Barry Rubin observes about antisemitism:
Orwell noted that anti-Semitism had been driven underground by the war and that the authorities and media went out of their way to avoid offending Jews in order to establish their credentials as not being antisemites. He recounts how, for example, a man he knew as an antisemite and former fascist was eager to attend a ceremony in a synagogue on behalf of the Jews being persecuted in Poland.
Two-thirds of a century later, Orwell’s article has some interesting things to tell us in an era when antisemitism is reviving throughout the world. Sometimes, the word “Zionist†or “Israeli†is substituted for the word “Jew.†But the tip-off is that the accusations continue to be basically the same ones: allegedly hating and deliberately oppressing non-Jews, greed, conspiracy, mysterious power, irrational behavior, and the goal of world conquest.
One place where antisemitism is rather fashionable is Egypt.
What makes them all the more remarkable is that, contrary to stereotype, they do not have particularly ancient roots in Egypt. Until Egypt’s Jews were expelled by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s and ’60s, Egypt had a millennia-old, thriving Jewish community. As late as the 1930s, Jewish politicians occupied ministerial posts in Egyptian governments and participated in nationalist politics.
But all that changed with the rise of totalitarian and fascist movements in Europe, which found more than their share of imitators in the Arab world. When Egypt’s monarchy was overthrown in 1952 by a military coup, anti-Semitism became an ideological pillar of the new totalitarian dispensation.
Since then, Egypt has evolved, coming to terms (of a sort) with Israel and adopting some market-based economic principles. But anti-Semitism remains the glue holding Egypt’s disparate political forces together. This is especially true of the so-called liberals, who think they can traffic on their anti-Semitism to gain favor in quarters where they would otherwise be suspect.
Despite having a peace treaty with Israel, Egypt still remains one of the most openly antisemitic countries in the world.
It doesn’t make a lot of sense.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the outrage of Egyptain antisemitism goes largely unnoticed. This past week the Susan G. Komen foundation had a conference in Egypt. Lynn Context followed the back and forth as to whether Egypt – a country with a peace treaty with Israel – would allow Israeli researchers to attend.
In the end as James Taranto noted, the Egyptians relented at the last minute but the Israelis having been yanked around, understandably were not much interested in attending.
We spoke with Komen’s Emily Callahan, who tells us that there was in fact time for the Israeli scientists to come, as the weeklong conference had only begun when the matter was resolved. She tells us the Israelis decided not to go–and one can hardly blame them after being jerked around like that. She also says that Komen agrees entirely that this should not have happened, and that the organization acted immediately when it received word of the disinvitations.
There are still a few troubling aspects to this episode. One is that not one person who pushes Israel to make further concessions, objected to this treatment of the Israelis. If Egypt could get away with such a blatant violation of the spirit of peace, wouldn’t that just encourage Israel’s other opponents that violations of treaties will be tolerated. Maybe, as those lecturing Israel point out, you only make peace with your enemies, but once you make peace they should no longer be your enemies.
And even if the peace processors couldn’t be bothered, isn’t there at least one feminist organization that would object to antisemitism being allowed to interfere with an effort to improve women’s health?
Those who really want peace really ought to show that they mean it and stop pretending that Israel’s the central obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
