Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book TV 20131006

Movies some good guys will ride in wearing white hats and the bad guys right away wearing black cats are that kind of thing. The characters are complex, and there are good people in a wide variety of positions and bad people. Most people who are sometimes good and sometimes bad, its not easy to make snap moral judgments. For instance, there are many who judged that their best interest lay with cooperating with the United States government. The crow nation as a general practice decided that their best interest, the way to maintain their homeland was to be cooperative with the whites who were coming into their country. So there is a great, as i say, variety and complexity in the kind of responses to encroaching White Society and white government. For more information on this and other cities visited by cspan local content vehicles, visit us online, at cspan. Org local content. Youre watching book tv on cspan2. Heres our primetime lineup for the night. Book tv continues now with daniel jonah goldhagen. Daniel goldhagen argues that antisemitism is more threatening today than at any other time since the holocaust. This lasts about an hour and 20 minutes. [applause] thankyou, rabbi hamilton and thank all of you for being hereb it is a big book. Mot an enormous amount of i affirmation about what is going on today in it, both qualitative data and quantitative data it. So survey numbers and accounts of what people think numbers, af people think and what they do and the consequences of their actions. I cant possibly tell you everything thats in the book tonight but im going to give you a sense of the phenomenon of global antisemitism; its rise and its threat so that i hope you emerge here with a greater understanding of something that everyone really practically everyone, jew and gentile, old and young, at some point wonders why the jews why are they hated so much . Why have they been persecuted so much. First, let me tell you a few snip. S of thing that will give you a flavor of what is out there. In surveys of the European Union , we find regularly that 40 to 50 of them, of europeans, say that jews have too much power in business and too much power in international finance. If we just stop and think about what that means. First, we shouldnt stay satisfied with just the percentages. Think about how many people that is. Thats 200 to 250 Million People who believe one of these one of the age are old canards beside jews. Thats a vast number of people. Second, we should recognize that anyone who believes such a thing is antisemitic. We shouldnt brush it aside and say jew does well and business, and they dont heat hate jews. If you heard the same thing said about any other group, that such and such group has too much power, in the economy, you would say, people are prejudice. We should say the same being those who say this about jews. Third, we should investigate a little deeper and say, what exactly do they think . What does that mean to them . That jews have too much power in business . Why do they even identify the businessmen some the people of finance as being jews . After all, businessmen in general, or Business People in general, people of finance, seek to make money, they seek to make profit. What is it wherein resides the jewish quality of the Business People or financeers who happen to be jewish . Why see them this way . What does that tell us about the per sing or framework office understand offering the people who say, they have too much power, and then they say they have too much power. What does this mean . Power is a capacity to transform to affect things. If people have too much of it, then obviously thats a bad thing. You expect they will misuse this power. Why would jewish businessmen be misusing whatever power they have or allegedly have against other people in their country any more than nonjewish Business People. And so we see in this simple question, so much is revealed about the antiseptember met antiseptember met fix mindset of 200 to 250 million europeans. And when we add there are virtually no jews, let alone jewish Business People, as such in many of the countries where such accusations are so Police Officers are widespread, we see that even the notion that they have too much power is itself fantastical. Who are these jewish businessmen in poland . Or switzerland, land of Business People, with a difficult history and a difficult contemporary stance with regard to business and probity and jews, or in germ system look at what this one question, the survey question, tells us about what is going on in europe, what people believe, and it clues is in to the fundamental thing we must do, and which i tried to bring out in this book, which is we must learn to see antisemitism for what it is and not take it for granted and brush off these things, thats not a good thing. It is a profound set of beliefs that i have just described that has so many dimensions that indicate the depth and breast breadth and quality of antiseptember tim today, and thats one question. One issue. Move from europe to the middle east to the arab and islamic world, and we find that an article of faith is that jews are the children of apes and pigs. This is in the koran. It is said again and again by political leaders, by imams and writings, an article of faith in the arab islamic world that jews are ochildren of apes and pigs. An age, old canard. Not something that is new or has resulted from the middle east conflict. It is an old notion that has been given new life and has become a near universally believed in many countries and cultures in the middle east, and elsewhere. We should note that this is a kind of belief that dehumanizes the people, the jews in this case. Theyre the children of apes and pigs. Theyre not really human beings. Its a classic case of dehumanization; move away from middle east. And you find that there are people who are charging, particularly in the context of the iraq war, that a jewish cabal is running the United States and running great britain, the united kingdom, and pushing each country to war. Another fantastical motion, that a cabal of jews would dupe the leaders of the United States, these heardbitten practitioners of reality, or the uk, and drive the countries head long into war when they would not have otherwise gone there. This is a different kind of belief. Its not a dehumanizing belief. After all, the jews are not deemed to be less than human or lack fundamental human qualities. It is a demonizing belief. It says that they, for their own purposes, in this case to support israel, have led the countries to war and have led the young men, sometimes women, of these countries to be killed to fight a war that shouldnt be fought. Because the jews dont care. They have higher in their view a higher interest which is not the wellbeing of their own countries. Move from the first world to the third world, the developing world, and you find an astonishing set of facts about antisemitism. You find it all over latin america, all over subsaharanns okay, and all over asia. In nigeria first in brazil, 50 of the people of brazil report that they have unfavorable views of jews. Theyre antisemites. 