IN-DEPTH FEATURES
The Many Forms of Antisemitism Today

Part I

Today, antisemitism has evolved into many strange, irrational forms which continue to confound the experts. Is antisemitism based on race? Religion? Political persuasion? Envy of the Jews' success? The need for a scapegoat? The Jews' bothersome presence among the nations? The Jews' nerve to establish their own country? One savant's elaborate theory after another explodes in the face of a new, virulent, original form of antisemitism.

It is tricky to pinpoint modern-day Hamans and "hamanitarian" organizations since they often disguise their antisemitism behind ostensibly legitimate agendas and concerns. They insist they are not -- perish the thought! -- antisemites. They just care about human rights/animal rights/suppressed minorities/Zionist occupation/usurpation of resources/environmental damage, etc. Rarely does it take more than a soft scratching under the surface to realize that only when it comes to the Jews or Israel do these modern-day hamanitarians suddenly become indignant about human or animal rights.

Today, antisemitic organizations come in every available stripe and color.

With so many bodies in the world vying for the prize of the world's leading antisemite, it wasn't easy to choose. But the indisputable winner is undoubtedly the United Nations, whose antisemitic agenda is both long- standing and consistent in how it relates to Israel.

The UN

The UN Security Council: "condemned," "censured," "deplored," "strongly deplored," etc. Israel 49 times; the Arabs: 0.

The Security Council passed 131 Resolutions concerning Israel: 43 were neutral; 88 criticized or opposed or judged Israel. 0 critical of any Arab state or entity such as the PLO.

The General Assembly: cumulative number of votes cast with or for Israel: 7,938; against Israel: 55,642. The General Assembly passed 429 Resolutions against Israel's desires (62 percent); only 56 against Arab desires (8 percent). The General Assembly "condemned," "vigorously condemned," "strongly condemned," "deplored," "strongly deplored," "censured," "denounced" Israel 321 times -- the Arabs: 0 condemnations.

Since it first convened in 1946, at least one Arab state sat on the nine-country Security Council in 39 of its first 43 years. Israel never sat on the Security Council. [In June 2002, Syria, which is still listed on the U.S. State Department as a Terrorist State, was voted in as Head of the Security Council.]

Just recently, the Israeli candidate for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child was defeated, despite the candidate having been chosen by fellow members as vice-chair and having a reputation as a seasoned, well-respected committee member. Instead, the Egyptian candidate was elected by the highest number of votes of the 191 parties to the Child Convention, despite a leading child rights international NGO (non- governmental organization) sending a prior advisory recommending against her selection because she was not knowledgeable or reliable on the issues and was strongly submissive to the Egyptian government.

The defeat of that Israeli candidate followed the defeat of the Israeli candidate for the election to the UN Human Rights Committee in September 2002,; the defeat of the Israeli candidate and sitting member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in August 2002, and the defeat of the Israeli candidate for election to the UN Racial Discrimination Committee in January 2002.

Israel is the only UN member state denied membership in any of the UN's five regional groups, which elect UN bodies in Geneva. Israel qualifies for membership in the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), composed of geographically diverse states including Canada and Australia. But WEOG, driven by states such as France, refuses to admit Israel to its Geneva operations. This has the consequence that Israel cannot be elected to a whole range of UN bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization or the International Labor Organization's governing body. It is the only UN member that cannot participate in the consultations of regional bodies in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the World Health Organization.

Even Israel's limited participation in the WEOG regional group in New York, won very recently, is circumscribed by the caveat that existing rotation schemes not be disturbed. The result? WEOG membership in the UN Economic and Social Council has already been tied up until 2021.

The UN-sponsored Durban Conference became a vicious instrument of antisemitism and Israel-bashing. No other UN member state besides Israel has ever been so targeted; not even apartheid South Africa.

No other UN member state has had its legitimacy so consistently questioned.

No other UN member state has been denied its right to self- defense against deadly attacks against its citizens.

The unanimous vote of the Security Council to set up a committee to investigate the Jenin "massacre" is an example of typical UN double-dealing where Israel is concerned.

Other UN-affiliated bodies have a similar track record.

Pierre Poupard of UNICEF denounced Israel last year for not ensuring that education was accessible to every Palestinian child. He did not denounce Yasser Arafat's routine violations of children's rights by indoctrinating children through Palestinian TV to become suicide bombers, by placing children in the front-lines of armed demonstrations against Israeli soldiers, by delivering busloads of Palestinian school children to participate in riots, by sending children to military training camps to learn to attack Israelis and his consistently endangering children by directing his terrorist underlings to live among the civilian population, in violation of the international rules of war.

The UNIFIL peace-keeping troops in Lebanon not only have done nothing to maintain the peace in southern Lebanon, but they were discovered to be in collusion with Hizbullah terrorists against Israeli soldiers, allowing them to take UN vehicles to perpetrate the kidnapping of three soldiers. High-ranking UN officials covered up evidence proving that the UNIFIL troops knew of the kidnappings for many months.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has cast Israel as the enemy of the world's cultural heritage. Israel is also posited as the enemy of health in the World Health Organization, which issued complaints against Israeli security forces for "brutality" to Palestinians.

