20 Friday, April 1, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Communism, Christianity Trade Places on Anti-Semitism
anti-Semitism both at home
and abroad.
The USSR is one of the
few countries in the world
that has established a cen-
ter for research and publica-
tion of anti-Semitic tracts
and propaganda materials
that are disseminated
throughout the East Euro-
pean bloc, the Arab-Muslim
world and Third World na-
tions in multiple languages.
pockets of anti-Jewish atti-
tudes, Christian churches
have become the primary
agents for combatting
anti-Jewish attitudes and
behavior.
In the 1930s and 1940s,
numerous Jews looked to
the Marxist revolutionaries
as the messianic carriers of
the classless, utopian
society in which all prej-
udice would dissolve in
socialist egalitarianism.
Today, the Soviet Union has
become the most vigorous
purveyor of venomous
By RABBI MARC H.
TANENBAUM
(Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.)
It is one of the major his-
toric paradoxes of this gen-
eration that the classic ad-
vocates and opponents of
anti-Semitism have been
virtually reversed.
For much of the past two
millenia, Christians — and,
in particular, the Catholic
Church — have been per-
ceived by the vast majority
of the Jewish people as "the
enemy" of the Jews. Today,
despite some residual
The ironies are corn-
pounded by the emer-
gence of Arab nations
since 1973 as superpow-
ers in OPEC and
attended by the rise of Is-
lamic fanaticism. Histor-
ically, Jews suffered far
greater from the furors of
anti-Semitism in the
Christian West and
looked to Islamic coun-
tries for haven despite
their status as second-
class citizens as ordained
by the Koran (Jews and
Christians, although
termed in the Koran as
"the people of the book"
nevertheless experi-
enced their status in
Arab-Muslim countries
as "dhimmi," protected
peoples tolerated by the
Muslim majorities.)
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11•••••• ■
As a result of the decades
of hostility engendered by
the Middle East conflict be-
tween Israel and the rejec-
tionist Arab states, for-
merly "tolerant" Muslim
governments have mounted
incessant campaigns of
anti-Zionism within the
United Nations and in
many parts of the world.
"Zionism is racism" resolu-
tions promoted by Arab-
Muslim countries in virtu-
ally every session of the
United Nations and its
agencies have converted
that international body into
"the bulliest pulpit" of
anti-Semitism, with anti-
Zionism serving as a mask
for the most virulent forms
of anti-Jewish and anti-
Israel attitudes and actions.
Thus, this obsessive
Arab-Muslim campaign,
spearheaded by the PLO
and supported by the Soviet
Union and a number of
Third World nations, has
become the most serious
challenge to Israel and the
Jewish people since the
Nazi Holocaust.
The intention of that
religio-political drive is
nothing other than to "de-
legitimize" the state of Is-
rael and reduce the Jewish
state to a pariah among the
nations, a moral leper —
much as Hitler sought to re-
duce the Jewish people to a
pariah among "Aryan"
peoples.
The invasion of Leba-
non by Israel in June
1982 in its determined ef-
fort to uproot the ter-
rorist PLO and to put an
end to its genocidal inten-
tions against Israel's
population resulted in a
further intensification of
anti-Israel and anti-
Jewish propaganda.
The PLO held innocent
Lebanese and Palestinians
hostage by installing their
massive military technol-
ogy and munitions dumps in
the midst of civilian
churches, mosques, hospi-
tals, schools and apartment
buildings. Nevertheless,
the unfortunate and tragic
killing of Arab civilians by
the Israeli army became a
pretext for the PLO to de-
fame the Israelis, calling
them and their Jewish sup-
porters "Nazis." That de-
monic theme — "Jews are
like Nazis," "the Israelis
have inflicted a holocaust
on the Palestinians" — was
picked up by a
sensationalist-bent world
media, by some left-leaning
Christian leaders, and be-
came a major propaganda
theme thundered around
the world by the Soviet
Union and Arab diplomats.
The anti-Jewish effects of
that political drive were de-
vastating. For months on
end, the international mes-
sage became this perversity
— if Jews are like Nazis,
they have no more claim on
the moral conscience of the
Christian West and the
human community at large
than did the Nazis.