50 . There are very few jews in brazil. 5 100th of one percent of the population is jewish. 5 100th of one percent. Where do they get these notions . Most brazilians have never met a adjustment dont know any jews. Its just what theyve learn as part of their culture and the world culture can the globe culture. I if you november africa, nigeria, 43 of the anymore nigeria are antisemites, and there are fewer than in brazil, and then if you good to asia and country after country, large percentages of the people are antiseptember metic, and in china, the rising power, 55 of the people are antise maineityic. There are no jews in china. This is astonishing. Move back to europe. Jews its not just a question of the beliefs, the antisemitism that exists, but also the real world effects upon jews. Jews are fleeing europe. Theyre leaving because they many jews think theres no future for them in their communities in europe because theres so much antisemitism because they are under such threat and such danger, not from the governments, but from people in their neighbors, people in their communities, sometimes people who have come to the country recently, sometimes people have been there for a long time. Jews get attacked on the street. The situation is grave. In country after country, jewish leaders and jews who are not leaders, talk about this, and write about it, and try to raise the alarm, and yet it continues to exist. And those who are not leaving, because they are in such under such duress and threat, are leaving in a sense anyway because theyre living in their communal, bunkered, for tresses, under police protection, and the jews watch the street without showing signs of their jewishness. They dont wear stars of david for fear they would we attacked and this fear is not ungrounded, and they particularly dont let their Children Wear such visible signs of their jewishness because they know, sooner or latter, the chances are vary good the children will be harassed, if not assaulted. Kind of internal migration. And finally, if we go to israel, the country which is the home as a country of jews, israel is under duress as well as we all know, it is the object of an International Eliminationist coalition, coalition of states and groups and movements that want in one way or another, in a variety of different ways in which they want to do this they want to eliminate the country of the jews. Now, this is just a brief and not even a comprehensive by any means tour of what exists in the world regarding jews and antisemitism. And while it tells you important facts, it doesnt convey the flavor of what people believe and what they say. Listen to this. Im going to read you a relatively penetrating and lengthy passage. Intoxicated mentally by the messianic dream of a greater israel, which will finally achieve the expansionist dreams of the most radical sighonism, con nateed by the monstrous and rooted certitude that in this catastrophic and absurd world there exists a people chosen by god, the jews, and that consequently all the actions of an obsessive, psychological, and path logically exclusive racism are justified, educated and trained in the idea that any suffering that has been inflicted or is being inflicted or will be inflicted on everyone else especially the palestinians, will always be inferior to that which they themselves suffered in the holocaust. The jews endlessly scratch their own wound to keep it bleeding, make it incurable, and show it to the world as if it were a banner. Israel seizes hold of the terrible words of god deuteronomy, vengeance is mine and i will be repaid. Israel wants us all, with all of us to feel guilty, directly or indirectly forks the horrors of the holocaust, israel want to us renounce the most critical judgment. Israel in short is a racist state by virtue of judaisms not just against the palestinians but against the entire world which it seeks to manipulate and abuse. Israel struggles if its neighbors, seen in that light, do take on a unique and met fiscal quality of genuine evil, the quality that distinguishes israels struggles from those of all other nations, singular among nations in this respect, with disputed borders no matter what the statistics of death and suffering might suggest. If i told you this is a statement from a political islamic leader, or a socalled fundamentalist islamic imam, in the front lines of battle as he understands it against israel, and jews, im sure you would believe me. In fact, this is a statement, a written piece or part of a written piece by jose, Nobel Prize Winner in literature, which he published in europes leading newspapers. Most perhaps the best majority of europeans would read this and not, thinking and saying among themselves and private, they expressed publicly what everyone knows and is afraid to say. Virtually all arab and islamicvt antisemites would agree to his every point. Christian antisemites would, ir addition to muchy else, undoubtedly like certainly mu concur with the ageold question charges of jews and their god being vengeful. And the effrontery and the stiffnecked certitude of the chosen this and casting doubts on christians claims that they are the rightful proprietors of the judaic tradition. I should add that many christians dont subscribe to this but there are many of those that do. Expressing points especially the come zionism and the condemnation of the imputed drive to create a greater israel. Write us might latch onto the holocaust inversion casting the as abusers of the past to justify their own predations. And in effect making them coequal to or worse than any of those who may have afflicted them. Internationalist human rights or local antisemites who relentlessly focus on International Dimension might applaud the notion that israel is trying to subjugate and control a good part of the world. The antisemitic diatribe grounded in the foundational paradigm is a distillation and concentration of the Common Notions that are piecemeal and usually more gentile he expressed around media in the surveys. It easily slides and this is important among jews and judaism zionism and israel