Arnold Beichman, of Stanford University's Hoover Institute, concludes that of the 190 countries in the United Nations, only one, Israel, has been singled out by a majority of the UN membership for extinction.

A religious Jew might put it this way: the UN was appointed by Heaven to fulfill the Torah's dictum: "They are a nation who dwells alone."

Arab Hate Groups

As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues in the international arena, antisemitism has flared up to dimensions unknown since World War II. While Arab and Nazi antisemitism has continued unabated over the decades, it has recently seen a resurgence and gained an appeal and respectability previously unknown. Many Arab associations devoted to Arabic culture and human rights also promote thinly-disguised antisemitism:

The Al-Awda -- Right of Return Coalition

An international grassroots organization, Al-Awda, argues that Palestinian refugees have the right to return "to their original homes and villages" and should be paid restitution. Al-Awda has organized large protests with the International Action Center and its anti-war affiliate, ANSWER, and was also active in several anti-Israel boycott campaigns.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Founded in 1980, AAADC describes itself as a "civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage." AAADC lobbies the U.S. government for "a balanced U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East" and has sponsored demonstrations against Israel.

The American Muslim Council

This organization seeks to empower American Muslims politically and advocates on issues of concern to the Muslim community. It describes itself as active in civil rights issues like safeguarding of civil liberties, but AMC is strongly anti-Israel, and its leaders have expressed support of criminal anti-Israel terrorist organizations Hamas and Hizbullah.

The International Solidarity Movement

This movement, founded by Adam Shapiro and his Arabic wife, sends international activists and Palestinian sympathizers to Israel to confront Israeli military and police forces with "nonviolent" direct actions.

The Islamic Association for Palestine

Founded in 1981 and based in Illinois with offices in several cities around the U.S., IAP regularly publishes Hamas communiques and in the past has printed and distributed the Hamas charter under its own masthead. IAP has also been closely associated with the Holy Land Foundation, a charity organization that the U.S. government declared part of "the financial apparatus of Hamas."

Many of IAP's writings are antisemitic and support terror. It has stated that "our Muslim people are eager to take revenge . . . on the Jews." It rejects attempts to negotiate a peaceful solution to the Palestinian- Israeli conflict as a conspiracy against Muslims. IAP calls the Jews "G-d's lying people" who enjoy an "absolute Jewish grip on the media and the show business" [sic].

The Justice in Palestine Coalition

This is an umbrella organization directed by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee. The Coalition includes Arab and Muslim organizations, anti-globalization and anti- war groups, socialists and student activists who are active in the anti-Israel divestment campaign. The AAADC's San Francisco chapter helped the student group develop its divestment campaign when AAADC's national leadership refrained from involving itself.

Muslim Public Affairs Council

Founded in 1988, the California-based Muslim Public Affairs Council defines itself as "a nonprofit social welfare organization" that aims to increase the awareness and involvement of Muslims in the political process. An affiliated publication, The Minaret, publishes sometimes conspiratorial anti-Israel and anti-American material.

Muslim Students Association

The Muslim Students Association is a constituent organization of the Islamic Society of North America. MSA was established in 1963 and is a national organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C., and a strong presence in several universities across the country, as well as in Canada. Past MSA rallies have included antisemitic language.

Recently, Altaf Husain, MSA's president, spoke at the annual convention of the Islamic Association for Palestine, which has served as a mouthpiece for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and published antisemitic materials.

New Jersey Solidarity

This organization, headed by students from Rutgers University, sponsored a lecture by Holocaust revisionist Norman Finkelstein. The group ran ads in the Daily Targum, the Rutgers University Campus paper, claiming that Israel is a terrorist state whose track record is worse than Iraq's.

Students for Justice in Palestine

The group initiated the anti-Israel divestment campaign in February 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley in conjunction with the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The divestment campaign has since spread to universities around the country, where it is led either by new SJP branches or by extant local pro-Palestinian groups. SJP seeks to emulate, in tactic and in spirit, the 1980's divestment campaigns against apartheid South Africa.

Jewish groups across the country have organized against this movement, so far effectively.

Rightwing, Christian and White Supremacy Groups

Although most Jews hear little of these organization's antisemitic activities, they are a large group of antisemites who await the day they can put their agenda into action.

National Alliance

The National Alliance has been led by veteran antisemite and racist William Pierce since 1974. This neo-Nazi organization is increasingly active, with continued growth in number of members and contacts. It publishes National Vanguard, distributes leaflets on college campuses, has a weekly radio program called "American Dissident Voices" which is also available on the Web, and is the largest distributor of hate- rock music in the country.

The National Alliance's current strength is based on its skillful use of technology, especially the Internet, its willingness to cooperate with other extremists, its energetic recruitment and promotional activities, and its vicious, pseudo-intellectual propaganda.

Identity Movement

The Christian "Identity" movement believes that white Anglo- Saxons are the "chosen people" of the Bible, that Jews are the children of Satan, and that the white race is superior to others.

