Anti-Semitism 2.0: Who are the modern anti-Semites?
On Sunday, our national Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel's Channel 2 aired a documentary about modern anti-Semitism. At some point, a man was interviewed, saying that the Jews are to blame for all the troubles of the world, and that "Hitler was too nice." This, like many claims of such, gave me the goosebumps, but what got me into a state of shock was the fact that this man was not a European skinhead with a swastika tattoo on his forehead, but your average Joe. An American, medium sized, wearing glasses, articulate, with a hint of shyness. At that moment I realized – this is the face of modern anti-Semitism: not criminals, but your next-door neighbor, your bus driver, your child's teacher…
I assume you, much like myself, encounter anti-Semitic comments and accusations online. They are few, but they're everywhere: in social networks, on news websites, in forums, comments or any other internet-age form. I receive such comments right here, or on Israelife's Facebook page, almost on a monthly basis, and although I got used to them, they still hit me right in the gut every single time. "What a shame Hitler didn't finish what he started;" "You stinking Jew; "It is all the Jews' fault. You are the cause of the world's sorrows." Those are all comments I received months ago, but I cannot get out of my head. I always assumed that the people behind such comments are minorities, violent European bullies whose grandparents were Nazis, who grew up on the values of hatred and terror.
This assumption kept me strong when facing these comments, because I knew that as long as I stay out of dark alleys and remember to hide my Judaism while traveling to Europe, I will be safe. I knew that they can't harm me, because the world will not let them. I knew I could trust the enlightened world to always keep those haters under control, so that the Holocaust will never happen again. I was sure that the world will remember and never forget, and keep reminding others. This assumption blew up in my face, after watching this documentary. At that moment, hope turned to fear. Certainty turned to horror. That man who said those things, he IS "the enlightened world." He is the one I counted on to not let the horrors of the Holocaust happen again. What's even more scary is that this man is not alone. There are millions like him worldwide. Normative people from normative families who truly and utterly believe that poverty, violence, the 2008 financial crisis – all the Jews' fault.
It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?! Absurd, even. But it's true. At the beginning of the 20th century, one man managed to convince a small group of people that the solutions to the world's problems is the mass destruction of people of a certain religion. That small group soon managed to convince a mass of people that were at times of trouble that what caused their problems is not the consequences of WW1, but the Jews. Soon, a nation was convinced that genocide, a mass murder of men, women and children, the Final Solution, is the best solution.
more: http://www.jewishjournal.com/israelife/item/anti_semitism_2.0_who_are_the_modern_age_anti_semites
