is losing confidence in itself" (Mick Hume, The Times, 2002/04/22)
"A few months ago Daniel Bernard, the French Ambassador to Britain, caused a storm when he was quoted as saying that the problems thrown up by the Middle East were the fault of “that shitty little country, Israel”. It now appears that his alleged opinion is shared by a global coalition incorporating governments, intellectuals and everybody else from Islamic fundamentalists to anti-capitalist protesters and poets. As one who has long sympathised with the Palestinian cause, I feel increasingly suspicious of what is behind the anti-Israeli turn in Western opinion. ... In the eyes of many today, Israel’s crime is to be the most forceful expression of Western values. The Israeli state is seen as a beachhead of Western civilisation in a hostile world. That used to be its greatest asset. Today, however, Western civilisation has fallen into disrepute even within its own heartlands, and Israel’s image has suffered accordingly. Israel has never been able to accept completely such trends as political correctness, relativism and self-doubt. If it did so, the Israeli state would be finished. ... A century ago the German socialist August Bebel denounced attacks on "Jewish capitalism" as "the socialism of fools". By the same token, many of the criticisms of Israel today look like the anti-imperialism of idiots."

"The Return of an Ancient Hatred" (The New York Times, 2002/04/20)
"Israelis have been too quick, over the years, to view criticism of their government as motivated by anti-Semitism. But it is hard to think of another word for the way some critics of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians are expressing their opposition. The dark shadow of Europe's past seemed to be reappearing when the liberal Italian daily La Stampa depicted a baby Jesus looking up from the manger at an Israeli tank, saying, "Don't tell me they want to kill me again." Or when a Lutheran bishop in Denmark delivered a sermon in the Copenhagen Cathedral comparing Ariel Sharon's policies toward the Palestinians to those of King Herod, who ordered the slaughter of all male children under the age of 2 in Bethlehem."

"Europe’s Inverted Morality" (David Harsanyi, FrontPageMagazine, 2002/04/19)
"When the Italian weekly Panorama features a political cartoon of the Pope crucified against flames at the Church of the Nativity saying to the Jews: "You fire on the house where my God was born, you shoot at his tomb, you target the statue of his mother, you terrorize my priests and my nuns" realizing full-well that terrorists have, as usual, employed religious places, and civilians as shields - that is anti-Semitism. ... Norbert Bluem, the former labor minister of Germany accused Israel of waging "a war of extermination." Despite their detailed familiarity with genocide, the thought of Germans lecturing Jews on morality is a nauseating hypocrisy."

"Muslims rampage through Amsterdam - 75 Swastika's and 'the Jews are dogs'" (Ronald Eissens, Magenta/IMRI, 2002/04/16)
A report from Amsterdam about the demonstration "Stop the war against the Palestinians" on April the 13:th: "About 15.000 people took part, which made it one of the biggest demonstrations in Amsterdam of the last 8 years. Never since 1945 were so many swastika's shown in public. The procession counted some 75. But there was a lot more of dreadful stuff. A photo of Hitler, strangling Sharon. People chanting "Jews into the sea!". ... "The Arab army will slaughter you all", "Stop the Zionist genocide", "Hamas-Jihad-Hezbollah", "El Yahud kalbulah" (the Jews are Dogs)... ... Little boys sitting on their father's shoulders, proudly waving toy machine guns... ... "USA you will pay", "Stop Holocaust in Palestine", Sharon & Bush = Swastika, "USA=Star of David"... During the demonstration, groups of participants shouted "Sieg Heil!" on at least two occasions. The whole thing can at best be described as discriminatory, distasteful and hurtful. ... What we would never tolerate in Amsterdam from extreme-right wing protesters, that is carrying and shouting discriminatory and antisemitic expressions, is tolerated from these protesters."

