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October 15, 2004
A Jewish plot, part two
Editorial
An outlandish assertion is apparently gaining credence in Egypt
about the terror attacks that killed 31 people last week in Egypt's
Sinai resorts. According to Ha'aretz on Tuesday, many Egyptians
believe that Israel perpetrated the attacks on its own citizens,
in some sort of devious Zionist plot. Happy not to be blamed for
the security failure, the Egyptian government is allegedly doing
little to correct the ridiculous allegation.
In this space last week, we learned of a suspected Jewish conspiracy
to take over Canada's NDP; now we are asked to believe that Israelis
are blowing up Israelis for public relations advantage.
Suggestions that the anti-Israel movement worldwide is sustained
by deeply ingrained anti-Semitism is not illustrated by a bunch
of fanatics screaming their animosity toward Jews the mainstream
anti-Zionist movement is slightly too sophisticated for a display
like that. Rather, the inherent anti-Jewish flavor of these movements
is best illustrated by the unquestioned acceptance by Israel's enemies
that Zionists will do anything necessary to advance their cause.
The extent to which this anti-Semitic conspiracy stereotype is accepted
(or simply ignored) within the world community, including by Canadians,
is the very nexus where anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism merge.
What convinces us that anti-Semitism lurks beneath this veneer is
the ease with which outlandish assertions that blame Jewish characteristics
or actions for Jewish misfortunes are accepted by the world community.
Accusations such as the Israeli connection to Israeli deaths or
some master plan to infiltrate the NDP fit neatly into ancient assumptions
about Jews. Most alarming is not how these assertions are received
by people in Arab states, whose media and education systems have
fed them anti-Zionist claptrap with their mother's milk, but how
they are credulously accepted or simply ignored by Canadians and
others, who should recognize and name racist stereotyping when we
see it.
What Israel's critics in Canada and abroad have consistently
failed to understand is that the anti-Semitic spine of their movement
is not typified by bloodthirsty chants of "death to the Jews"
or similar blatant displays. It is demonstrated by the subtle acceptance
of allegations that Jews are engaged in devious, conspiratorial
behaviors and therefore deserve whatever comes their way. This is
where the anti-Zionist movement and ancient anti-Semitic prejudices
have found common cause.
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