'Price tag' is Israel's anti-Semitism
Op-ed: There are relatively more hate incidents against Arabs in Israel than hate incidents against Jews in France.
Yizhar Hess (from Yedieot Acherunot – the most read daily newspaper in Israel)
Please read the following sentence slowly: Relatively, there are more hate incidents against Arabs in Israel than hate incidents against Jews in France.
Op-ed: There are relatively more hate incidents against Arabs in Israel than hate incidents against Jews in France.
Yizhar Hess (from Yedieot Acherunot – the most read daily newspaper in Israel)
Please read the following sentence slowly: Relatively, there are more hate incidents against Arabs in Israel than hate incidents against Jews in France.
One has to read this sentence twice in order to understand its
shocking meaning. And even then, the natural tendency is to question the data,
to repress, to ignore. The dissonance is too heavy. Especially for us, the sons
and daughters of a nation which was the victim of the most horrible phenomenon
of hatred in human history.
The meaning of the comparative
figures is hard to digest, but denial is more dangerous.
A total of 554 anti-Semitic incidents were
recorded around the world in 2013, according to a comprehensive report prepared
by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv
University. The figures point to a certain drop compared to the previous year,
but anti-Semitism has not only failed to step down from the stage of history,
but in some places it is even a key player. Maybe not a lead actor, but
definitely a character actor. Ever present, existing, above and below the
surface.
But can we condemn anti-Semitism firmly,
clearly, unequivocally – as it deserves – without turning our heads towards
what is taking place in our own backyard?
Nineteen incidents of hatred against Arabs
were recorded in Israel in 2013. The first took place in Jerusalem in January,
when the Nabi Daud Mosque was desecrated with malicious graffiti, and the last
one took place on the final day of the year in the village of Dura al-Qara.
Three vehicles were torched, and the malicious graffiti left no room for doubt:
Price tag.
When one examines these numbers courageously,
the earth starts moving. Nearly eight million residents live in Israel. On
average, we are talking about one anti-Semitic incident per 400,000 people.
Russia, for example, which has 142 million
residents, recorded 15 anti-Semitic incidents that year, one incident per 9.5
million residents. Germany, which has 81 million people, recorded 36 incidents,
one per two million people. Even France, which had the highest number of
anti-Semitic incidents in 2013, recorded 116 incidents. With its 66 million
residents, we are talking about once incident per 600,000 people.
Where do we take this disgrace? That's a good
question. We must not get dragged into the overly familiar political dispute.
It's not a matter of left and right, nor is it a matter of routine political
haggling. Something important has happened in Israel.
The Jewish tradition has many faces. Those
trying to find support for racist perceptions in it will probably be able to do
that, but those seeking to derive a moral-humanistic purpose from it will
almost always have the upper hand.
When Hillel the Elder was asked to define the
one rule the entire Torah is based on, he said: "That which you wouldn't
want done to you, don't do to your friend." Hillel gave us a
comprehensive, cross-generation rule of thumb for every ethical and legal,
private and public indecision.
Ant-Semitism is anti-Semitism is
anti-Semitism. It is similar in its motives and pathology in every language.
The natural expectation from every person is to feel internal, literally
physical, rebellion when he encounters it – all the more so if he is Jewish.
Yes, Jews have an extra duty when it comes to
racism. The claws of racism have engraved this duty into our arms. We must all
feel great shame in light of these hate crimes taking place almost every day
recently by veiled and heartless thugs, who wish to celebrate the superiority
of the Jewish people in its fatherland by degrading and humiliating the other.
Only if we spew this abomination from within
us we will be able to hold up a mirror to the world with integrity.
Attorney Yizhar Hess is the CEO of the Masorti
Movement in Israel, which is a member of the Tag Meir ("Spreading the
Light") forum.