"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)
"I find it shameful that in Italy there should be a procession of individuals dressed as suicide bombers who spew vile abuse at Israel, hold up photographs of Israeli leaders on whose foreheads they have drawn the swastika, incite people to hate the Jews. ... I find it shameful that in France, the France of Liberty-Equality-Fraternity, they burn synagogues, terrorize Jews, profane their cemeteries. ... I find it shameful and see in all this the rise of a new fascism, a new nazism. A fascism, a nazism, that much more grim and revolting because it is conducted and nourished by those who hypocritically pose as do-gooders, progressives, communists, pacifists, Catholics or rather Christians, and who have the gall to label a warmonger anyone like me who screams the truth."

"Palestinian Schools: Breeding Grounds for Hate" (John Perazzo, FrontPageMagazine, 2002/04/10)
"The propaganda campaign is relentless. ... According to an eighth-grade text, "Mankind has suffered from the yoke of racism at all times, because Satan has made their evil deeds seem beautiful...Such people are the Jews." In a book used by sixteen-year-olds, the Nazi Holocaust is depicted as a response to the Jewish people’s "greed and religious fanaticism." Still another volume suggests, "Perhaps Allah brought the Jews to our land, so their death would take place here, as it did in their wars with the Romans." ... These anti-Jewish attitudes filter down from the very highest level of the Palestinian Authority. During a recent visit to a school for Palestinian girls, Yasser Arafat himself told the students of the glorious exploits of two female terrorists, Abir Wahidi and Dalal Magrabi; the latter not only participated in a deadly bus attack against Israelis, but further distinguished herself by snatching a Jewish baby from its mother and hurling it into the already burning bus. ... All in all, Palestinian leadership has done a remarkably thorough job of violating its pledge to promote tolerance and respect. Thus it is no surprise that a seemingly endless parade of young people can hardly wait for the day when they, too, can walk into a crowded Jewish shop or café and blow themselves to smithereens."

"Brooklyn's 'Arab Street' - A hate rally, just minutes from Ground Zero" (Brendan Miniter, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/04/08)
"A few minutes from Ground Zero, the Arab street came out on Friday. A few hundred Muslims marched up Atlantic Avenue and rallied in front of Borough Hall. They said they meant to pressure President Bush and other officials to force Israel to stand down. But it looked more like a pro-terror hate rally. Protesters held signs reading "Israel Occupation = Terrorism," "Occupation = Violence" and "Declare Jahad [sic]," among others. More than one held a sign with the Star of David, an equal sign and a swastika. Yasser Arafat, their signs made clear, is their "hero." ... The second sheet was even more bizarre. ... It claimed Israel is engaging in a comprehensive conspiracy that involves listening to nearly every phone call made inside the U.S. The Israelis, it explains, are using this information to blackmail all federal officials in high office and the national media. ... In short, because Americans are so depraved, the Jews are able to control them."

"Anti-Israeli protests spread" (BBC News, 2002/04/07)
"Protests have been held across the world demanding the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank and pledging support to the Palestinian people. ... In Morocco, an estimated one million people gathered in the capital Rabat in an officially-sanctioned demonstration on Sunday. ... The largest protests in Europe took place in Rome on Saturday where about 20,000 protesters marched through the centre of the city before swelling their ranks to around 50,000 in the Piazza del Popolo, the Associated Press news agency reported. ... In Paris, more than 20,000 people marched to the Place de la Bastille in a protest organised by anti-racism, communist and pro-Palestinians support groups. ... And in the US, thousands marched demanding that Washington intervene in the Middle East crisis, with protesters walking across the Brooklyn Bridge carrying placards equating Mr Sharon with Hitler."

