In times of incertainty, one needs clarity. The surge of antisemitism in the campus and streets of US and European capital cities has no precendent and the implications are going far beyond the Israel versus Palestinians conflicts: it threatens the democracy, stability and national security of every state where such events are taking place.
US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Amb. Deborah Lipstadt firmly outlined today in an online media briefing that media nowadays has the responsibility to tell what is going on, while carefully checking the sources and naming the things as they are. Although freedom of speech and of reunion should be allowed, attacking Jews is antisemitism.
No context or explanations about the causes of the incidents do dilute the gravity of the situation. The right to peacefully protest does not allow anyone to break the law. ´(...) when you see people chanting or hear peiople chanting kill the Jews or calling for a violent Intifada, for saying gas the Jews, for when they harass Jewish protesters (...) That´s not support for the rights of the Palestinian people. That´s antisemitism, pure and simple´, mentioned Lipstadt. A historian and author on the topic of antisemitism, she said that the wave of current antisemitic surge is unprecedent: ´never seen anything like that´. Current antisemitism is ´ubiquitous´, originating from the left and from the right, from Muslims and Christians as well.
Lipstadt visited in the last weeks many European capital cities, among which Rome and Berlin, and outlined that there are discussions also with representatives of the European Union in order to create a ´worldwide strategy´, ´globally happening´ to combat antisemitism. When Jews, citizens of those countries are threatened, the state has the responsibility to protect them, a ´vulnerable population´ that needs state protection.
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