Breeze Perspectives: Continuing to disregard the world’s oldest hatred
From melrose to the Middle East, anti-Semitism is still pervasive
By Craig Finkelstein, contributing writer
Posted on September 7, 2006

Anti-Semitism is so widely exhibited and commonly found that even describing what actually is anti-Semitic is quite a task. Usual examples involve blaming the Jews for all the world’s problems, claiming they control institutions such as the media, government or Hollywood, ridiculing the Holocaust, and so on. Being a member of the tribe, I can honestly say that there exists widespread anti-Semitism and overall public hatred of Jews that should be judged on the same level of every other form of prejudice.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has recently been one of the more worldly issuers of anti-Semitic comments, ranging from his October 2005 call to have the Jewish state of Israel “wiped off the map” to his repeated denial of the occurrence of the Holocaust. Ahmadinejad has even gone as far as to sanction the Iranian state-run newspaper Hamshahri to hold a Holocaust cartoon contest in February. This hatred coming from the leader of a country, which as a result has only received passive condemnations from the U.N. and others alike that essentially does little to address the problem of anti-Semitism. World leaders continue to welcome Ahmadinejad with open arms, but would the same treatment occur had he made racist comments about other cultural groups?

Closer to home, we have the likes of Hollywood celebrities like such as Mel Gibson to spew anti-Semitic rants. Whether the general public would like to admit it or not, Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite, and using his inebriated state as an excuse to curse Jews does not justify his actions. As anyone who has ever been drunk knows, “a drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts.”  Not only did Gibson spawn from a man who also denies that the Holocaust ever existed, but Gibson’s defaming and inaccurate portrayal of Jews in “The Passion of the Christ” preambles why he went on a drunken rant accusing the Jews for all the world’s problems.

Consider what would have occurred had Gibson chose to make racist comments toward blacks. Would Gibson have been let off the hook so much had he chose to insult blacks? Disney will continue to distribute Gibson’s upcoming film “Apocalypto” despite Gibson’s apparent anti-Semitism, yet Tom Cruise is the one who is called crazy and fired from Paramount Pictures because of his Sciencetology beliefs. Why is it that a film company wants to distance itself from Cruise, who is not the anti-Semite, but Gibson continues to be employed by Disney? Part of Gibson’s lack of punishment has to do with his celebrity status, but I suspect it mostly stems from the fact that the world simply does not care about anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism is a serious form of hate that cannot be allowed to continue to spread. Although most who are reading find it hard to relate, just imagine that it was anti-Semitism that led to the annihilation of six million people during the Holocaust, yet it seems the world still has not learned its lesson and continues to persecute the Jews. Just as modern-day Americans feel impassioned at the sheer horror of the Sept. 11 attacks and how vulnerable Americans are, Jews feel that horror magnified when we think of the Holocaust.  

Numerous Christian and Muslim states exist around the world, yet the one Jewish state of Israel continues to be criticized unfairly and attacked egregiously from all of its borders. Israel cannot even defend itself from daily terrorist attacks without being condemned and excessively criticized by the apparently diplomatic U.N. The reason for this is that there exists anti-Semitic emotions fueling world body decision-making and preventing real situations like Darfur and nuclear proliferation from being addressed.

Jews, like most religions, want to exist in a world where we can practice our religion without fear. To do so, the world must remove the one impediment preventing that: anti-Semitism.

Craig Finkelstein is a senior international affairs major.