"Surely they don't want to kill me again?"
(La Stampa, 2002/04/03)

"Between Rome and Jerusalem" (Francis X. Rocca, The American Prowler, 2002/04/04)
"On Easter Sunday, the Milan newspaper Corriere Della Sera ran a front-page editorial cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, rifle in hand, sitting on a sarcophagus. The lid of the coffin is partially open and the fingers of a hand can be seen emerging from inside, trying to lift it further. In the background stands an angel, complete with wings and halo, looking on in bemusement. The caption reads: "Non resurrexit." ... Surely the cartoonist who cast Sharon in this role intended to portray him as a metaphorical Christ-killer. ... Yesterday the Turin paper La Stampa, another ultra-respectable establishment organ, ran a front-page cartoon showing a tank emblazoned with the Star of David pointing its gun straight at the baby Jesus, who tells the attackers: "Surely they don't want to kill me again?" ... While anti-Semitic imagery is still rare enough in the mainstream Italian press to make it worth remarking on, the conventional wisdom is overwhelmingly and aggressively anti-Israeli. ... In fact, no group is more one-sidedly pro-Arafat than the anti-clerical Italian left, which continues to send representatives (including the Nobel prize-winning writer Dario Fo) to stand by the Palestinian leader's side. Their ultimate motivation, like that of the other European leftists who have flocked to Ramallah recently, is hatred of a global economic system dominated by Israel's ally the United States. To them, the Star of David stands for the Stars and Stripes, and dead Palestinians are more worth mourning because they die at the hands of the superpower's proxy state."

"The peace process at work" (National Review/The Corner, 2002/04/04)
"'We hate you,' said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a senior Arafat aide who addressed Israelis in an interview with Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television. 'You should take your tanks and your soldiers and your settlers and get out. The air hates you, the land hates you, the trees hate you, there is no purpose in you staying on this land.'"

"Burning Synagogues" (The Wall Street Journal, 2002/04/04)
"French political leaders have been busy denouncing Israel for defending itself against suicide bombers, but perhaps they should save some of that Gallic moral temper for the worst outbreak of anti-Semitism in Europe in 60 years. France is home to 600,000 Jews, Europe's largest Jewish community, and in recent days many of them have been under assault. ... But opinion in Europe, especially official opinion, is now so one-sided against Israel that it's bound to have some public consequences. After Israel launched an attack late last week to isolate Yasser Arafat, without harming him, European governments rose in unison with condemnations. ... The speaker of the Greek parliament accused Israel of "genocide" against the Palestinians. ... Political leaders set a moral tone, as the French like to remind George W. Bush, and it's hard to believe all of this doesn't feed into latent anti-Semitic sentiment."

"A Muslim plea for introspection" (Irshad Manji, Jewish World Review, 2002/04/02)
"But instead of acknowledging that there's a serious problem with the way our religion is practiced, even in cosmopolitan Canada, we romanticize Islam. ... And there's much to change. Witness our profound anti-Semitism. ... I can't count the number of times I've been warned by relatives in the U.S. and Canada to serve Islam by leaving my work in the media, which - I should realize - is owned and thus manipulated by Jews. Earlier this year, employed at a channel owned by a nice white Anglo-Saxon family, I produced a special about gay and lesbian Muslims around the world. The most common complaint of Toronto-area Muslims who caught the show? That the homosexual "pigs" and "dogs" whom I featured must have been Jews off-camera. Damn those Zionist plants! ... This is a watershed moment for North America's Muslims. Will we remain spiritually infantile, shackled by cultural expectations to clam up and conform, or will we mature into citizens, defending the very pluralism of interpretations and values that makes it possible for us to be here in the first place?"

"French, Belgian synagogues burned" (CNN.com, 2002/04/01)
"A fire destroyed a synagogue in southern France during a weekend that saw a rash of attacks targeting Jews in France and Belgium, police say. No injuries were reported at the 20-year-old Marseille synagogue, which also had been the target of a gasoline bomb last October. ... Meanwhile in Belgium, unknown attackers hurled firebombs at a synagogue in Brussels, damaging its interior. ... Late Saturday, a gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher's shop near Toulouse. The owner was in the shop at the time but was unharmed. ... In the Rhone region town of Villeurbanne, a Jewish couple in their 20s were injured in an attack Saturday, according to Le Journal du Dimanche. The woman, who is pregnant, was reportedly hospitalised overnight."

