The longest hatred: The seemingly insurmountable odds of fighting antisemitism - opinion

Much as we may be interested in how the world views Israel, I have concluded that I can only stomach very small doses of the international media. 

Having given up on the BBC’s version of what happened in Israel on Oct. 7 and its ongoing consequences, I turned to the UK’s Sky News. Unfortunately, it became blatantly clear that this channel, too, preferred to accept the words of the internationally recognized terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas over those of a democratic country. 

Today, Israel is facing challenges unmatched since its rebirth in 1948. We are in a war seemingly without end; hostages (alive or dead) remain in the captivity of the barbaric Hamas. Thousands of civilians who live in the North have been forced to evacuate their homes – with several deciding never to return. We, the general public, remain ignorant of the extent of the damage to the North wrought by Hezbollah’s multitude of rockets. None of this is acknowledged by the international media. 

On the contrary, it is as if the world’s news outlets have forgotten that on Oct. 7 the war was initiated by Hamas with its massacre of 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children, and the taking of some 250 Israeli hostages. Reality is turned on its head with the media presenting Israel as the war’s instigator, continuing to attack “innocents” in Gaza and Lebanon without rhyme or reason. 

In addition, the consistent threats of a potential (if not already) nuclear-powered Iran – the sponsor of Hezbollah and Hamas – to annihilate the one Jewish state are totally disregarded by the international media. Its reporting – or misreporting – adds fuel to the flames of a rise in antisemitism which can only be compared to the 1930s.

The latest example of antisemitism in the UK has shown itself via street battles raging between right-wing racists and those, supposedly, in opposition. The riots kicked off when three children were stabbed to death in Southport, with their murderer mistakenly believed to be a Muslim. The right-wing protesters – openly against Muslims and most immigrants – were met by counterprotesters claiming to be against fascist ideology.

However, what transpired in the London district of Finchley – home to a high proportion of Jews – proves otherwise. Dave Rich, head of Policy at the UK’s Community Security Trust (the major organization offering security to the Jewish Community), pointed out that the so-called anti-fascist group had placed an online advert in which Zionists are equated with Nazis, fascists: “Get fascists, racists, Nazis, Zionists, and Islamaphobes out of Finchley.”

TO QUOTE Rich: “It’s a chilling message, given the number of Jews living in Finchley who would consider themselves Zionists, and soured for many of those who wanted to support the counterprotest... it’s a consequence, in part, of months of anti-Israel marches, meetings, and social media narratives portraying Israel as genocidal and Zionism as akin to fascism; and it is feeding a conspiratorial explanation of why these riots are happening at all.” 

Without a doubt, Israel, Zionists, and the Jews appear to be the number one enemy of far too many. 

How can we fight antisemitism?

There are those who contend that antisemitism has always been around, even if just under the surface, with little that can change this reality. 

While it is easy to identify with this premise, perhaps a long overdue question would be to what extent might we have helped ourselves in fighting this longest hatred. Could it be that if Israel’s present and previous governments had considered hasbara (Israel advocacy) a prime responsibility, the situation might be different?

Clearly, and very unfortunately, we are devoid of those capable of succinctly putting our case to a hostile world. For a brief period, we were blessed with an outstanding spokesman, Eylon Levy, until March 2024, when our government decided that he could no longer occupy the position because he had taken part in the anti–judicial reform protests that preceded the war. 

And what happened to the English-speaking spokesmen from the IDF whose sole raison d’etre was to provide up–to–the-minute news, specifically for the English-speaking media, diplomats – and many more?

Similarly, until June of this year, English speakers in Israel (including numerous diplomats and international media representatives) were able to keep up with the news in the Jewish state via the excellent TV channel i24 News in English. Sadly, the powers that be decided that it would be more valuable to have yet another 24/7 channel in Hebrew. Today, i24 News in English operates within a restricted timetable, from 5-11 p.m., from Sunday to Thursday. There is a well-versed saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” We, however, are apparently bent on doing the opposite. 

THIS WEEKEND marks 127 years since the first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland; convened by Theodor Herzl, it took place from August 29-31, 1897. Herzl noted in his diary “Here I have created the Jewish state.” 

The incentive that drove Herzl to this point was his experience covering the Dreyfus case as a Viennese journalist in Paris. The guilty verdict adjudicated to Dreyfus – a Jewish artillery captain in the French army – was later found to have been based on false evidence as a cover-up for the blatant antisemitism.

Herzl believed that antisemitism could not be defeated, only avoided. 

In his “Der Judenstaat” paper (1896), he argued that the best way to avoid antisemitism was to create an independent Jewish state. One wonders what Herzl would think if he arrived in this world today – one with a Jewish state – where the Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis was followed by an explosion of antisemitism of disturbingly new and frightening levels.

What is the bottom line? Israel’s incredibly brave and committed IDF is fighting this war not only for each and every one of us who lives here but for every Jew everywhere.

It is appropriate to recall a conference that took place in July 1938 in Evian, France, where 32 countries were represented. The purpose of the meeting was to calculate the number of Jews each country would take in from Germany and Austria – countries that Hitler had vowed to make Judenfrei (free of Jews). Country after country – including the United States and Britain – refused to offer refuge to even a single Jew, the sole exception being the tiny Dominican Republic. 

On a personal level, it is apt that I should be writing this article this week when I commemorate the yahrzeit of my husband, John. He and his family were desperate to leave Germany in 1939, but their American papers specified they could not enter the US prior to November 1940. John and his family were fortunate in that his grandfather Michael Guttmann, an eminent rabbi in Hungary, was a friend of the then-chief rabbi of Britain and the Commonwealth, Joseph Hertz; he used his protexia (influence) to enable the Katten family to flee to England, temporarily. 

Tragically, the majority of Jews who wanted to escape Hitler ended their lives in the gas chambers of Europe. 

Perhaps Herzl didn’t quite get it right, but he certainly understood that if there were a Jewish state, our Diaspora brothers and sisters would have a place to go if, or when, antisemitism reached an intolerable level in any of the countries they had been calling “home.”

Am Yisrael chai!  

The writer is chairperson of Israel, Britain and the Commonwealth Association (IBCA).