presenting them as inextricably interrelated entities. Its range of antisemitic troves draws on different antisemitic trains streams and traditions binding the old and the new into accusations and perspectives appealing to all men and a cement and clever weaving into them persuade someone who agrees with another of the rest of the of others. Nobel prize winner and literature. The one thing that is missing from ceramide while sarah. Moderator s statement is a sense of the violence and bloodlust that many contemporary antisemites have for jews and in which they express openly. And for that you need to go from europe to the middle east to the islamic and arab world where the inefficient upon such expression dont exist and where they are quite open about what they would like to do to the jews. I should add that i cite in this book many ordinary people but repeatedly quote from political and opinion leaders not just some pot here or crackpot there who has made some outrageous statement. I repeatedly cite leaders of countries leaders of Political Movements luminaries of one kind or another to show that these views are at the center of the political cultures and political lives of countries and societies one after another. The leader of hamas after the election victory in 2006 which led to their takeover of gaza said that hamas has a plan to destroy israel which hamas affirms again and again. He said this in a chilling address after friday sermon in a damascus mosque and it was aired throughout the arab and islamic world on aljazeera television. The broadcast was all over it out to sarah and other networks which and he laid out hamas is political islamic vision to conquer and enslave its enemies. After his speech remember these are religious worshipers. This is not some rally. After the chant death to israel, death to israel, death to america again where and what other part of the world would religious congregations this is quite normal start chanting death to a country into a people except about israel and the jews. After this he went into bloodcurdling revelry. He said before his real dies at must be humiliated and degraded. Must be humiliated and degraded. Its not enough just to kill it. Therefore that god will experience humiliation and degradation every day. Although willing he will make them lose their eyesight and make them lose their brains. This is the leader of a Political Movement that became the governing part of the good part of the palestinian people. Shortly thereafter a hamas official web site they posted the last testament the last video testaments of two suicide bombers one of which included my message to load the jews is there is no, in allah. We will chase you everywhere. Notice they talk about jews. We are a nation that drinks blood and pay no there is no lead better than the blood of jews. We will not leave you alone until we have quenched our thirst with your blood and our childrens thirst with your blood. From the hide my shawl to the low suicide bomber such violent imagery, such bloodlust, such calls to murder degradation humiliation the likes of which we see certainly not on the scale against any other group and not from such people. As i have already intimated its not just israel or israilis that they are concerned with. They talk repeatedly about jews and they are quite specifically knowing what they were doing. Lets go to another political leader Hasan Nasrallah who for a long time was the superstar of islamic and arab world because of hezbollahs battle as successful as it was against israel in southern lebanon. Nasrallah made it clear and wanted to make it clear that it is not israel and israelis who the most fundamentally hates the jews themselves. This was early in his career. If we search the entire world for a person more cowardly despicable weak and feeble in psyche mind ideology and religion we would not find anyone like a the jew. Notice i did not say the israeli he wants everyone to know its jews that he exists fundamentally. These are just nuggets from surveys, from statements about the extent of antisemitism and nuggets of the flavor of antisemitism and what it contains what it expresses what its demonology is about jews. There is much much more and much more to know. If we are going to understand this phenomenon we want to know a lot of things including the following. We want to know what antisemitism is. We want to know why it exists and what causes it. We want to know how it functions in peoples and communities and lives in the politics of the countries. We want to know how to transform the last two decades into this antisemitism which i will talk about and we want to know what its features are today. Im not going to go into all of this tonight. The book does. Im going to focus on a few essential matters particularly global antisemitism. First i want to say that their difficulties answering these questions. Lots of difficulties in part because there is much confusion about what antisemitism is. We hear many things. I should add most everyone i have encountered is interested and fascinated with antiemitm. Jews. Are obviously concerned with it and nonjews. Christians muslims and others have the questions why are the jews hated . Many people have notions. What are you doing . Im writing a book on antisemitism and the next thing i know why it exists and so on. I have a long catalogue in my head of what people have told me. Its not just that people dont have notions but there are many fundamental confusions and i will just mention one. The old explanation for antisemitism for standard explanation for antisemitism was that its economic jealousy. Jews that do well economically and other people are jealous or when there are hard Economic Times they use the jews as escape and so on and so forth. Today that explanation doesnt offer very much in the explanation for why theres antisemitism is because of israel. Israel occupies the west bank formerly gaza. It does things real or and we have two explanations. One has nothing to do with the other. They are supposedly explaining the same phenomenon because contemporary antisemitism for all its differences still is grounded in the old accusations feel prejudice the old notions that half lead people over the centuries to hate and to persecute jews. Both of them could not be right. In fact neither of them is correct. Its remarkable to me how people say its economic jealousy. Without focusing on the content of what what we believe in the absurdity of these explanations is the principle explanation for the kinds of beliefs that people have about jews and what we call antisemitism. Its not just the confusion but theyre also the complexities