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Melchior Message To Durban
Following are excerpts from the
statement by Rabbi Michael Melchior,
Israel's deputy foreign minister,
to the United Nations World
Conference against Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia
and Related Intolerance in
Durban, South Africa.
oppression knows the hope of
redemption .. .
In every country in which they have
lived, Jews have been in the forefront
of the battle for human rights and
freedom from oppression. The same
urge for national liberation, that led
to the Exodus, and that led to the
Zionist dream that Jews
could live in freedom in
their land, was intrinsically
bound up with the belief
that not just one people, but
all peoples must be free .. .
hy, when the
world was creat-
ed, did God cre-
ate just one
man, Adam, and one
woman, Eve? The rabbis
answered: so that all
The Ultimate Crime
humankind would come
If slavery is one form of
from a single union, to
racist atrocity, anti-Semitism
teach us that we are all
RABBI
is another. And by anti-
brothers and sisters.
MICHAEL
Semitism, let us be clear, we
This conference was dedi-
MELCHIOR
mean the hatred of Jews.
cated to that simple proposi-
Special
The
word 'anti-Semitism'
tion. We, all of us, have a
Commentary
was
deliberately coined in
common lineage, and are
1879
by Wilhelm Marr, an
all, irrespective of race, reli-
anti-Jewish
racist
in Germany, to
gion or gender, created in the Divine
Jew-
judenhass,
replace
the
term
image. Indeed, this single idea,
hatred, which had gone out of favor.
unknown to all other ancient civiliza-
It has always, and only, been used to
tions, may be the greatest gift that the
describe hatred and discrimination
Jewish people has given to the world,
directed at Jews.
the recognition of the equality and
Those uncomfortable recognizing
dignity of every human being.
the
existence of anti-Semitism not
The foremost right that follows
only
try to redefine the term, they try
from this principle is the right to be
to
deny
that it is different from any
free, not to be a slave. It is imperative
other form of discrimination. But it is
that the international community
a unique form of hatred. It is directed
addresses and duly acknowledges,
at those of particular birth, irrespec-
already far too late, the magnitude of
tive of their faith, and those of partic-
the tragedy of slavery.
ular faith, irrespective of their birth. It
The horror of slavery is profoundly
is the oldest and most persistent form
engraved in the experience of the
of group hatred; in our century, this
Jewish people — a people formed in
ultimate hatred has led to the ultimate
slavery. For hundreds of years, the
crime, the Holocaust .. .
children of Israel were enslaved in
Those who cannot bring themselves
Egypt until, as the Book of Exodus
to
recognize the unique evil of anti-
recounts, the call 'Let my people go'
Semitism
similarly cannot accept the
heralded the first national liberation
stark
fact
of
the Holocaust, the first
movement in history, and the model
systematic
attempt
to destroy an
for every liberation that was to follow.
entire
people.
The
past
decade has
The Jewish response to slavery was
witnessed an alarming increase in
remarkable. Rather than forget or
attempts to deny the simple fact of
sublimate the suffering of slavery,
this atrocity, at the very time that the
Jewish tradition insisted that every
Holocaust is passing from living
Jew must remember and relive it. And
memory to history. After wiping out
to this day, on Passover, every Jewish
six million Jewish lives, there are those
family reenacts the experience of slav-
who would wipe out their deaths. At
ery, eats the bread of affliction and
this conference too, we have witnessed
appreciates once again the taste of
a vile attempt to generalize and plu-
freedom. Through the ages of our
ralize the word 'Holocaust', and to
exile, this psychodrama has had a pro-
empty it of its meaning as a reference
found impact on the Jewish psyche:
to a specific historic event with a clear
making sure that every child born
and vital message for all humanity.
into comfort knows the pains of
Could there be anything worse than
oppression, and every child born into
to brutally, systematically annihilate a
people; to take the proud Jews of
Related coverage: page 18
Vilna,
Warsaw, Minsk, Lodz; to burn
Related editorial: page 30
W
conference: what are the vicious libels
so freely invented and disseminated
by our enemies — about the use of
poison gas, or depleted uranium bul-
lets, or injecting babies with the Aids
virus — if not the reincarnation of
age-old anti-Semitic canards?
