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In ancient Greek mythology Amphisbaena is a two-headed serpent. Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are two, closely-related, forms of bigotry poking up their heads today - and not just from demigods appealing to a right-wing base. As worrisome are anti-Jewish nostrums spouted by some student and left-wing activists and by a handful of academics at respected liberal institutions.
Sources: "Mooz-Lum," (2010). Iconic Photo: Warsaw 1943, ABC News Footage, Kosher deli CCTV footage, Paris 2015 |
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The two women in the foreground are from a scene in “Mooz-Lum*,” written and directed by Qasim Basir,
in which the Muslim youth are about to be attacked by racist thugs. The young woman on right is preparing to surrender by removing her head scarf, echoing
the iconic background image of an eight-year old Jewish newsboy surrendering to Nazi storm troopers in the Warsaw ghetto of Poland, in 1943 as they
implement Hitler's “Final Solution.”
Also in the background is news footage of a “white power” demonstration led by Frazier Glenn Miller, whose camouflage jacket
and head are partially visible. Miller is a Missouri Klan leader and FBI informant who gunned down three people at a Jewish Community Center in Lakeland,
Kansas, in 2014.
Inset in bottom foreground is security footage from inside the store which was the scene of anti-Semitic attack on a Parisian Kosher market
by ISIS terrorists in 2015 in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
While Islamophobia has gained recent traction spurred on by demagoguery of a few American politicians and widespread intolerance in Europe in
response to the refugee/immigration crisis and several highly publicized terrorist attacks, anti-Semitic violence, though still at historically low levels,
has also been on the rise in the past couple of years according to the Anti-Defamation League. Anti-Semitism has manifested itself not just on the political
right, but alarmingly also emerged among some student and left-wing activists in recent months.
The most notable recent case involves Joy Karega,
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an assistant professor at Oberlin College, who like many supporters of the Boycott,
Divest, Sanctions campaign (BDS), has repeated anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. (Karenga was ultimately fired for violating academic ethics.) These nostrums do not serve the cause of Palestinian rights or advance understanding of their
legitimate grievances. The majority of Israelis, whether Jew or Arab, face problems similar to working people in every other country rooted a systemic crisis.
BDS camapigners falsely equate Israel with South Africa under apartheid. Israel, like the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa
(as it exists today), is an imperialist democracy. Like those states its origin is as an European settler-colonial state.
Likewise native peoples have been deprived of land and life with brutality. Non-Europeans, including non-European Jews, have their rights systematically trampled.
Despite all this Israel is probably the most democratic country in the region. Many Arabs are Israeli citizens, who participate in the democratic process and hold
elective posts.
To Jews fleeing real persecution in other parts of the world, Israel offers a safe haven. This is true whatever one thinks of its rulers or their policies. The Jewish people wolrdwide
have still never recovered their numbers from their losses during the Holocaust.
Particularly dangerous are notions that ISIS is a conspiracy concocted by and a tool of the CIA and Mossad.
In debates on several college campuses
the objectivity and loyalty of Jewish students has been challenged by BDS spokespeople.
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