of the phenomenon. On the one 11 hand against a antisemitism is simple. Its when people hate jews or have prejudicial views of jews. On the other hand is quite complex and has many dimensions. Its a set of leaves or a variety of leaves depending on where you look and who has them. Its not just the police but the emotions they have. There are powerful emotions evoked in people at the site or mention or thought of jews sometimes. Antisemitism is not just emotion but its speech. If someone says jews are scoundrels for this or that reason whether that person believes it or not its spreading belief. If you were on a bus and you heard someone say in a the standard prejudicial what we call racist views about africanamericans in this country your head might whip around maybe not. Maybe you are used to it but you would certainly think this person is a racist. And yet often when someone points to the things that people say about jews it is discounted that they are antisemites unless they say and i hate jews. Its not enough to utter antisemitic things. Somehow the standard is the person in his heart has to have toward jews and generally hate them and cant have jews as friends and so on and so forth. Its believes its motion is speech. Antisemitic acts make someone an antisemite whatever he or she believes. Its policies and its programs. All of these things are antisemitic and part of antisemitism. Its not just what people think. Other difficulties. Antisemitism has common things with other prejudices. After all they are fundamental aspects of prejudice which antisemitism share what single ear among them and many people dont recognize this and i will briefly mention some of the singular features and there are so many. Its duration the worlds longest standing prejudice against an ethnic group. Its tenacity and holds on to circumstances. It holds on in context after context through the millennia with circumstances changing of all different kinds of economic cultural and technological developments. Its tenacious. It exists within very few prejudices against ethnic groups exists when there are no people in those groups. Who cares . You dont care about them. And yet antisemitism exists in country after country but historically today where there are no or very few jews. It has fantastical qualities. In Medieval Times jews were seen as being in league with her minions of the devil. Germans and many others in the midpart of the 20th century believed jews were secular devils in human form. They would not think that they were beholding human beings. The charges against jews were meant foment all wars. Theyre responsible for all the wars in the world. They invented a haze and on and on and on. These are fantastical. Most prejudices although not Accurate Accounts reality by any means, have more of a relationship to the reality than antisemitism which has farflung fantastical one might go as far as to say elusive tory qualities. It is international and found all over the world. There are very few prejudices and in fact there are none in these ethnic groups that have this kind of international reach. So its not just when there are no jews in the country but its an international phenomenon. The bloodlust the open bloodlust is very unusual. Certainly on the scale that it exists against jews and is fundamentally elimination is. What elimination means for different people and how they would carry it out is open for discussion but its fundamentally elimination. Many prejudices are i dont like the people they the neighborhood and so on and so forth but there isnt this thrust to eliminate them and their prejudices and their power such as its understood. These are the single features of antisemitism. And finally over the ages the accusations have changed again and again and again. Some remained constant and some take new form and some because antisemitism is taken on the idiom of its time to make it more plausible even if its fantastical. So how do we make sense of what antisemitism is . What is the solution to dealing conceptually with this multifarias and changing historically and contemporaneously changing phenomenon . It is to recognize their something that is at the core of this and something can be called the foundational antisemitic paradigm, but the paradigm of jews is the foundation and these are its elements. The jews are fundamentally different from nonjews. They are not just like others with different qualities but fundamentally different. That they are noxious for nonjews, that they willfully do harm to nonjews, that they are powerful and therefore dangerous. This is these are the five elements that can be found again and again throughout history and across cultures. How this foundational antisemitic paradigm and this foundational notion that about jews is elaborated by the it says jews of poisoning the wells of their neighbors as it was said in Medieval Times or whether its the jews are trying to subjugate and destroyed islamism as a set today. These accusations change. Its not trivial what they are but they all are built upon the score which reproduces itself through time even while taking on new so we need to rethink antisemitism through the ages. The paradigm in and how its been transformed and most of all the book is devoted on way to think about antisemitism global antisemitism which is the third fanciful arab antisemitism that we have seen the first being the religious era of antisemitism in which it was given a religious foundation both in the christian world and the muslim world. The second arrow was the modern era and religion in europe in the west began to lose its hold in the 18th century and then in a more pronounced in the 19th century and through the 20th century and more scientific or pseudoscientific notion of the jews nature of the source of their pernicious this which was deemed to be their biology. And with social darwinian framework of understanding how and why they would not just compete and try to subjugate and even enslave and do worse to other groups. This was the modern era of antisemitism and now with the third arab antisemitism which is a couple of decades old still taking shape which can be called global antisemitism which is more profoundly political in nature. It doesnt see the jews the source of the jews to be religion per se or their biology but has to take a variety of forms all of which are focused on the political aspirations as they are deemed to be of jews. There are multiple sources for the jews nature is seen by different people in different places. And so global antisemitism really get nights for Different Exchange between antisemitism that have existed separate from one another. They