I listened in to some of the speeches, and my main problem with most speakers was that they ignored the elephant in the room: the real reason for most antisemitism, the real reason why Jews feel so afraid in Europe, and why some of them prefer to live in a country under constant threat of nuclear annihilation.
The cause of most of today's antisemitism is hatred of Israel, plain and simple. The desire to annihilate the only Jewish country in the world, the constant world chorus that decries everything that Israel does as evil.
Hatred of Israel is hatred of Jews. It's not even cloaked, nowadays. Europeans today accuse 'Zionists' of doing this or that, when they're speaking about the Jews in their own communities, not about Israelis.
There were very few countries who said straight out that Israel-hatred is Jew-hatred, and I'd like to thank them for their bold and courageous stance. It shouldn't be so, but sadly, that is the case today. All the Jewish representatives said that Israel-hatred is Jew-hatred. But what do Jews know about antisemitism?
- Canada - Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Steven Blaney said as follows:
Canada has taken a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination including in rhetoric towards Israel, and attempts to delegitimize Israel such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
- Albania - Ambassador Ferit Hoxha said as follows:
Today’s anti-Semitism is being directed against Jews as individuals, as countless acts of violence have demonstrated, including most regrettably the last one in Paris a few weeks ago, but also against Israel’s legitimacy and right to exist waged by a dangerous union of radical views and extremist actions. Albania stands resolutely against all such efforts
- United Kingdom - who said that "antisemitism can sometimes cloak itself as anti-Zionism".
It's not a complete rejection, but in today's world, even slight acknowledgement is better than nothing.
I did not listen to all the speeches, so there might have been more countries who deserve to be publicly honored for their strong stance on fighting the root cause of antisemitism today.
The UN General Assembly is one of the leading causes of antisemitism 'cloaked' as anti-Zionism. As UN Watch points out, last year the General Assembly passed 20 motions against Israel, and only 3 against other countries: Iran, Syria and North-Korea.
Syria, which has killed tens of thousands of its own citizens, was condemned just once by the UN, while Israel which has a thriving multi-ethnic, multi-national and multi-religious community, was condemned 20 times.
Most of these motions were supported by the likes of France and Germany.
So it was hard to take them seriously when their representatives stood up and spoke about how seriously they take antisemitism, and how seriously their countries intend to fight it.
Many people spoke about how they teach their kids about the Holocaust. But if your media and politicians constantly criticize Israel for being Nazis, for committing genocide and ethnic cleansing, than, as a Jew, I really prefer they don't learn about the Holocaust. First, because obviously if you can't differentiate between Jews and Nazis, then all that teaching hasn't been very effective. And second, because it just serves as weapons against Jews. So who needs it? Europeans, so they can feel good with themselves?
The Muslim and Arab countries (not including Albania), used the opportunity to accuse Israel of antisemitism and to claim that they're also Semites and therefore also suffer from antisemitism.
The concluding Joint Statement Against Antisemitism, is pretty pointless, I think. Even if you really think you intend to fight antisemitism, as long as you continue to attack Israel, you're attacking Jews and contributing to the scourge that is antisemitism.
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