Some of the leading "Identity" groups include Pete Peters' Scriptures for America, America's Promise Ministries of Sandpoint, Idaho, Dan Gayman's Church of Israel, Thomas Robb's Kingdom Identity and Patriot leader Bo Gritz. Another "Identity" organization is 11th Hour Remnant Messenger, led by Vincent Bertollini, a wealthy extreme-right propagandist, and Carl Story, both of Sandpoint, Idaho.

Aryan Nations

Led by Richard Butler, Aryan Nations is a paramilitary neo- Nazi group based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. This group suffered a severe setback when it was sued and bankrupted, and leading members of the group died.

World Church of the Creator

Known to be virulently antisemitic and racist, the Illinois- based WCOTC promotes the creation of "an all- white nation and ultimately an all-white world," rejecting Christianity altogether in favor of a "race- based" whites-only religion. The group has recently made a concerted effort to recruit college students, and to spread its propaganda by dropping booklets on lawns or inserting fliers in free newspapers. The group went into decline after the death of its founder and leader Ben Klassen in 1993, but it was resurrected by Matt Hale in 1996. The reborn WCOTC has a small but growing membership.

During the unrest in the Middle East that began in September 2000, Hale made repeated verbal attacks against Israel. He declared a "Day of Rage" against "Jewish imperialism" in October and trumpeted the idea of a Jewish conspiracy to control the world.

National Socialist Aryan Party (NSAP)

The National Socialist Aryan Party (NSAP), based in Nebraska, exemplifies the growing trend of hate organizations which began on the Internet and have since formed grassroots chapters in California, New York and Oregon. NSAP's stated mission is "to advance the Aryan race." Its motto is, "We must secure the existence of our race and a future for white children."

National Socialist Movement

The National Socialist Movement, based in Minneapolis, is one of the most active, expanding neo-Nazi groups. It conducts armed paramilitary training in Ohio.

Liberty Lobby

Founded by Willis Carto in 1955, Liberty Lobby was for decades the most influential antisemitic propaganda organization in the United States. Liberty Lobby had considerable impact on the growth of American militia groups, through three media vehicles: The Spotlight, a weekly newspaper which published antisemitic, anti- Israel and anti- government conspiracy theories, with a circulation of about 100,000; Liberty Lobby's national radio programs, "Radio Free America" and "Editor's Roundtable," which broadcast interviews with hate group leaders and conspiracy theorists; and The Barnes Review (after Harry Elmer Barnes, one of the first Holocaust deniers), a monthly magazine focusing on historical revisionism and Holocaust denial, with a claimed circulation of 11,000.

A financial dispute caused the organization to close Spotlight, but begin publishing an almost identical newspaper called American Free Press a month later.

NOFEAR

Defining Russia as the "key to white survival," former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has targeted this country as a means of broadening his popularity internationally and finds a receptive audience for his antisemitic message. Duke's organization NOFEAR (National Organization for European American Rights), based in Mandeville, Louisiana, with 26 chapters in 17 U.S. states listed on their website, has used leaflets to try to recruit more members, sporadically distributing pamphlets in many communities across the United States.

Militia Groups

Although most militia groups profess to be non-racist, some militia members have expressed racism or antisemitism, such as Mark Koernke's frequent references to the "Kosher Mafia." The militias are most active in Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and California. Leaders of the movement include Koernke of Michigan, Charlie Puckett of Kentucky, and John Trochman of Montana.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

The century-old Ku Klux Klan has splintered into several groups, with most groups being virulently antisemitic.

The Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, led by Jeff Berry of Butler, Indiana, is one of the most active Klan (KKK) organizations in America. Berry established the American Knights of the KKK in 1995. While most other Klans across the country have declined, the American Knights have been active, spreading propaganda and attempting to hold rallies across the country. Prior to his arrest, AKKK held frequent rallies in cities, including New York and others throughout the Midwest and the South. It also distributed propaganda by illegally stuffing fliers in free local newspapers.

Other active Klan groups include the Imperial Klans of America (IKA) and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Black and Muslim Groups

Although Jews have a long record of being at the forefront of human rights for blacks and Muslims have a long record of enslaving blacks, a number of black organizations are pro- Muslim and antisemitic.

Nation of Islam

Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Black separatist Nation of Islam (NOI), preaches that Jews control the lives of African-Americans. In front of a nationally televised audience, a day before the Million Family March in 2000, Farrakhan reiterated his belief that Jews control black athletes and professionals, calling it a "master-slave relationship."

The main NOI website maintains links to several of Farrakhan's past speeches, including some in which he makes racist and antisemitic remarks. Other NOI links lead to the NOI's infamous publication The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews and to a range of hostile articles on Jews. The NOI has posted many anti-Israel articles about the recent Middle East conflict.

New Black Panther Party

The antisemitic and racist New Black Panther Party was formed in Dallas in 1989. It is led by Malik Zulu Shabazz, who has a long record of attacking Jews. He has blamed Jews and Israel for the September 11 terrorist attacks, and has equated Zionism with terrorism. He has also called the Holocaust "a goddamn lie" and described Jews as "evil." The group claims to have 26 chapters nationwide.

End of Part I