12 Friday, November 6, 19131
THE DETROIT JEWISH MEWS
Bias in Lightly-Disguised Garb
The New Anti-Semitism: A Threat to Jewry and Western Society
By SIMON GRIVER
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM — Deadly
diseases have a habit of re-
visiting mankind in in-
creasingly virulent strains.
Historically Jews were per-
secuted for their religion,
while in modern times they
have been slaughtered for
being, a race. And today we
are witnessing the
emergence of anti-Zionism,
which only a generation
after six million Jews died
in the Holocaust negates
the very existence of a
Jewish people and denies
their right to self determi-
nation in the state of Israel.
The World Zionist Organ-
ization, in its capacity as
leader of world Zionism, has
now established a task force
to spearhead the fight
against anti-Zionism.
Chairman of the Depart-
ment of Information, Eli
Eyal,.told a recent gather-
ing of the General Zionist
Council in Jerusalem that
UN resolution 3379, equat-
ing Zionism with Racism,
was a libel as weighty as the
Damascus blood libel and
the Dreyfus Affair. "This
libel," he asserted, "reeks of
the Final Solution. -
But anti-Zionism is a
plague that is cunningly re-
sistant to many of the
medicines traditionally
used to cure anti-Semitism.
As Eyal warns, "Identifica-
tion of anti-Semitism with
anti-Zionism is possible and
even appropriate but at
other times it is harmful."
The main thrust of
anti-Zionism unques-
tionably comes from the
unholy alliance between
the Soviet Union and the
Arab world, linked to
neo-Nazi groups in the
West. But while anti-
Semitism has always fo-
cused on groundless lies,
anti-Zionism is built
around distortions and
half-truths of Zionism as
a legitimate liberation
movement. Anti-Zionism
uses classical anti-
Semitism, while at the
same time generating a
new anti-Semitism. The
game is the same but the
rules are different.
Well-intentioned and in-
telligent people can be eas-
ily tricked if they hear only
one side of the story. As
Father James McWhirter, a
Free Church minister now
living in Jerusalem, told Is-
rael Scene Magazine, "I was
an anti-Zionist," he re-
called. "I had visited the
West Bank as a journalist
when the territory was in
Jordanian hands. I was
taken round the refugee
camps and was outraged by
what I saw.
"I saw only human
tragedy, not the politics
that caused these wretched
people to be used as a whip-
ping post against Israel.
And I said 'Damn these
Jews for causing such prob-
lems.' -
Such sentiments reflect
how anti-Zionism in the
West can either be combat-
ted through persuasion Or
lead to anti-Semitism.
The main aim of the WZO
will be to increase aware-
ness of the nature of the
problem and to give Jews
and non-Jews alike an
understanding of whom the
battle is against. Too few
Jews, let alone non-Jews,
possess the knowledge to
counter fatuous anti-
Zionism arguments, which
are often put forward by
Jews themselves.
Many young Jews on
NnvrvArp
TAI
university campuses feel
a valid point has been
made when Arabs tell
514Y DONT YOU :HMG: 7..7?
them that they cannot be
anti-Semitic because
they too are Semitic.
They are not aware
enough to counter that
the logic of this is that
Hitler would not harm
Europeans because he
too was European.
In the face of slick and
well-paid Palestinian prop-
aganda, Zionists cannot and
should not morally try to
avoid difficult issues like
the Arab refugee problem.
This cartoon appeared in London's Sunday Observer on Nov. 16, 1975.
This does not mean that the
Israeli cause is one for
Shimon Peres in praising
right to exist is promoted
Zionist deeds. At women's
appologists. Chaim Weiz-
this new effort pointed out
rights conferences the red
then the logical conclu-
mann's theory that the es-
that "only through initia-
herring of the suppression
sion can only be another
tablishment of Israel fol-
tive, resolve and publicity
of Palestinian women's
holocaust.
lowed the line of the least
can we convince world pub-
rights has replaced real is-
injustice should be ex-
The
situation
that
the
lic opinion of the justice of
sues.
pounded. Most importantly,
WZO task force hopes to our cause."
the cynical role that the
counter is a dire one. The
This phenomenon is re-
Arab states have played in
Western media is riddled
flected in the title of an
To be sure, anti - Zionism
aggravating the Palesti-
with support for a Palesti- embodies the deepest clan,
essay by Prof. Irc-ing Louis
nian problem should be ex-
nian state of the PLO which gers. It paves the way for a
Horowitt entitled "From
posed. As the French
would deprive Jews of the new anti-Semitism, paint-
Pariah People to Pariah Na-
philosopher Bernard . tion." He also calls anti-
right to self-determination ing anti-Semitic
Henri-Levi stated on a re-
and lead to a conflict far stereotypes in all fields of
Zionism the nationalism of
cent visit to Israel, "The
bloodier than Lebanon,
fools and a chauvinistic
society. It undermines the
Arab bourgeoisie, which
which Yasir Arafat upholds legitimacy of Israel itself
movement uniting right
prevented the establish-
as the desired secular demo- and by suggesting that its
and left.
ment of an independent
cratic blueprint for his moral foundation is rotten
Palestinian state in 1948,
Indeed, in some senses
state. On university cam- questions the need for its
used the Palestinians as
the situation is worse
puses Israel's supporters existence. And most impor-
cannon fodder."
than it seems. Many gov-
are intimidated and some- tantly it is a tool of the
Just as the Jews were
ernments, most notably
times banned as "racists Soviet Union and its Third
scapegoats for the problems
in Latin America, that are
and fascists."