To criticize policies of the
Government of Israel — or of any
country — is legitimate, even vital;
indeed, as a democratic state many
Israelis do just that. But there is pro-
found difference between criticizing a
country, and denying it's right to
exist. Anti-Zionism, the denial of Jews
the basic . right to a home, is nothing
but anti-Semitism, pure and simple.
Record Of Arab States
The venal hatred of Jews that has
The 20th century that witnessed the
taken
the form of anti-Zionism, and
atrocities of the Holocaust also wit-
that
has
surfaced at this conference is,
nessed the fulfillment of the Zionist
however,
different in one crucial way
dream, the reestablishment of a Jewish
from
the
anti-Semitism
of the past.
state in Israel's historic land. For
Today, it is being deliberately propa-
Zionism is quite simply that — the
gated and manipulated for political
national movement of the Jewish peo-
ends. Children are not born as racists;
ple, based on an unbroken connec-
racism is a result of lack of education
tion, going back some 4,000 years,
and political manipulation. And
between the People of the Book and
today, generations of Palestinian chil-
the Land of the Bible .. .
dren are being deliberately and sys-
It has strived continually to estab-
tematically indoctrinated, with text-
lish a society that reflects the highest
books stained with blood libels, and
ideals of democracy and justice for all
children's television programs drip-
its inhabitants, in that Jew and Arab
ping with hatred. This high-risk strat-
can live together, in which women
egy is bound to fail, but it will exact a
and men have equal rights, in which
heavy price.
there is freedom of thought of expres-
sion and in which all have access to
the judicial process to ensure these
Sacrificing Humanity
rights are protected.
The conflict between us and our
Even in the face of the open hostili-
Palestinian neighbors is not racial, and
ty of its neighbors and continued
has no place at this conference. It is
threats to its existence, there are few
political and territorial, and as such
countries that have made such efforts
can and should be resolved to end the
to realize such a vision. Few countries
suffering and bring peace and security
of Israel's age and size have welcomed
to the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
immigrants from over 100 countries,
The path towards such a resolution is
of all colors and tongues, sent medical
clear: an immediate cessation of vio-
aid and disaster relief to alleviate
lence and terror and a return to nego-
human tragedy wherever it strikes,
tiations as recommended by the
maintained a free press, including the
Mitchell Committee Report, which
freest Arabic press anywhere in the
both parties have accepted. The outra-
Middle East.
geous and manic accusations we have
And yet those who cannot bring
heard here are attempts to turn a
themselves to say the words 'the
political issue into a racial one, with
Holocaust', or to recognize anti-
almost no hope of resolution.
Semitism for the evil that it is, would
Barely a year ago, at Camp David,
have us condemn the 'racist practices
the
Israeli government demonstrated
of Zionism.'
its
deep
commitment to peace by
Did any one of those Arab states
offering
our Palestinian neighbors far-
that conceived this obscenity stop for
reaching
compromises. These corn-
one moment to consider their own
promises,
you will recall, were
record?
applauded by the entire international
These states would have us believe
community.
that they are anti-Zionist, not anti-
But, the Palestinians did not accept
Semitic, but again and again this lie is
these
proposals, nor did they put for-
disproved. What are the despicable
ward
any
compromise proposals of
caricatures of Jews that fill the Arab
MELCHIOR
on page 32
press and are being circulated at this
their holy books, to steal their dignity,
their freedom, their hair, their teeth;
to turn them into numbers, to slaves,
to the ashes of Auschwitz, Treblinka,
Majdanek and Dachau? Could any-
thing be worse that this?
And the answer is yes, there is
something even worse: to do such a
thing, and then to deny it, to trivialize
it, to take from the mourners, the
children and the grandchildren, the
legitimacy of their grief, and from all
humanity the urgent lesson that
might stop it happening again.
7141
9/7
2001
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