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The Persistence of Anti-Semitism

(New York Times) Bret Stephens - In April 2000, Deborah E. Lipstadt, a professor of Jewish history at Emory University, won a verdict against the Holocaust denier David Irving who had brought a defamation suit against her. Lipstadt's new book, Antisemitism: Here and Now, aims to awaken her audience to the nature, persistence and scale of the threat, along with the insidious ways in which it seeks to disguise itself. One guise is anti-Zionism, which pretends that one can malign Israel as a uniquely diabolical and illegitimate state, guilty of Nazi-like atrocities, and still be acquitted of anti-Semitism. Still, Lipstadt misses something important by insisting that anti-Semitism "has never made sense and never will." Most Jews can be said to stand for certain ideas and attitudes. A particular concept of morality. A reverence for law founded on the idea of truth. A penchant for asking nettlesome questions. Skepticism toward would-be saviors. A liberal passion for freedom. Anti-Semites tend to have the opposite set of views.
2019-02-01 00:00:00
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