.."The Jews perform human sacrifices of non-Jews. The victim’s blood is kneaded into the holy matzo dough when or just before it is rolled out. Their high priests use the blood in their magic ceremonies."
.."The Jews are world champions at spreading corruption and immorality"
These are two modest quotes from the introduction to the new edition of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" published in Syria two months ago becoming a bestseller at the book fair in Cairo month ago and reaching the shops of Paris, London and Amsterdam last week.
In the last two years, I have shown many leaders in Europe a film that was produced in the Middle East and broadcasted by Almanar to tens of millions of people. If you watch this film, and you watch the anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda films that were made in the 1930s, you will see little difference. You will see Jews accused of plotting to take over the world. You will see Jews accused of ritually slaughtering children. You will see Jews portrayed as subhuman creatures.
The broadcasting of Al-manar was prohibited in France and we welcomed this important decision. But this film, that was shown not only to tens of millions in the Middle East but to many millions in Europe, is unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg. A great anti-Semitic industry invaded today Europe from the Middle East. Movies, books, tapes, lectures and the internet spread hatred across an entire continent, infecting entire communities with a virus from which Europe was thought to be immune. The bottom line of all this production is always the same: the world will be better without Jews.
So I have been asking myself this week, what good are all these memorials and speeches if today’s Europe – on whose soil the Holocaust happened – cannot summon the will and the courage to eradicate anti-Semitism? Have we really learned nothing?
One of the most important things to understand about the Holocaust is that it did not happen overnight. Walk through the corridors of Yad Vashem and you will learn that the Nazi genocide was preceded by a systematic campaign of demonization and dehumanization of the Jews.
Before Germans were prepared to slaughter millions of defenseless men, women and children, they were taught to accept that Jews were subhuman vermin poisoning the German race.
I know that this is not 1939. For one thing, the vast majority of the world Jewry live in their own state or in nations in which they are welcome. Second, and no less important, the Jewish people now have the power to defend themselves.
Still, as I look around the world today, I cannot help but think that the world’s promise of “never forget” has been broken. The leaders of the world must take decisive action immediately to stop the spread of antisemitic propaganda. And this responsibility weighs heaviest on European leaders, who should know better than anyone the dangers of ignoring this hatred.
But today we face not only the return of an old anti-Semitism, but the emergence of a newantisemitism as well. This new anti-Semitism masquerades as legitimate criticism of Israel. It demonizes Israel, not the Jews. It applies double standards to Israel, not the Jews. It deligitimizes Israel, not the Jews.
But while the mask of the new antisemitsim helps hide an old hatred, it is no less dangerous. It too must be confronted and defeated. If our pledge of “never again” is to be more than words, we must do much more than we are doing today.
Otherwise, a future generation will look back on us as we look back on the leaders of yesterday. Leaders, who with a few brave exceptions, failed to confront evil. Leaders whose shame and cowardice will never be wiped from the pages of history.
Let us not make the same mistake. Let us honor the memory of the Holocaust by ensuring that it truly becomes an evil without a future. Let us have the courage to confront anti-Semitism today so that when we said never again, our children will know that we meant it.