didnt sarah nocco in which i went over how he draws from this dream and that stream and them puts it together. This is a classic statement of global antisemitism. In the israel rallies you have people on the left marching arm in arm with clinical islamists who otherwise would be at each others throat but against a common enemy they unite. You have islamic and Christian Antisemites and i also want to add not all muslims are antisemitic either. I dont mean to suggest that all people in the group share what im saying. Im talking about large percentages of the majority of people from different countries. There are exceptions and it should be noted. One of the things palestinians and others in the middle east have been doing in order to appeal to Christian Antisemites is to present the palestinians of the jesus of today being crucified on the cross but the jews yet again. Cartoons and images and exquisite statements and drying it to you direct line between jesus and their alleged a ledge at guilt and with the jews are doing again today. This is picked up of course by Christian Antisemites as well. You see unification of these different streams of antisemitism. Global antisemitism is not just the unification of his streams into the global amalgam but its also the faster he took antisemitism which exceeds the vast reach before which was greater than antiprejudice and now its that its greater. I have already suggested some of the numbers. According to survey data its undoubtedly the case that least 250 Million People are antisemitic. Its a mindboggling number. In asia latin and we have surveys of only some of the countries and this is a tally of the surveys we have. We have large countries like china and india and latin America Brazil and nigeria and africa and other countries as well. There are 1. 5 million antisemites. The part of the world where there are virtually no jews. And in the arab and islamic world we dont know how many because all have not been surveyed that we have hundreds of millions of antisemites. Extremes coming together enormous numbers around the globe and its important to say that local antisemitism as i have already said that it bears repeating and elaboration is not caused by israels policies. That is not to say that what goes on in the middle east doesnt influence the antisemitic litany but it is not the cause of it and those who want to be and not deleted against the charge of antisemitism say its just what israel does and if they did and there wouldnt be a problem. Many would go so far as to say there isnt really this antisemitic problem. Theres just a problem with israel. We know this for a variety of reasons. That is that israel is not the cause. Surveys of europeans and in the United States basketball classic antisemitic views that have nothing to do with israel. Jews have too much influence and business. 210 to 280 million europeans believe this. Nothing to do with israel. Jews have too much power. Nothing to do with israel. Jews have too much influence in the international markets. 200 Million People in that you believe this. Jews care about only their own kind. Another 200 Million People. Not another but 200 Million People believe this as well. Jews. Too much about the holocaust. The jews who are allegedly so powerful and the people in the surveys dont dont put two and two together. The jews have so much power. Not that long ago they were being slaughtered is no other people had ever been slaughtered , cannot in this way. Slated for total extermination with little capacity. They had no power. They had no army. They virtually have no friends. With very little capacity to even stay alive. So you have a survey question. Jews are being killed but they have too much power. How does this make sense to people except for the ants and and antisemitic lea inflamed mind. 200 Million People believe that in europe. And even and this is significant. In 2009150000000 people in the e. U. Said that jews are responsible for the Global Financial devices. The reason this is so significant is this is not some kind of abstract thing or something that people dont really know about in single whats going on in israel and people are paying enough attention. Some people dont even know whats going on in israel all that well. There were so much knowledge about the Global Financial crisis everybody had access to information. It was the number one topic of attention for a year or two are maybe even longer and had 150 Million People blamed the jews. How profound must their antisemitism and the . And then if we move to israel itself the shows it has nothing to do with israel. Its not mention in these questions. These are just contemporary antisemitic notion about jews. If you move to israel we see how hallucinatory these projections are. Really fantastical. 55 of europeans, 57 in germany , 45 million germans, say that israel is conducting a war of extermination against the palestinians. Not a war of subjugation, cannot a brutal occupation. Im not telling you that either are correct but they would be much less pejorative but a war of extermination in other words they likened the jews of israel to the nazis conducting a genocide. Whatever you think about the middle east conflict and whatever you think about the jewish israelis and palestinians are the justice of Israel Occupying the west bank before we had gaza, there is no way that any reasonable person or anyone in touch with reality can say that israel is conducting a war of extermination against the palestinians. In a recent tenure decade holliston ens had the highest growth rate of from 1990 to 2008 the population of palestinians under israeli control and occupy territory has doubled. Israel in the course of the complex the antifather and lowerlevel conflicts with palestinians killed about 6000 palestinians during this. Math. The palestinians killed about 1000 israelis. This is nothing like the genocide. Not to mention the universities were seeing and so on and so put it 57 of germans believe this to be the case and 55 of people in the European Union. Utterly fantastical. The arab and islamic antisemitism against israel some of it indeed a fair amount comes from the koran. There is a concept of this and that is zero conflict. The jews portrayed mohamed and kill the prophet another set of notions that are incessantly intoned in the arab islamic world nothing to do with israel. You need to look to these sources to understand the current demonology of the jews and of course has led to their activation and intensification of these ageold sources but they were there and they have always been there. Even in the United States were antisemitism unlike anywhere else in the