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.) If you're not wearing it, sell. it. 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Thursday 545-7393 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.