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February 11, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Could it be “Open Season” on the Jewish People?

The treatment of Jewish people around the world is now making the news almost daily. It is obvious that antisemitism is running rampant. The question has changed over the last two decades. First, it was, “What will we do IF it happens again?”, then it became, “What will we do WHEN it happens again?” Now we have to ask the question “What are we doing NOW that it is here?” Yet, the majority of the world is still in denial or willful ignorance about the crisis of antisemitism that is plaguing us all.

We can have a propensity to measure the danger of a conflict taking place in the world by its proximity to where we live. If a war raging across the planet is far enough, then we don’t have to worry about it and chances are, it won’t disturb our lives too much. This sounds very selfish, but deep down, most people don’t really feel affected. To some degree, antisemitism can be viewed through a similar set of filters. People who live in areas where there a very few Jewish people or in some cases none, do not feel that concerned. “Sure, it looks bad in Brooklyn, Paris or Israel…But that’s not my problem, I don’t live there…” some will think.

Antisemitism IS a war, but a non-conventional one. If it was somewhat geographically contained during the Second World War, it no longer is today. In December 2019, a series of attacks against orthodox Jews took place in Brooklyn. We still remember the terrorist attacks at the synagogues in San Diego and Pittsburgh. This is real, this is global and this happening almost on a daily basis. But the recent tragedy that we should pay attention to took place in Paris, and it could create a terrifying precedent.

On April 4, 2017, in Paris, Sarah Halimi, a 66-year-old Jewish woman, was thrown from her third-floor window. Her body landed on the pavement. It remains uncertain if she was thrown alive or already dead from being tortured. What the police found out was that the perpetrator was Kobili Traoré, her Muslim neighbor, who screamed “Allahu Akbar” and “I have killed Satan” as he recited verses from the Qur’an that according to him ordered him to kill Jews. That is such a tragedy, and yet it is only part of the story. How can it possibly get worse?

Kobili Traoré was found under the influence of marijuana and was placed in a mental institution. The whole incident took place during a presidential election year in France–not a good time to make public the murder of a Jew by a Muslim. It took months for the family of Mrs. Halimi to get the French authorities to admit that it was indeed a murder AND that it was an antisemitic hate crime. That is another tragedy because if it had been a person from any other ethnic group thrown out of a window after being tortured, nobody would have questioned the nature of the crime.

The court eventually declared that Traoré had indeed murdered Sarah Halimi willingly, but because he was under the influence of marijuana, he was irresponsible and couldn’t be prosecuted. The whole thing was thrown out of court and Mr. Traoré was ordered to go into rehab.

One of the lawyers for the Halimi family, Francis Szpiner, declared: “Sarah Halimi jurisprudence” has been created: “anyone who suffers from a delusional puff because of the use of illicit and dangerous substances will be exempt from criminal responsibility”, and that is the real danger. I am terrified at the idea that someone can smoke a joint or get drunk, go on a killing rampage to get a few Jews, and then plead intoxication, walk free, go to rehab for 30 days, and plan their next murder. In essence, this is exactly what precedent this case is making.

No punishment for killing Jews is truly making it open season on the Jewish people wherever they are not wanted–which is just about anywhere but Israel. Journalist Céline Pina of French paper Le Figaro wrote: “When one kills in the name of Allah, the excuse of mental imbalance does not hold. If there is one thing in common in all of this blood that keeps flowing, it is the implantation of Islamists on our soil, their network of mosques, their propaganda through books, satellite dishes, their speeches which permeate many districts and territories, their shows of strength…. the situation is not under control.”

She is right, and I believe that the situation is spinning further out of control. We are approaching–if we are not already there–the time when “Righteous Gentiles” will have to step up to the plate and help their Jewish friends. It is very serious. Christians are coming to an important crossroads. This is eerily reminiscent of what Yeshua said in Matthew 25:40: “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” While this is an event that is contextually taking place during the Great Tribulation and after the Rapture, the principle remains. The world is desperately in need of a new generation of “Righteous Among the Nations.”

January 2, 2020 By Olivier Melnick 1 Comment

Antisemitism is now a Pandemic, but it must not become the New Normal!

Each new year brings the hope of a new start including new resolutions–some that we will keep and some that will quickly fade away into oblivion. One such resolution that is well worth keeping is that of standing strong against this new tidal wave of antisemitism in America and most of the world. This renewed and re-invented brand of antisemitism is indeed a fast-spreading disease s. So, why is it that in many cases, people treat it as the new normal? What would happen if typhus, cholera or malaria would have been treated as the new way of life when they started to plague our planet? I wouldn’t be here to speak of it and neither would you to read me. What will it take for people to care enough and react to this exponential eroding of our Judeo-Christian values? During the 1930s and 1940s, many people removed themselves from the crisis by justifying that they were not Jewish or had no Jewish relatives or friends. Six million Jews later, the world woke -up…or did it?

If all the acts of antisemitism that have occurred globally in the last few months were to be reported properly, it is almost certain that we could document the hatred of the Jews as a daily occurrence. The last week of December 2019 in New York was an example of the momentum the beast has gained. Almost every single day during the celebration of the Feats of Hanukkah, the Jewish community was hit. We are not talking about graffiti or insult– bad enough in-and-of-themselves–we are talking about physical injuries and death if the perpetrators had had their ways. Jewish people were threatened, slapped, hit, pushed and even stabbed with a machete, and that is just one week in New York. Europe had its share as well, not to mention all the under-reported or not reported incidents. While I feel that it is necessary to focus on the Jewish people, I am very aware and greatly concerned about what is taking place against Christians as well.

