“The massacre of the Jews in Israel on October 7 and the Kishinev Pogrom are both rooted in systematic and violent antisemitism and an education that promotes hatred of Jews,” Mark Weitzman, a renowned expert on antisemitism and advocate for Holocaust-era justice, said this week during a poignant address at a conference in Chisinau, Moldova, commemorating the 120th anniversary of the Kishinev Pogrom.
He highlighted the ideological parallels between the Hamas-led massacre of Israeli communities and the historic Kishinev Pogrom. He stated that “the motive for the murder of an estimated 1,200 Israelis on October 7 can be traced, at least in part, directly to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a text also linked to the Kishinev Pogrom.”
Weitzman presented evidence from the original Hamas charter, adopted in 1988, to support his claim. “The Zionist plan is limitless...The Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the notorious forgery of czarist Russia, which he quoted from the charter.
Holocaust distortion an attempt to undermine liberal democracy
Highlighting the current rise of antisemitism globally and its manifestation in social media, particularly after conflicts in the Gaza Strip, Weitzman emphasized the critical importance of confronting distortions of historical events like the Holocaust and the recent massacre in Israeli communities.
“The distortion of the Holocaust is an attempt to undermine liberal democracy and its institutions, as well as concepts such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and human rights.” He drew a parallel between these concerns and the attempts to misrepresent the recent events in Israel.
Weitzman’s address also included a discussion about the WJRO’s engagement with Moldovan government officials, underscoring the continuous pursuit of justice and the importance of honoring the victims of both the Kishinev Pogrom and the October 7 tragedy in Israel.
“Commemoration without action is not enough... The restitution of property from the Holocaust helps stop the efforts to distort the Holocaust and the history of antisemitism,” Weitzman concluded.