Cal Thomas: Hatred by any other name

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, October 19th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next: WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says recent antisemitic rhetoric in America is something he’s heard before.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: The murderous attack on Israel has ripped away what remained of a thin veneer that has covered up growing antisemitism in America and some of the rest of the world. Until now it has only periodically raised its ugly head. The reaction by pro-Palestinian groups to Israel’s necessary and defensible response to the terrorist attacks from Gaza reveals how this disease has spread.

For years prior to the invasion, there were occasional demonstrations against Jewish and pro-Israel speakers on some college campuses. Now, some students have blamed the killings on Israel for its occupation of land that is rightfully and historically theirs. This is like blaming Jews for their own deaths in the Holocaust.

After the recent attacks by Hamas, swastikas emerged in at least two U.S. cities. The BBC reported antisemitic incidents “quadrupled in the UK.”

We are constantly warned that words matter and so they do. Words can be used to heal, or to incite. The American Jewish Committee–or AJC–has compiled a partial list of words used against Jews that have fueled hatred and violence, dating back to medieval times. Many of these words are now being reborn and spread by antisemitic websites.

Two of these include “Dirty, filthy Jews” and “dual loyalty,” which is used to suggest that Jews born in America are more loyal to Israel than the U.S.

“From the river to the sea” is another slogan found at pro-Palestinian rallies recently. Unlike more moderate calls for Palestinians to have their own state, this phrase implies the state of Israel should be eliminated, which is the point of the Hamas Charter and the goal of Iran.

Then there are the Holocaust deniers. These include people who say The Diary of Anne Frank is fake. Some also claim the Holocaust (if it happened) was a rationale for illegally establishing the modern Jewish state in 1948. Jews have had a presence in the land for nearly 4,000 years. There are also those who say the number of Jews killed during World War II was far less than 6 million.

No wonder then-General Dwight Eisenhower asked photographers to capture images at some of the Nazi death camps. He foresaw there would be people who would deny it happened.

Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein wrote a powerful song for the Broadway musical South Pacific called “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught to Hate.” Among other things, the song argues babies aren’t born haters. Sadly, antisemitic books like “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” have been amplified today on social media and certain websites, teaching readers to hate Jews (and others).

There is no “cure” for antisemitism, but universal denunciation by all people of good will might help push it back in the closet, or under the Earth where it belongs. It also might help if some pro-Palestinian students listened to a Holocaust survivor and the true history of Judaism and Israel.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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