"Church targets Israel conflict in painting of dead Jesus" (Karen Rice, Scotland on Sunday, 2002/03/31)
"A shocking painting showing Jesus lying dead in the arms of his mother as modern-day Israelis fight in the background has been unveiled at an Edinburgh church. The 9ft artwork, which hangs on the side of St John's Episcopal Church in Princes Street, depicts Christ as a victim of the current conflict in Israel and the occupied territory. Jesus is flanked by Roman soldiers on one side and Israeli troops on the other. His thorn of crowns is made of barbed wire and his cross has been broken in the conflict. John McLuckie, St John's associate rector, said the painting was aimed at getting the public to think about the victims of violence. ... 'It's about getting people to think about the occupation of Palestinian territory. In common with other church leaders, we think Israel ought to abide by the UN resolution and let Palestine have their territory, that occupation should end.'"

"Palestinian Authority off the deep end: text of commentary charging Israelis with being Nazis, Tatars, Mongolians all wrapped into one" (IMRA, 2002/03/31)
From an editorial by the official Palestine News Agency WAFA: "They have brought back the Tatar, the Mongolians, the Nazis and all the invaders through out the dark history of mankind ... they are the descendants of Hulagu and Hitler, therefore the practice of the occupying soldiers is programmed and not an individual behavior... ... ...they seemed to have emerged from the depth of the dark and evil history of their ancestors. ... We shall bring this picture to every one, using the E-Mail the internet, and the satellites, exposing these atrocities to mankind, but first to the Americans and to the British who are the admirers of our holocaust and ongoing disasters..."

"Anti-Semitism in the Egyptian Media: February 2001 - February 2002" (ADL, spring 2002)
A report on anti-Semitic articles and images published in Egyptian media: "An April 27, 2001 article in Akbar Asaa entitled, "The New Nazism and Sharon's Concept of Absolute Power," maintained that there were no essential differences between Sharon and Hitler and that "there were also no essential differences between Nazism and the great harm it caused and the massacres perpetrated by Zionism. Since the feet of those who adopted the principles of Zionism trod on the land of Palestine for the first time - starting with Ben Gurion and ending with Sharon - there has been disaster. The events of recent months indicate Sharon's Nazi tendencies, tendencies which are not very different from those of Hitler and even worse."

"'Passover massacre' at Israeli hotel kills 19" (CNN.com, 2002/03/27)
"A suicide bomber killed at least 19 people and injured 172 at a popular seaside hotel Wednesday, the start of the Jewish religious holiday of Passover. At least 48 of the injured were described as "severely wounded." The bombing occurred in a crowded dining room at the Park Hotel, a coastal resort, during the traditional meal marking the start of Passover. ... The Palestinian group Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist group labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, claimed responsibility for the attack."

"Nobel winner: Ramallah being turned into concentration camp" (Amira Hass, Haaretz, 2002/03/26)
"Renowned Portuguese writer and Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago, drew comparisons Monday between Israel's blockade of the West Bank city of Ramallah and the Holocaust. On a trip to Ramallah, Saramago said that "the spirit of Auschwitz" was linked to what was going on in the city. "This place is being turned into a concentration camp," he said, referring to the IDF's siege on the city. ... Asked by Haaretz where the gas chambers were, he replied; "So far, there are none." He added that, as a writer, it was his prerogative to make emotional comparisons in order to shock people into understanding." (See also: "Analyst: Leaked Summit Draft Resolution Is Sign Of Arab Weakness" (IslamOnline, Lamya Tawfik, 2002/03/26): "Arafat’s presence in the summit, [Ahmed Taha Al-Nakr, an expert in foreign relations in the Egyptian daily Al-Akhbar] added, is not important, what is really important is the Arab countries stance. “They need to support the Intifada with money and with weapons because the Israeli war-machine is eradicating the Palestininan people merciliessy [sic] in a way that is unprecedented and more barbaric than the Nazi Holocaust,” he said.")