world is on the decline United States antisemitism has declined over the last few decades and not increase even if there are disturbing signs and that itself is an intrinsic story and that itself explains why many in the United States are not alarmed by what would otherwise alarm them. We lived in a relatively nonantisemitic country and certainly a public sphere and media does not poison by antisemitism the way it is in much of europe and certainly most of the rest of the world. Many American Jews and nonjews say its not that bad and they are right traded some that bad here. But the United States is the exception. Still theres a fair amount of antisemitism in this country the same kind of things i have discussed in nothing to do with israel. Finally this great upsurge in antisemitic expression and the development of global antisemitism has taken place over the last two decades in a period particularly 1990s which was perhaps the most hopeful period for resolution of the middle east conflict. The oslo Peace Process was underway. If israel is the source of this way when things were looking most hopeful for a resolution of the conflict with the palestinians and other arab countries, why was it during this period we have this emergence and intensification of local antisemitism and . It doesnt matter. Israel is not the cause. And finally if we look specifically at israels actions and what its effects are in antisemitism you expect to see cause and effect if israel were the source of antisemitism. Perhaps the most condemned military operation are operation of any kind by israel in recent history was its incursion into gaza. Roundly condemned vociferously condemned the world over. What we found is and there is an upsurge in attacks. The number of antisemitic incidents is spiked enormously but the survey data did not move at all. Some countries it went up a percentage point. Some stayed right where it was. It did not affect the underlying antisemitism which has a life of its own. It is affected the expression of it in certain ways. Israels actions are not the cause of antisemitism. Global antisemitism has its own life. But it is focused on israel because it is the home of the jews. The country of jews referred to as the jewish state and in our political world was better to attack than the source of political power, the home of the jews. What is better to attack in israel particularly when in much of the world its a taboo to attack domestic jews in public because of the holocaust and the norms that were put in place since then. Global antisemitism is not caused by israel. Its also not caused by reality in any way. Most prejudices are grounded in some kind of objective conflict over Power Resources territory yet the idea should not assault the cultural assault upon jews historically and in our globalized world is not grounded in reality. Its grounded in these ageold notions and the new ones that have been grafted upon them. They have been transmitted in a variety of ways including through the internet which ours i spent a great deal of time discussing in the book. How that its been a gamechanger Digital Technology for the spread of antisemitism. This is another way in which antisemitism has been singular. Its not grounded in a singular conflict. That is a real conflict over territory and resources and so on but as i have explained that is not the source of antisemitism. Thats a focal point for its expression. Antizionism and andrew and treat antiisraelism are just another specific form of antisemitism. 50 of europeans or more say that israel is conducting a war of extermination over palestine shows their views are not grounded in reality. There views are an expression of their animus and thereve prior beliefs. Global antisemitism is everywhere. Its not just everyone a sense that you find antisemites in large numbers all over the world but everywhere because of Digital Technology Company Internet and satellite television. Anyone everyone is just a few . Away from antisemitism and in fact few may realize. If you type the word jew an innocent person are not an anderson person if you type the word jew into your browser google bang whatever depending on what day you do it and when he do it, the second or third or fourth items are way up there appears a web site called jew watch. Youre an innocent person and not such an innocent person you click on jew watch. Imagine a site coming up on blackwatch. Its the most ludicrous thing. Its usually the third or fourth thing. Or name anything you want. Jew watch is a web site of better antisemitic assault demonology fantasy morbid fantasy and so on. In fact it contains 1. 50 in pages that tells you the data of the jews. Here are some of its major categories. Zionists occupy governments jewish genocide today and yesterday jewish leaders conspirator power lord. What other group of you have this kind of stuff . Jewish banking and financial manipulation and the the jewish communist rulers and killers. They have a particular possession with jews as communist. Jewish mind control mechanisms. Jewish criminals. Jewish oppression of gentiles. Jewish christian martyrs. Jewish supremacist associations they dominate. Of course jewish controlled press jewish hate group jewish world conspiracies. I the way the fabrication of this czars secret police has made an enormous come back and is an International Bestseller in country after country and huge sellers. It has much greater life than it ever had before and in the pure form or in takeoff form printed in or influence of printing and books and japan and china and not to mention arab countries and European Countries and so on this is one of the most pernicious things out there today. Antisemitism is everywhere. And available at all times. Antisemitism flows in all different directions. You have a center peripheral relationship. There is no address now. Its all over. You can go here and you can go there but you have to go everywhere. How can you do that . You cant. The demonology of global antisemitism has changed. Shylock the manipulative money loaned lender to pull strings behind the scenes in local plays of Medieval Times who morphed into rothchild great jewish banker, banking family of modern times who then became a symbol of jewish gradation has now morphed into rambo with israel and controlled by jews or said to be controlled by jews. As for rodders around the world fomenting infighting wars with the jewish israeli of the palestinian child. Shylock to rambo the demonology has changed and in each period the demonology is centered on jews have no power. Today there assays date which is a local power. Ofe unitedatesio. S changed. On this issue