While we get distracted, antisemites undermine societal stability - opinion

In the last few months, we have witnessed governments from across the globe unabashedly and without reservation, draw baseless conclusions about Israel’s newly elected government. It is difficult to understand why key allies would reflexively condemn a new Israeli government, even before understanding exactly how it will act and what it will try to accomplish.

While Israel is busy defending itself from unjustified attacks on its democracy, antisemites are intensifying their global efforts to influence the oblivious. The voices of the traditional antisemites from the far right, far left and radical Islam are exploiting controversies surrounding the new Israeli government and are trying to influence many decision-makers to advance their own nefarious agendas.

For example, recently, the terror-supporting Palestinian Authority (PA) decided to lead an anti-Israeli UN resolution to refer the Israeli-Palestinian issue for decisions by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) instead of negotiating in good faith with the Israeli government toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict. At the same time, the PA continues to receive financial and political support from multiple countries around the world while implementing deception, incitement and bribes, which encourage terror attacks on innocent people and the continuation of the conflict. The PA-led resolution is turning, yet again, to a third party, trying to press Israel to act against its own interests.

The distraction about the newly elected Israeli government has even gained some traction within the Jewish community in the US, which will definitively hurt them in the future. Several left-leaning Jewish organizations came out openly against the democratically elected new Israeli government. Consequently, the Israeli government should undertake a major global public relations effort to share its agenda and, at the same time, put it in the proper current and historical factual context. The newly appointed finance minister Bezalel Smotrich tried to address some of these issues in his WSJ article published in late December, titled, “Israel’s New Government Isn’t What You’ve Heard.” It is definitively not enough.

Some of the most difficult related events to understand were the positions of several political leaders of the previous Israeli government when they called for active resistance to undermine the stability of the legally elected new Israeli government and the troubling intent of the unelected Israeli supreme court, to become a self-serving judiciary dictatorship.

With the world’s second-largest Jewish population, the US government also has a part to play. They should not allow unopposed antisemitic voices to take advantage of the current political situation in Israel and influence decision-making processes. For example, voices of reason should be encouraged to stand up against the antisemites, and antisemites should not be appointed to serve as diplomats or as members of committees in Congress. In addition, the US should support truthful and responsible education but should avoid financing corrupt educational systems in the Middle East and elsewhere that brainwash minds against Israel and against the US.

This problem also exists in academia where, for example, a group of antisemites arrived recently at the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) with a “YeIsRight” sign, trying to engage students with their hatred towards Jews, exploiting “freedom of speech,” to disseminate hate and to promote social unrest. Should this trend be amplified, the bad effects will be felt locally and internationally.

Once the population is properly educated and can engage in a constructive dialogue without recklessly passing judgments, it will be easier to stand up against evil, improve the lives of all good people across the globe, and save our society from unnecessary troubles in the future. 

Dr. Shmuel Katz is a Zionist-American leader, speaker and philanthropist.

This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Akiva Van Koningsveld.