Surge in antisemitism must be a global wake-up call - editorial

After an Iranian plot to assassinate Canadian human rights activist Irwin Cotler was revealed in late October, he called it “a wake-up call for the community of democracies.” Since then, antisemitic and anti-Israel assaults and threats have escalated further around the world, from the murder of Chabad emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan z”l in the United Arab Emirates on November 21 to incendiary leaflets in London this week.

GB News reported on Wednesday that leaflets reading “Zionists, leave Britain or be slaughtered” were distributed in Hendon, a neighborhood with a large Jewish population. “We are witnessing a troubling trend of redlines being repeatedly crossed,” said Isaac Zarfati, executive director of StandWithUs UK. “This is not just another wave that will pass if we remain passive.”

What can be done to counter this hateful phenomenon? One example of a country taking swift action is The Netherlands. Following the antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam on November 8, the Dutch government unveiled a five-year national strategy for combating antisemitism in pursuit of what it called “Netherlands without antisemitism.”

According to a cabinet statement, the Dutch Jewish community, numbering some 50,000, “lives in great insecurity.” The cabinet earmarked 4.5 million euros ($4.7 million) annually for the plan to be coordinated by the Justice and Security Ministry, advised by the National Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism, focusing on stepping up security at Jewish sites.

The new strategy calls for the establishment of an antisemitism task force, tougher laws on “glorifying terrorism,” and a probe into violence during protests in the streets and in soccer stadiums, where fans will be targeted in a bid to eradicate antisemitic chanting.

“With the current strategy, the government makes it clear that the fight against antisemitism concerns all Dutch people,” the cabinet said. “We all have a responsibility, as a society, to combat antisemitism and the insecurity of Jews. The Netherlands stands for an open, reasonable, and tolerant society. Jewish life is a very explicit part of that.”

Asked for his view of the situation, French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy, who authored a new book titled Israel Alone, told The Jerusalem Post: 

“The situation is clearly not good. Look at the Amsterdam pogrom—the hostile protests before the France-Israel soccer match at the Stade de France. There have been countless authoritarian, even totalitarian, countries or nations involved in terrible wars that have played at the Stade de France without any issue. Yet now it’s Israel’s turn, a true democracy, attacked on seven fronts and targeted in its very existence – and there’s a widespread boycott! Isn’t that strange? Doesn’t that trouble you?”

In a recent op-ed in Post, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum and Lahav Harkov suggested that Israel take the leading role in combating global antisemitism. “While the State of Israel cannot eradicate the world’s oldest hatred, it must take effective action to mitigate it,” they wrote, arguing that Israel “must provide support to Jewish communities confronting antisemitism.”

They proposed that the government form an inter-ministerial committee for Israel-Diaspora relations to coordinate the international battle against antisemitism.

For his part, Cotler, who was appointed Canada’s first antisemitism envoy and is also the founder and international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, outlined his position clearly in the Annual Antisemitism Worldwide Report published by Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League. 

“The explosion of antisemitism is a threat not only to Jews but is toxic to our democracies, an assault on our common humanity, and a standing threat to human security – in a word, the bloodied canary in the mineshaft of global evil,” Cotler wrote. “Jews alone cannot combat it, let alone defeat it. What is required is a constituency of conscience – a whole-of-government, whole-of-society commitment and action to combat this oldest and most lethal of hatreds.”

Cotler’s daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, appointed Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism just a few weeks before October 7, 2023, said this is a time for everyone who cares to stand up and speak out. “To me, this tsunami of antisemitism is a call to action and responsibility, and not just for Jews, but for anyone who understands the importance of this existential moment in time.”