The United States views anti-Semitism as a “unique” kind of bigotry, Elan Carr, the the Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism said, arguing that the “relentless” and persistent nature of anti-Semitism sets it apart from other forms of hatred.
Speaking at the Friends of Zion Media Center in Jerusalem on the eve of the 5th annual World Holocaust Forum in the capital, Carr urged foreign leaders to recognize anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism.
“There is a standard definition of anti-Semitism, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition.”
Anti-Semitism “is not only in traditional Jew-hatred, or conspiracy theories about Jews, it’s also about targeting ‘the Jew’ among the countries – the State of Israel. The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism makes that very clear.”
“Even with rising anti-Semitism, it is important to remember that the United States of America is still the most philo-Semitic country in the history of the world. The United States views anti-Semitism as unique. All intolerance is bad, all hatred is bad, all racism is bad, but anti-Semitism is unique in the history of the world in terms of its relentlessness, its age. It is often called the world’s oldest hatred.”
“I am very proud to say that my boss, Secretary Pompeo, stood before 18,000 activists at the AIPAC policy conference last March and said ‘Let me go on the record: Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.’ When a member of cabinet says ‘let me go on the record’ … that is a statement of United States policy.”
“You can’t pretend to love the Jewish people and hate the Jewish state. If one hates the Jewish state and is denying the Jewish people the right of self-determination, or even denying Jewish peoplehood as some do, you can’t pretend to be a philo-Semite. That is anti-Semitism.”
Carr went on to say that contemporary anti-Semitism is fueled by three separate sources: the far-right, the far-left, and radical Islam, which despite their ideological differences, function similarly in many regards.
“The rise in anti-Semitism we’re seeing today comes from three sources: the far-right ethnic supremacists; the radical left anti-Zionists and Israel-haters; and militant Islamists. Those are the three sources. All three of those sources – as ideologically different as they are – are making use of the internet and social media to drive their ideologies of hate at the speed of light.”
“Every world leader needs to understand that supporting the State of Israel is part and parcel of fighting anti-Semitism, because…hatred of the Jewish state is hatred of the Jewish people. So much of anti-Semitism in our world today is dressed up as anti-Zionism and Israel hatred. World leaders have to take a stand to support the Jewish state and to make sure that Israel’s safety is paramount.”
“It is not enough to fight anti-Semitism and to educate on anti-Semitism, if we want to get really serious in this fight, we have to educate in philo-Semitism. We’ve got to start talking about the beautiful contributions of the Jewish people to every society and every country the Jewish people have been in. You can’t tell the history of the United States or the history of Germany or of France or of England or of Poland or Hungary or Russia without talking about Jewish history and Jewish contributions. So we’ve got to start educating – not only in academia, but every kid in every classroom has got to know that Jewish history is his or her history, the history of his or her country.”