of reality and this is an important point. The conflict was not producing this kind of hatred. In surveys of arab countries we find that 95, 97 of people in egypt jordan and lebanon say they are antisemites. Its an unbelievably large number. They have it compliments. You say its because of israel but when you do a survey answer is that the done about other groups. Take lebanon where there was a decadelong civil war. 100,000 people in a population of a few million died in the civil war. This is between christians and nonchristians among others. Everyone in lebanon lost relatives and lost friends or know people who have lost friends. Among muslims in lebanon, to where 97 of people have an unfavorable view of jews cant go despite this much much more intense and longlasting conflict on this intensive scale with christians only 14 to 17 say they havent done favorable view of christians. Its not conflict per se that produces this. His conflict in existing prejudice which is what antisemitism is. Global antisemitism is more deadly than ever. Its not to like more expressly murderous than the nazis ever express themselves. I enormous number of nonjews but the imagery the calls to extermination, the calls to brutality are far more frequent than far more open and far more unreserved and anything you would have sounded nazis germany in the 1930s or publicly in the 1940s. And the threat is real. As one rwandan, 12 mass murder of tutsi explained after the genocide the beliefs they have to put it very welcome to the police they had for already sharpening the knives. That believes that many people have our already sharpening the knives. They are quite clear. If you have any doubt see whats going on in syria and any other countries. Some other places in the arab spring and different groups of herbst and muslims imagine what they would do if it were ever to conquer israel. Would they be any less violent, any less murderous . Any less cruel . Global antisemitism is fundamentally political. It takes place in the political sphere in the contemporary world. This is a critical aspect of globalism. Everybody says the world is political when in fact you have to and if you dont you run the risk of someone else doing it so therefore theres it for the go competition. Its relentlessly political which is different from the past where was much more rounded and cultural and social relations. It is political in bed there are governmental policies and antisemitism within many countries and also internationally. This is a distinctive feature of todays antisemitism compared to the past on the scale that is taking place and also compared to other prejudices. There even is an International Elimination is to alliance and coalition as i have described to destroy israel or two eliminated in one way or another. In the arab and islamic countries there should be no jews or very few jews left in the region. The u. S. Is the exception and that is why we have to learn to see and that is one of the reasons i wrote the book. We have to see it for what it is and always ask yourself if this were said or done to any other group what would we say . What would he pulse a . Use that as a standard and you will see so much antisemitism. We have been growing habituated to air believers calling for that extermination of jews present plans to annihilate israel. Its been reported. Ahmadinejad said its in some flamboyant way its barely reported are reported at all not to mention the things i read your earlier you can read 100,000 times over. It said daily. The u. S. Is the exception also in its public sphere. It is the one country where there is still a taboo in expressing these kinds of notions and the public sphere and the media and to break it down a little bit by and large there is an understatement as country that if political leaders it imagine if anyone wrote anything like sir. Moderator . He would be totally ostracized. The things that european leaders say accusing israel of being a nazi like country and so on. There is an understatement that this is dangerous and it is wrong and is dangerous not just to jews but dangerous to everybody. That is what we have to work to maintain in this country and we have to work to get european leaders to understand so they can get to work on dampening down the antisemitic expression. For now arab and islamic countries are beyond anyones influence and will stay the way they are for the foreseeable future. Antisemitism is back in full force in people is not fully recognize this. If you want to find out about it the emphasis emphasis is in the book of all different its more widespread than ever. Its more powerful than ever and it is global. It is global antisemitism. The devil that never dies. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you for your patience. I would have been happy to hear your comments and take your questions. Yes . A couple of quick points. In germany i have heard it said by quite a number of people now that germans are very antisemitic. Is their antisemitism bolstered by the occupation . You mean the israeli . Yes. The second thing is, are there any benefits to the antisemitism of . Is there a positive way that we can look at this and say what would you gather that we are stronger for it and more unified four at . There is no country where antisemitism. [inaudible] with many dimensions and crisscrossing influences than in germany because there is no country where it was worse in the midpart of the 20th century. There is no country the people of which executed the policies they did to slaughter jews on the scale. Theres no country that has such intensive education about the horrors of the past and the horrors of antisemitism. Theres no country that has come this far as germany has indeed demonizing itself create there is a lot of antisemitism and journey but its quality characters of different a much tamer than before it even if someone believe the kinds of things that i said and yet there is no country where there is such resentment of the kind that exists in germany towards jews and what we germans have to suffer because the jews remind us of the past in this kind of thing. So antisemitism in germany is enormously complicated with people having conflicting emotions. Germany is a country where we dont know this will find more people who have an aversion towards jews on the one hand but know its wrong. Very complex. Most people think its right and in germany you have this kind of internal conflicts among many people. Germany is a long long story and yet there is an enormous amount of antisemitism. Their antisemitism is fundamentally grounded in notions about jews passed on from generation to generation