The moral standing of the
Jewish people as "the people
of the Bible," the carriers of
the Ten Commandments,
RABBI TANENBAUM
the vehicle, of Prophetic so-
cial justice was now chal-
lenged as at no time since
the Nazis launched their
campaign to delegitimize
Jews and Judaism and to
portray the Jews as de-
monic.
Ironically, the one
group that stood stead-
fastly against these
diabolical efforts were
Evangelical Christians in
the United States, Israel
and Western Europe. The
fastest growing group in
the United States, now
numbering 40 to 50 mil-
lion adherents, Evangeli-
cal Christians stake their
existence on the truth of
the Bible. They believe
devoutly that God's
promises to the Jewish
people as His Chosen
People and the Holy
Land as the patrimony of
the Jews since the cove-
nant with Abraham is not
subject to recall nor ab-
rogation.
Evangelicals staged ral-
lies in support of Israel, pub-
lished ads condemning
anti-Semitism and anti-
Zionism, and in general be-
came a bulwark of moral
support to Jews at a time
when they were feeling bat-
tered and abandoned.
Despite the complicated
relationships that Jews
have had with Evangelicals
over missions, proselytiz-
ing, and a conversionist
theology, Israel and the
Jewish people were grateful
for their support when it
was most needed. A power-
ful anti-Communist also in-
formed much of the
Evangelicals' support of Is-
rael, for they saw Israel as a
strong bastion against
Soviet expansionism and
Communist atheism in the
Middle East as well as
elsewhere.
Feeling strongly the Bi-
blical teachings about the
dignity of human life,
Evangelicals were also ap-
palled by the violence and
terrorism of the PLO and
their Arab-Muslim and
Soviet supporters.
Prior to the Lebanese
crisis, Roman Catholics,
especially in the church
pews, were among the
stalwart supporters of Is-
rael, and moved into the
vanguard of combatting
anti-Semitism. The Vati-
can Declaration on non-
Christian Religions
(Nostra Aetate), adopted
in October 1965, power-
fully condemned anti-
Semitism "by anyone at
any time."
The Vatican guidelines,
promulgated in January
1975, gave concrete in-
structions to the Catholic
faithful—numbering about
800 million people —
throughout the world for
the uprooting of anti-
Semitic references in
Catholic textbooks, liturgy,
and homilies, and called for
fraternal dialogue and joint
social action between
Catholics and Jews.
Between 1965 and 1982,
greater progress was made
in uprooting the poisonous
weeds of anti-Seriiitism in
the Catholic culture than
had been made during the
past 1,900 years.
A chill fell on Catholic-
Jewish relations for a brief
period following the audi-
ence that Pope John Paul II
granted to the PLO's Yasir
Arafat. Catholics were
angered by Prime Minister
Begin's statements refer-
ring to the Pope's action as
"repulsive" and "disgust-
ing." Jews were horrified
that the Vicar of Christ on
earth, himself a man of
peace who had vigorously
condemned violence and
terrorism, would agree to
meet with "the vicar" of in-
ternational terrorism,
thereby giving him the im-
plied sanction of the Holy
See.
But as a result of a
series of clarifying
statements by the Vati-
can and by Jewish lead-
ers, that unfortunate
episode was placed in a
moderating perspective,
and Catholics and Jews
began to return to their
previous track of advanc-
ing "the revolution of es-
teem" between the
Catholics and Jews
A small group of left-
leaning liberal Protestant
leaders who identified al-
most completely with the
PLO's views also outraged
the Jewish community. But
it became clear that the vast
majority of mainline Pro-
testants did not share the
extreme views of this ecu-
menical elite and alliances
between Protestants and
Jews in local communities
continued to progress.
Protestants, prior
to Vatican Council II, were
among the first Christians
to launch campaigns to up-
root anti-Semitism in their
textbooks, were allied with
Jews in upholding the sep-
aration of church and state,
collaborated in social justice
causes, and upheld together
the principles and practices
of democratic pluralism.
Should peace come to the
Middle East in the decades
ahead, there can be little
question that the alliances
between Jews and all
branches of Christendom
will be restored. And Jews
will find, to the ironic
amazement of many, that
Christians and Christianity
have become the most
sigificant force for combat-
ting the secular and politi-
cal forms of anti-Semitism
that now continue to bedevil
the Jewish people.