World allies in their-strug-
of their host nations, so Is-
among Israel's most ar-
The WZO task force will gle against the Western
rael is to blame for the prob-
dent supporters, practice
democracies. In this sense
coordinate
with
Israel's
lems of the world. Arab gov-
abhorrent anti-Semitism
Foreign Ministry and major anti-Zionism fulfills the
ernments use the "Zionist
on their own population.
Jewish bodies throughout same role as anti-Semitism
threat" to paper over inter-
A revolution, as in Iran,
the
world to fight on an on- in Germany during the
nal divisions. In Iran and
or shifting international
1930s.
going basis a struggle which
even in Poland, where few
alliances, as ini3lack Af-
is global in scope and fateful
Jews remain, the Zionists
rica, can bring popular
Taking up this sinister
in importance. Reactions
are said to be the cause of
anti-Semitism to the fore
from Israel's political lead- challenge is of vital impor-
domestic problems. The
and see Israel diplomati-
tance
for Jewish people
ers
has
been
enthusiastic.
United Nations is pre-
cally stabbed in the back.
Prime Minister Menahem everywhere but it also has
vented from executing its
Not that criticism of Is-
fundamental
implications
Begin has expressed ) ap-
everyday work by Spurious
rael means anti-Semitism
proval, while Labor leader for all Western societies.
motions co _pdemning
.
but once the denial of its
Work of Artist Tormented by Nazis Is Republished
the Academy and her resis-
Kathe Kollwitz is an un- gains new significance.
The noteworthy attention tance. They are:
forgettable name in the
ranks of the great German given to the revived interest • 1934-1937Works on
artists who did not yield to in the Kollwitz art also is "Death," a series of eight
Nazi pressures. emphasized in a foreword by lithographs. Five are shown
She was an unyielding Lucy R. Lippard, the in the November exhibit of
the Berlin Academy. She
pacifist and her great art novelist and art critic.
The essays are in transla- discourages the attempt on
works emphasized her fear-
lessness that was marked tion from the German by the part of some friends to
have her reinstated in the
Rita and Tobert Kimber.
by courage.
Her great record as an ar- Kathe Kollwitz as a Academy. She prefers to
tist as well as a peace advo - pacificist is a major em - remain among the "Cen-
cate is in evidence in a most phasis in the analyses of her sured" and be an example
impressive collection of her life and works. for them.
• 1936 = Unofficial ban
The reader will be in-
life's labors.
Kollwitz: trigued by her resistance to on the exhibition of her
"Kathe
Graphics, Posters, Draw- the oppressive Nazi- work. Her original plaster
ings" (Pantheon Books) is inspired practices of the for the figure of the mother
the newest of the immense Prussian Academy of Art. in "The Parents" as well as
her "Bronze Relief for a
works by the great artist. It She resisted it fearlessly.
A lengthy chronology of Family Grave" are removed
contains 132 reproductions.
Edited by Renate Hinz, the her life (1867-1945) con- from the Academy - exhibit
German art historian who tains several entries which "Berlin Sculptors from
lives in West Berlin, the life depict the manner of her Schluter to the Present."
Interrogated by the Ges-
story of Kathe Kollwitz having been persecuted by
KATHE KOLLWITZ
some in color, the life story
of a courageous woman who
defied the Nazi terror and
associated with Jewish not-
ables — this book is a classic
of the arts and a tribute to a
woman of skill and valor.
"This is the first biog-
raphy in English of the
remarkable' German ar-
tist. For more than 60
years Kollwitz expressed
through her work the
ideas that obsessed -her:
the plight of the op-
pressed, the causes of
peace and social justice,
the joys and sorrows of
motherhood, and the
mystery of death.
"Married in her youth to a
doctor, she bore him two
sons, one of whom was kil-
led in World War I.
"Her earliest major suc-
cess — a series of prints
called 'Weavers,' based on
a revolt of Silesian weavers
as dramatized in a play by
Gerhart Hauptmann —
caused her to become known
as the socialist artist.'
tapo because of an interview
she gave the Soviet news-
paper Izvestia.
• 1938 — The National
Socialists have her statue
"Tower of the Mothers" re-
moved from the exhibit in
the studio building on Klos-
terstrasse.
In 1975, Schocken Books
issued "Kathe Kollwitz:
Life in Art" and The Jewish
News review (Oct. 17, 1975) "She continued all her life
contains these comments on in her social concerns, and
the book: in World War I produced
"The 110 illustrations, some of her most powerful
works to express her anti-
war feelings.
"Nevertheless, her
outward life was not un-
typical of an ordinary
housewife, and it is from
her experience as a
mother that much of her
most expressive work is
formed.
"Her last years were
spent in the nightmare of
Hitler's Germany where she
was forbidden to teach and
where her work was labeled
'degenerate.'
"In this book the authors
have brought together her
life and art, showing
through reproductions of
her drawings, etchings,
woodcuts, lithographs, and
sculpture how each contrib-
utes toward an understand-
ing of this complex woman,
one of our century's most
moving artists."
The new Pantheon edi-
tion of the Kollwitz works
enriches the record,
memorializes the noted ar-
tist. It is a marked tribute to
an artist whose works will
surely live as a tribute to a
pacificist who resisted
tyranny.