from parents to children that have nothing to do with israel and israel is brought in as an object against which the antisemitic fire can be directed. There is no advantage. Being hated and persecuted in being other persecution and not being able to keep up for fear of being attacked in paris berlin and copenhagen and from there is no benefit whatsoever. Yes . Is a huge problem. I realize there is a difference that groups in america things have turned around. Blacks latinos natives and it was those people who took the forefront but then others there were many whites who are part of the black rights fight and there are many people who are joining the latinos. Do we have that . Yes, we do. There is quite a lot of it but first let me pick up on a point that you made that is really very important which is that many prejudices decline and dissipate and i mentioned one of the features of antisemitism is tenacity crossed time across space across millennia across the entire world and again the notion that this is not grounded in something that israel does, lets look at it group of people who in my thought would be hated. Germans. They didnt just kill jews. They subjected much of the european continent to brutal occupation slaughtered millions of nonjews in slate millions of people and on and on and on. If prejudices grounded in the people against the prejudice that are corrected 1945 they were hated with such a hatred would have persisted and festered and be well alive today but really hated. 1000 times more than jews should have ever been if reality the deeds of the people are that guy is. And yet the prejudice against germany has dissipated on this scale relatively quick weight and it really doesnt exist today in any form like antisemitism does. So that is another critical point. There are many groups that do all kinds of things to to the groups and you dont have this prejudice. But to your other point or your question which is there is in this country and in other countries as well but namely in this country there are lots of people who are nonjewish who dont like antisemitism who want to combat it. There are many christian groups and many Christian Churches and groups that have very good relations with jewish synagogues and groups and Work Together to foster what is called tolerance and pluralism and its not just jews who worry that the allergic lee to when there is antisemitism in the public sphere. You have in this country something that is different than any other country and its a bit of a long story to it which is jews are seen as jewish americans. They are seen as part of the National Community in not just the citizens of the country but part of the National Community. There are exceptions of course that by and large it is not questioned. In europe the jews who live in germany are german jews, french jews. They are recognized as citizens with equal rights but not seen as part of the Natural Community by they Natural Community. This is different in the United States and more one of the many ways in which one of the many ways which we see there is a fundamental sympathy and often indeed in empathy on the part of nonjews for the plight of jews in the world and why israel is seen more favorably in this country than anywhere in the world because some say its because of the influence of American Jews and i would say its because of the absence of this degree of prejudice that people can take a sober look at the middle east and say this is a much more complicated situation and israel has been under existential attack. We dont need to enter the details of the middle east conflict now. How do we solve this . It wasnt just a quip because the people have little capacity to influence the people of the prejudice the ganz them. That is why its almost unimaginable that much can be done in arab and islamic countries. What are you going to do that shout and say you have no way to influence them. And so what can be done is closer ties at the elite levels but things are pretty good in this country in that respect and you know different minority groups understand that when any minority is being attacked that it opens the door at least a little bit more for their own group to be attacked and so im not particularly if the rest of the world for the way it is the United States we shall say hallelujah. Its not to say there are concerning things but on the whole this country is doing quite well in that respect. Yes . They said is that in the koran itself and is there any other group in the koran that is demonized like that . No. Yes . It wonder if you have any comments to make about what is sometimes called the new antisemitism that is really the expression of the same old antisemitic canard in the context of modern political speech particularly criticism of israel . You have my made the point contemporary global antisemitism is not rooted in reality and not rooted also in anything that israel does or doesnt do. And yet i think we do see quite an upsurge these days of antisemitic speech in the context of our political discourse. I wonder if you have any comments about that and its impact, its political impact . The new antisemitism means Different Things to different people and much of it is focused on people who use that term is focused on what exists and what is emanating from the arab and islamic world and groups with people in the west particularly on the left who are hangers on or cheerleaders for this. I dont like the term antisemitism because a lot of the socalled new antisemitism is old antisemitism. Its really this global antisemitism and that is one important strain of it. The whole question of how you evaluate this beach or the extent to which antisemitic speech in the form of antizionism or antiisraelism coming into the American Public sphere the way you evaluate it can be there can be legitimate differences about that. You can say on the one hand look , it comes into the Mainstream Media only in very coded forms or in very weak forms and by and large we see the resistance to it and we see how im influential it is because the vast majority of americans not jews still support israel by quite a hefty margin in the conflict. On the other hand you can say look what goes on on College Campuses where there is at rate deal of this kind of speech and a great deal of pressure by jewish students not to side with israel or sometimes even to let lift their identities be front and center. The jewish aspect of their identity front and center which is the main source i think of worry of legitimate worry in this country because as we know the students of today are the citizens of tomorrow and the leaders of tomorrow around the country