"Arafat's Harvest of Hate" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2002/03/26)
"We are just beginning to understand how a daily diet of hatred fed through schools and the media - a hatred quietly incubating for years - found its most perfect expression in the slaughter of Sept. 11. We have failed, however, to see how a similar campaign of hate has laid the groundwork for the orgy of murder-suicide the Palestinians are now engaged in. ... During the past eight years - the years of the Oslo "peace process" - Yasser Arafat had complete control of all the organs of Palestinian education and propaganda. It takes an unspeakable hatred for people to send their children to commit Columbine-like murder-suicide. Arafat taught it. His television, his newspapers, his clerics have inculcated an anti-Semitism unmatched in virulence since Nazi Germany. ... Just as Osama bin Laden spent the '90s indoctrinating and infiltrating in preparation for murder, Arafat raised an entire generation schooled in hatred of the 'Judeo-Nazis.'"

"Saudi Government Daily: Jews Use Teenagers' Blood for 'Purim' Pastries" (Special Dispatch No. 354, MEMRI, 2002/03/13)
The ancient anti-Semitic "blood libel" in a contemporary version:
"In an article published by the Saudi government daily Al-Riyadh, columnist Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma of King Faysal University in Al-Dammam, wrote on "The Jewish Holiday of Purim." Following are excerpts of the article":
"Before I go into the details, I would like to clarify that the Jews' spilling human blood to prepare pastry for their holidays is a well-established fact, historically and legally, all throughout history. This was one of the main reasons for the persecution and exile that were their lot in Europe and Asia at various times. ...
For this holiday, the victim must be a mature adolescent who is, of course, a non-Jew – that is, a Christian or a Muslim. His blood is taken and dried into granules. The cleric blends these granules into the pastry dough; they can also be saved for the next holiday." (See also: "'Blood libel' alive and well" (Joseph Farah, WorldNetDaily, 2000/11/30))

"A Foul Wind" (Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, 2002/03/10)
"There is something about this new, intensely violent, stage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that is starting to feel like the fuse for a much larger war of civilizations. ... But once these forces are all bundled together, they express themselves in the most heated anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiments that I've ever felt. ... "The question is whether Palestinian extremists will do what bin Laden could not: trigger a civilizational war," said the Middle East analyst Stephen P. Cohen. 'If you are willing to give up your own life and that of thousands of your own people, the overwhelming power of America and Israel does not deter you any more. ... That's why this Israeli-Palestinian war is not just a local ethnic conflict that we can ignore. It resonates with too many millions of people, connected by too many satellite TV's, with too many dangerous weapons.'"

"Saudi schools fuel anti-US anger" (Charles M. Sennott, Boston Globe Online, 2002/03/04)
"At the Islamic Law department here at King Khalid University, students line up to buy cassette tapes and printed pamphlets from militant Islamic clerics whose sermons burn with anti-American sentiment and ''fatwas,'' or religious decrees, declaring holy war against infidels. At a public high school in this provincial town in the southwest part of the country, 10th-grade classes are forced to memorize from a Ministry of Education textbook entitled ''Monotheism'' that is replete with anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bigotry and violent interpretations of Islamic scripture. A passage on page 64 under the title ''Judgment Day'' says: 'The Hour will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews, and Muslims will kill all the Jews.''

"Anti-Semitic Crime Surges, Worrying French Jews" (Suzanne Daley, The New York Times, 2002/02/26)
"But for over a year, France has witnessed a wave of attacks on Jews. Increasingly, Jewish leaders are speaking out, challenging government statistics that they say minimize the problem and criticizing public officials who they say fail to denounce the mounting threats, insults and assaults directed at French Jews. Part of the current problem, they say, is that the attacks are no longer coming just from skinheads and other supporters of the far right as in the past. These days the assailants are often Arabs, who occupy the lowest echelons of this society.The increase in incidents has corresponded to the deteriorating situation in the Middle East."

