Report finds antisemitism remains in Saudi textbooks

T. Belman. I have posted a few articles here and links on the subject of antisemitism. Foxman argues “When you remove political correctness, when it’s OK to say Mexicans are rapists and Muslims are murderers – of course that means it’s OK to be more antisemitic or more antisemitic in public.” First of all, no one including Trump, has said that. The Democrats including leftwing Jews, argue that because Trump wants to be more selective in approving who can be an immigrant, and in particular, wants to ban Muslims, among others, who don’t share our values, he has openned up the floodgates which heretofore had suppressed antisemitism.

In effect they are arguing that the less exclusion, the less anitsemitism. I don’t buy it at all. I argue that the more we exclude groups such as Muslims who are very antisemitic, the less antisemitism. That is not to say that Trump shouln’t declare war on anitsemitism.

The head of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, called for “greater scrutiny” of the textbooks by the Trump regime.

ADL head warns: U.S. at risk of ‘normalizing’ antisemitism

BY MICHAEL WILNER, JPOST

WASHINGTON – Saudi Arabian textbooks continue to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories and violence against Jews, despite public statements from leadership in Riyadh claiming the kingdom will reform, according to a study released this week.

The paper, released by the Anti-Defamation League, found that high school textbooks continue to teach of Zionist ambitions for a “global Jewish government to control the entire world” and of false religious teachings calling for the murder of Jews.

Several passages highlighted in the report refer to sayings attributed in the Hadith to the Prophet Muhammad but not included in the Quran which have been adopted by religious extremists to justify violence. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has vowed to police such interpretations.

But the ADL report suggests that their policing has, thus far, proven lackluster.

The head of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, called for “greater scrutiny” of the textbooks by the Trump regime.

“The US cannot look the other way while Saudi Arabia features antisemitic hate speech year after year in the educational material it gives to its children,” Greenblatt said.

Members of Congress have long lobbied Saudi Arabia to revise its textbooks, a move they say will stem hate at its inception in young minds.

Responding to the report, a State Department official referred to comments from White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders last month in which she condemned antisemitism in all its forms.

“Antisemitism is a plague to humanity, and it is responsible for many of the worst horrors in human history. We all have a duty to confront antisemitism in all its forms, and everywhere and anywhere it appears,” Sanders said last month, in the aftermath of the synagogue shooting at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Tree of Life Congregation. “The American people reject hatred, bigotry, prejudice and violence.  We are a nation that believes in religious liberty, tolerance, and respect. And we are a people who cherish the dignity of every human life.”

The organization will host its third annual conference on combating hatred, called “Never Is Now,” in New York on December 3.

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FORMER ADL DIRECTOR: TRUMP HAS OPENED THE ‘SEWERS’ OF ANTISEMITISM

“As a holocaust survivor, it is hard for me to see that we even have to speak about it.”

BY JULIANE HELMHOLD   APRIL 12, 2018

The rise of antisemitic incidents in the United States is “worrying, but not critical,” the Former National Director of the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Abe Foxman said in an interview with Army Radio on Thursday morning which marked the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day.

A report, recently published by the ADL, showed a worrying rise in the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States, some of them very violent. According to the report, the increase is taking place in all 50 states.

“Antisemitism has always been here,” Foxman clarified. “We have never eradicated it – we have made it unacceptable, put consequences on it. It was something that wasn’t done, said or acted upon. What has changed is a new permissiveness, a new legitimacy, a new emboldenment, as if it’s OK – or more OK – today to be an antisemite.”

Asked why he thinks antisemitism is more permissible today, Foxman said that “In the last two years all taboos have been cut down – what some people call political correctness.”Political correctness is not an answer to all issues but it is a security blanket – it did protect minorities. When you remove political correctness, when it’s OK to say Mexicans are rapists and Muslims are murderers – of course that means it’s OK to be more antisemitic or more antisemitic in public.”

The former ADL director specified his concern, specifically calling on United States President Donald Trump to “put the cover back on the sewers.”

“I still believe that he needs to say publicly that there are no good Nazis. For the president of the United States to say that there are good Nazis and bad Nazis is part of that permissiveness which now gives the bigots and the antisemites the chutzpa to speak out or act out with hatred,” Foxman said referring to Trump’s controversial response to neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville in August 2017.

“Trump is not an antisemite and he is not responsible for the antisemites, but he emboldened them to go public. He is responsible for that and he is the only one who can put the genie back in the bottle.”

“As a Holocaust survivor it is hard for me to see that we even have to speak about it,” he continued. “But I’m an optimist.”

In the interview, Foxman painted a much bleaker image about the situation of Jews in Europe. “I do not think that there is a viable future for [the Jews in Europe] under the current political development that we are witnessing.”

November 21, 2018 | Comments »

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