Nearly 50 years ago, then-president Chaim Herzog tore up an antisemitic resolution at the United Nations that declared Zionism to be racism. Proving how little has changed since then, were it not for a United States veto, the UN Security Council would have passed a farcically antisemitic resolution on February 20, 2024.
Antisemitism has only intensified in Israel and around the world and it is unfortunately only going to get worse.
Let’s start with Israel. Every infiltration, murder, rape, and kidnapping on October 7 was an act of antisemitism. So are all the 13,000 rockets fired from Gaza since then and every missile and drone launched from Lebanon.
The people of southern Israel are impressively resilient, but too many are still not calling out the antisemitism of their former friends in Gaza and the Arab world.
The left-wing members of the Gaza periphery’s agricultural communities were proven wrong about the intentions of their neighbors on October 7. It is time to start facing reality.
Since Israel unwisely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the only things that have not flown over the fence into Israel are doves of peace.
MANY PEACE-PUSHING “doves” were incinerated in their homes on the Gaza border communities, including veteran peace activist Vivian Silver of Kibbutz Be’eri, whose remains were so burnt that it took months to identify her.
What is creating environments of antisemitism
While the end to the war with Hamas may be in sight, an equally justifiable war with Hezbollah has yet to get into high gear despite emptying northern Israel of its residents for months.
Just like Israel turned a blind eye to Hamas’s stockpiling of weapons that eventually had to be eliminated, the much larger arsenal in Lebanon cannot be ignored, and a war to eliminate this constant threat to Israel is inevitable. Regrettably, Security Council resolution 1701 is unlikely to succeed in disarming Hezbollah, despite our best efforts.
Hezbollah’s goals are genocidal and antisemitic, and any demands from the international community that Israel sit silently with such a serious threat on its border are problematic. So is every city council resolution from San Francisco to Chicago demanding a ceasefire before the hostages come home.
The antisemitism that has reared its ugly head in the US since October 7 had been lurking beneath the surface for decades, and American Jewish leaders did not do nearly enough to stop it.
They should have seen how the students of notoriously anti-Israel Columbia University Prof. Edward Said were taking over the Middle East studies departments on campuses across the country, funded by Qatari money. Together, their followers have created a culture of antisemitism and anti-Americanism.
Now, Jewish students find themselves terrified at top American universities. Since October 7, they have faced physical violence, threats, and intimidation, and sadly, there is no end in sight.
My grandson, who headed a pro-Israel organization at Cornell, transferred from the Ivy League school to the all-Jewish Yeshiva University because he did not feel safe anymore due to the antisemitism he experienced from fellow students and teachers.
A powerful article by former Harvard Prof. Ruth Wisse published in Commentary revealed how the prestigious university’s efforts to achieve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and other decisions have entrenched its antisemitism for many years. DEI is antisemitism and Jews are suffering from it across America. Make no mistake; as long as DEI is present, traditional university life will not be restored.
Claudine Gay was finally deposed from her post as Harvard president, but she still makes a million dollars a year as a professor. Meanwhile, the jobs of Jewish academics remain in jeopardy if they refrain from speaking out against Israel.
JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS have made alliances over decades with many progressive and liberal causes yet most of those alliances evaporated overnight on October 7 when many of the progressive groups abandoned the Jews and sided with their genocidal enemy.
When the government of Qatar decided to trump Jewish alumni donors and provide billions of dollars to universities and institutions, these felt free to exhibit their antisemitism. It is no wonder the Qataris have not been called out enough for being the sponsor of Hamas and the funders of the October 7 massacre. Their resources are unlimited and their tentacles are far-reaching.
Much like the threats from Hamas and Hezbollah, we have known about the Qatari influence for 20 years and done nothing about it; while the regime has invested trillions in antisemitism. We knew that top American universities had campuses in Doha and obtained unprecedented influence at almost every tier of education.
America must wake up and realize that Qatar is not part of the solution to any problem but the cause of too many challenging issues facing the US nowadays.
With Israel’s blessing, Qatar has been giving $320 million annually to Hamas and $800 million to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Instead of revealing the extent of Qatar’s brazenness to the world, the US and Israel are both making a mistake by using Qatari mediators to negotiate a ceasefire agreement. The United Arab Emirates, which normalized relations with Israel via the Abraham Accords and did not fund Hamas, would have been a much more sensible choice.
If the US and Israel do not change their course, it is unfortunately likely that the influence of Qatar and its money will only grow.
Al-Jazeera and AJ+, which are Qatari state media, will continue poisoning Western minds if they are not banished from Israel and the US, as they should have been a long time ago.
THE US must intensify its cooperation with the UAE, which changed its school curriculum to eliminate antisemitism and encourage tolerance, as mandated by the Abraham Accords.
What the UAE implemented can be a model for the essential educational reconstruction of Gaza. That process can be guided by the Culture for Peace Institute, which is dedicated to promoting understanding, tolerance, and peace among diverse cultures and communities worldwide.
It may take 20 years to inculcate a culture of peace instead of the antisemitism taught over the last 20 years. When the war ends will be the perfect time to start the process in Gaza.
Gaza’s reconstruction should be conditioned on educational reconstruction because if not, more wars will take place that will result in much of what would be rebuilt coming down again.
The Abraham Accords provide a platform for educational institutions and organizations to develop programs that promote cultural understanding and appreciation. By including curricula on the history, customs, and beliefs of neighboring nations, educators can help future generations to grow up with a more open and empathetic perspective on the region’s diversity.
The accords have also gone a long way toward ending the scourge of antisemitism, after Jew hatred throughout the entire Arab world was taken for granted.
It is good that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called out the antisemitism of Brazilian President Lula da Silva. But the Irish antisemitism of the last 75 years should also have been called out.
There must be zero tolerance for both kinds of antisemitism, in Israel and in America. We must expose and have zero tolerance for anyone involved in any antisemitic act, from Iran to Ireland to Brazil.
To properly fight antisemitism, we have to be united.
On my way to speak at the Knesset last week, I drove past the menorah across the street. The menorah is there because it is a symbol of unity. In the Tabernacle, it was the only item that God said had to be made from one solid piece of pure gold.
It will be a challenge, but I pray that the people of Israel will remain united against our enemies and defeat them in Israel and around the world.
The writer is chairman of the Religious Zionists of America, president of the Culture for Peace Institute, and a committee member of the Jewish Agency. He was appointed by former US president Donald Trump and serves as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. The views expressed are his own. Martinoliner@gmail.com