"The Chosen One" (Michael Kamber, The Village Voice, 2002/02/25)
Kamber on anti-Semitism in Pakistan and the execution of Daniel Pearl: "'My father is a Jew, my mother is a Jew, and I am a Jew' are the last words Daniel Pearl uttered, an instant before his throat was slashed, according to government officials who have viewed the videotape of his murder. At least one of his captors has admitted that the kidnappers were specifically looking for a Jewish victim. Curiously, government officials and Pearl's family, as well as his employer, The Wall Street Journal, are downplaying this angle, as if drawing attention to what is clearly an anti-Jewish killing would dishonor Pearl, who was not an observant Jew. Yet his murderers are identified as members of "a fiercely anti-Semitic Islamic terrorist group called Jaish-e-Mohammed." I can only wonder about what qualifies as "fiercely anti-Semitic" in Pakistan, where anti-Semitism flows as easily as water. For several months following 9-11, the country's newspapers published frequent editorials calling for an investigation into Jewish involvement in the World Trade Center bombing. In interviews conducted while I was there, government officials would occasionally veer off into long diatribes about the Jews; fundamentalist religious leaders, who educate hundreds of thousands of children in the country's madrassas, spoke of little else. ... In such a climate, Daniel Pearl's kidnappers stripped him of his humanity; the funny, creative, fiddle-playing husband and father-to-be is lost. It is replaced with the enemy, the other, the Jew." (See also: "Filmed Execution of WSJ Reporter Sets Off Revulsion" (Brian Williams, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2002/02/22))

"Filmed Execution of WSJ Reporter Sets Off Revulsion" (Brian Williams, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2002/02/22)
"The slaying of kidnapped U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, whose throat was slit on camera by Islamic radicals in Pakistan, set off a wave of revulsion on Friday against his murderers. ... His body has not been found and it is unclear exactly when and where he was executed. But in a account of Pearl's last moments, the Pakistani official, who asked not to be identified, said Pearl's last words uttered on camera before his killing were that he was a Jew and his father was a Jew. "I have been told that the last words uttered by Pearl in the videotape, immediately before his throat was slit, were 'Yes I am a Jew and my father is a Jew'," the official said." (UPDATE: The video can be found at ProHosters, for example.)

"Saudi Government Official: American Jews are 'Brothers of Apes and Pigs'" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch No. 343, 2002/02/08)
"The popular Al-Jazeera talk show, "The Opposite Direction," recently addressed the issue of whether Osama bin Laden has served the cause of Islam, or damaged it. ... However, [the Saudi preacher from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Saudi
Arabia] Al-Haddal stood firmly in defense of bin Laden. In his comments he also fiercely attacked American Jewry. Following are excerpts of Al-Haddal's statements: 'I don't believe that the attack on America [on September 11th] was perpetrated by bin Laden or the Muslims. I think differently. I believe it was a scheme. What is happening now is a continuation of an ancient attack. It is a continuation of the Jewish deception and the Jewish-Zionist wickedness which infiltrates the U.S. ... I am surprised that the Christian U.S. allows the 'brothers of apes and pigs' [meaning the Jews] to corrupt it. ... [The Jews] are the most despicable people who walked the land and are the worms of the entire world. They are all evil. And why? Because they are deceiving and plotting aggressors...'"

"The Return of Anti-Semitism" (Hillel Halkin, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/02/05)
"That anti-Semitism has grown in direct proportion to Palestinian violence against Israel; that it has systematically ignored this violence in order to concentrate exclusively on the evils of Israeli retaliation; that it has gotten worse even as the world has applauded, or passively accepted, an American attack in Afghanistan, many times more destructive of innocent lives than any Israeli reprisal, on terror groups closely allied with Israel's enemies - this defies all rationalization. It can open the eyes even of sleepers. One must not give an inch on this point. The new anti-Israelism is nothing but the old anti-Semitism in disguise."

"Egyptian Government Weekly Reproduces Nazi Propaganda Forgery" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch No. 339, 2002/01/31)
"An antisemitic Nazi forgery targeting American Jews was reproduced recently by an Egyptian government weekly. An article by Salah Al-Din Hilmi, titled "The Jews are Bloodsuckers and Will Yet Conquer America," appeared in the Egyptian government weekly Akher Sa'a and included a photocopy of a forged document that Hilmi claimed is kept at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia... ... 'A great danger threatens the United States of America. This great danger is the Jew... ... Why? Because they are vampires, and vampires cannot live on other vampires... They must live among Christians and others who do not belong to their race.'"

"Are the French 'a shi*tty lot'?" (Suzanne Lowry, The Spectator, from the 2002/01/19 issue)
"The usually tight-lipped Vedrine is the ambassador’s boss, yet the spat was not over undiplomatic indiscretion, but rather the increasing number of anti-Jewish outrages, such as those at the synagogue and school in Créteil at the end of the year. This suburb has a 20,000-strong Jewish community, the largest in the Paris region but nothing like as large as the North African immigrant community whose fervent young Muslims have been bringing the intifada into their own backyard. The result is what intellectuals have named 'Judaeophobia', to distinguish it from plain old-fashioned anti-Semitism. Pierre-André Taguieff has written a study of this phenomenon called La nouvelle Judéophobie. He blames its appearance on out-of-control delinquency in the suburban immigrant ghettos and on the lefty intellos who embrace a fervent 'Palestinophilia' and demonise Israel. ... The new and bitter twist is that this aggression comes from within the North African immigrant community. Three Maghrebian Muslims have been charged with the assaults on the school and synagogue - the last in a line of offences that began 15 months ago with the launch of the second intifada in Palestine."

"British Magazine Raising Specter of 'Zionist Lobby'" (Forward, 2002/01/18)
"In what some see as a pattern since September 11, a leading British weekly has raised the specter of Jewish control over the media and government. The cover story of the January 14 edition of the New Statesman, a respected liberal weekly, is headlined "A Kosher Conspiracy?" and features a gold Star of David appearing to pierce a Union Jack. The story purports to investigate whether there is a "Zionist" plan to sway the British press to the side of Israel and to minimize Palestinian grievances. It also assesses the extent to which Jews influence British politics. "That there is a Zionist lobby and that it is rich, potent, and effective goes largely unquestioned on the left," writes Dennis Sewell. "Big Jewry, like big tobacco, is seen as one of life's givens." Journalists who dare to speak out against the "Zionist lobby," Mr. Sewell adds, are harassed, threatened and eventually muted. ... The New Statesman article is only the latest example of what some say has become a wide expression of anti-Semitism in Britain since September 11." (See also: "A kosher conspiracy?" (Dennis Sewell, The New Statesman, from the 2002/01/14 issue))

"Arafat: 'Israel murders our children and use their organs as "spare parts" for organ-transplants'" (Islamic Association For Palestine, 2002/01/14)
The accusation of blood libel has been used throughout history against Jews. In this case the accusation comes from the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Yasser Arafat: "Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has accused the Israeli apartheid regime of murdering Palestinian children and youths and extricating their vital organs for organ transplants. "They murder our kids and use their organs as spare parts," Arafat said during an interview with the pan-Arab al-Jazeera satellite television last night."

"Prejudice and Abuse - Have the French and English learned nothing from the 20th century?" (Tom Gross, National Review, 2002/01/10)
"And as for Israel, it seems to be open season. A piece in the Independent, for example, by one of the paper's regular columnists ("I'm fed up being called an anti-Semite," by Deborah Orr, December 21, 2001), described Israel as "sh***y" and "little" no fewer than four times. "Anti-Semitism is disliking all Jews, anywhere, and anti-Zionism is just disliking the existence of Israel and opposing those who support it," explains Orr. "This may be an academic rather than a practical distinction, and one which has no connection with holding the honest view that in my experience Israel is sh***y and little." ... If the French are now almost as open about their anti-Semitism as the Egyptians are (in 2001, the best-selling song in Cairo was one titled "I hate Israel"), evidently in England the crime today is not actually being anti-Semitic, but rather condemning someone for their anti-Semitism." (See also: "Islamists overplay their hand but London salons don't see it" (Barbara Amiel, The Daily Telegraph, 2001/12/17))

"Blame it on the anti-Semitic media" (Yisrael Harel, Haaretz, 2002/01/10)
"But it's feigning innocence to blame the IDF Spokesman for the "professional" reasons the world media is trying to evade reporting the main issue, which is Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's arms smuggling. ... But when [CNN] reports - even after the interview with the captain - that "Israel and the Palestinians continue to exchange accusations about the weapons ship," it in effect explains why CNN made no effort to go after the dramatic story. And that is the attitude of other news networks and of important newspapers, like The New York Times, which wrote that the weapons were ostensibly intended for the Hezbollah. ... The Arabs claim that Israel orchestrated an act of piracy in international waters, and that it's not the first time the country ignored international law. And we shouldn't be surprised if we soon hear that argument in Europe as well. Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish papers are full of hatred for Israel. ... Arafat continues to win world support, especially in the Scandinavian countries that carry the human rights banner on high, despite the destruction of human rights in the Palestinian Authority, widespread personal and public corruption, weapons smuggling, and in particular, personal responsibility for acts of mass terror."

"A New Antisemitic Myth in the Arab Press: The September 11 Attacks Were Perpetrated by the Jews" (Special Report, MEMRI, 2002/01/08)
"Since September 11, the Arab media have claimed that Jews perpetrated the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Promoting this new myth are high-ranking public officials and columnists in the government and non-government press in Arab countries. In an attempt to deflect blame from the Arab-Muslim suspects in the attacks, the media have floated a number of ideas on the identities of the perpetrators. According to Arab perceptions, the attacks were carried out by those who stood to gain the most from them. Also examined was the question of who had the capability to carry out such an operation. In the articles reviewed in this report, the conclusions point directly at the Jews. These conclusions are supported by various forms of evidence, further buttressed by timeworn, long-"substantiated" antisemitic myths. Thus, the papers posit guilt, substantiate their accusations, convict, and, in one case, hand down a sentence – annihilation 'as Hitler did.'"

"Arab Antisemitism - Saudi Government Daily on the 'Culture of Hatred'" (Special Dispatch No. 328, MEMRI, 2002/01/08)
"Following are excerpts from an article in the Saudi daily 'Al-Riyadh' by Abdallah Al-Ka'id, titled 'The Culture of Hatred'": "For example, one cannot be amazed by the hatred of most of the nations of the world for the 'Zionist entity,' because of its history, replete not with human achievements but with barbaric massacres, deceit, and evil conscience. Hatred towards them is on the rise among the Arabs in particular, because of what they suffer from the occupation of the Arab state of Palestine, the catastrophes, the cruelty, and the injustice that are known to all. ... However warm the kisses, and however firm the handshakes, their hearts are full of hatred, their souls are full of rage, and their eyes glance away with loathing at the sight of the flag of the Zionist entity flying in the heart of [some] Arab capitals. ... These are our enemies, and our hatred towards them is rooted in our souls, and the only thing that can remove it is their departure from our lands and the purification of their defilement of our holy places!!!"

"Is Paris Burning? - Vichy-style Jew-hating surfaces in Western Europe" (Jonathan Mark, The Jewish Week, 2002/01/04)
"The other week, threats from French-Palestinians forced a Paris theater to cancel a special "Harry Potter" Chanukah screening for Jewish children. Just before Rosh HaShanah, 200 Arabs attacked Jews on the Champs Elysees. In recent months there have been more than 40 firebombings of Jewish buildings in France. Officials from two separate Jewish organizations told Reuters (Dec. 14) the climate was "like before World War II," and the French media reflects that."

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Jacques Barzun

Articles of the week

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From the archives

Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.

"The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt" (Oriana Fallaci, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/03/13)

"How the West Was Won and How It Will Be Lost" (Oriana Fallaci, The American Enterprise, from the January/February 2003 issue)

"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)

"Anger and Pride" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2001/12/19)

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