When looking at the history of classic antisemitism, we can see a trend developing from the closing of the biblical record to the Middle Ages and the Reformation, culminating in the Holocaust. I believe that a similar trend can also be seen with the advent of the New antisemitism and End-Times antisemitism. While the original trend was following a growing chasm between Christians and Jews, the renewed trend follows a chasm between people in general (including Christians) and Jews.

First, what developed can be called theological anti-Judaism. Early Christians felt that the Jews were different and didn’t really fit theologically. Differences of opinion started to drive a wedge in a community where theological lines had been blurred for the first few hundred years during the infancy of Christianity. These differences were mostly verbal or written in some early works but not intended to lead to ostracism, demonization, violence or death, and yet, the wheel was already turning. Many Church Fathers took an allegorical approach to parts of the Scriptures that led to them seeing a transfer of God’s blessings and promises to the Church and away from ethnic Isreal. It was the little crack in biblical theology that created the seismic fault known to this day as Replacement Theology. But it could have remained a theological difference, so what made it go further?

During Christianity’s early years, only the spiritual leaders were educated and had access to manuscripts. The printing press wouldn’t come until 1450. The masses, if interested in spiritual matters, would have to fully rely on what they heard from the pulpits of their respective communities. They couldn’t check the veracity of the messages, they could only take what their leaders told them at face value. When they were told that the Church had replaced Israel and the Jews were “Christ-killers”, “lustful”, “rapacious”, “greedy” or even “possessed by the devil”, they believed it. The next move was obvious, if the Jews were so bad, we must protect our Christian communities from them, and so the crack went a bit deeper. Laws started to be passed to separate Christians from Jews, and then to further ostracize and eventually demonize the Jews. By now, we are in the Middle Ages (500-1500) and people continued to believe lies about the Jews and even started to fabricate some. The unwanted Jew was expelled from one European country after the other. Things progressively got worse for the Jews, but nobody really cared to check the facts. What started as a theological difference became a European epidemic that decimated six million Jews during the Nazi regime.

A similar process has been taking place for the last few decades. It started in the Middle East with the rise of Yasir Arafat (Chairman of the PLO from 1969 to 2004), the great defender of the Palestinian right for self-determination. The Palestinian narrative about victimization, oppression and occupation started as propaganda to reverse the tide, and make the perpetrators into the victims and vice-versa. It took a while to take root, and at first, it was challenged by some, but today, it is believed by many around the globe and the Jews are painted as the new Nazis of the Middle East. Arafat has been dead for sixteen years but his legacy of lies and hatred lives on, and it is pushed forward by uneducated people, not interested in checking the facts. Back in the days, the people were illiterate, today they are uneducated about the truth of the Middle East crisis. So they listen to whoever comes up with the most likely scenario faulting the Jews. The result is equally lethal, and with the advent of the Internet and the social networks, it has become far worse. It has now become a pandemic, but many are treating it as the new normal.

Antisemitism like any other form of xenophobia, including racism against blacks, Arabs, Hispanics or any other ethnic community goes against everything the United States was founded upon. What happened to “Judeo/Christian” ethics? A few people pay lip service to the cause by denouncing the longest hatred, but they seem toothless. We need laws, they need to be enforced, and sentences need to be heavy. Antisemitism is akin to domestic terrorism, and terrorism affects all of us…Well at least it should.

If hitting Jews and trying to kill them almost daily has become the new normal, then we are not getting close to the atmosphere of the 1930s and 1940s…WE ARE THERE, and if we are not doing anything, we have become the new bystanders. Somebody, please prove me wrong and I will gladly and humbly stand corrected!

December 23, 2019 By Olivier Melnick 1 Comment

Anti-Semitism in 2019: A Year in Review – Part 1

When my first book on the topic came out in 2007, I received a lot of feedback from skeptics telling me that things couldn’t possibly get “that bad” for the Jewish people. I will resist the temptation to say “I told you so”, simply because I would much rather stand corrected and be wrong, but as most of the world has now seen, it is not the case. In fact, it could be argued that things are even worse than I predicted when I started my research in 1999. Part of me is irate, part of me is concerned and part of me is not surprised.
I am irate because, after 2,000 years of antisemitism culminating in the Holocaust, I didn’t think that men could be so cruel and evil to other men. I am concerned by the lack of interest and reaction from people who know better, including evangelicals, but I am not really surprised because biblically speaking, I know that at some point in the history of mankind, the whole world will go against the Jews. We are getting there faster than I thought possible and 2019 was a sad example of that.

January 2019: The Pervasiveness of BDS in American Politics!
BDS proponents are very inconsistent with what Israeli products they boycott. If a product or technology comes from Israel but doesn’t really create a huge inconvenience, BDS people will denounce and boycott with a lot of fanfare. On the other hand, if the technology is a big part of their life, like cell phones, computers, thumb drives, etc, hypocritically, there’s no boycott. Case in point, Mahmoud Abbas recent case of severe pneumonia successfully treated by an Israeli doctor.
Additionally, the very people who choose to boycott Israel will then turn a blind eye on a myriad of countries and/or entities that are blatant human rights abusers and violators such as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Gaza, and others. BDS proponents are not interested in facts. If they were, they would actually support Israel. This in no means is an attempt at exonerating Israel from any responsibilities in the Middle East crisis, but a genuine desire for balance and fairness and an unbiased approach to the issue. Instead, we see how pervasive the BDS movement has become in the last few years, and how widespread it has developed across all segments of the population, and particularly, how it has started to infuse the fabric of the US government. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the UN has looked at Israel through the biased lens of the Palestinian narrative, fueled by a postmodern approach to truth and social justice. More resolutions have been passed against Israel than any other country combined that are UN members, and this by a long shot.

February 2019: Not Exactly “A Pope for All Seasons!”
The Pope just co-signed a document with Al Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb (once named “the most influential Muslim in the world”), titled “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together“. Ecumenically speaking, the document is a dream come true for mankind, and many have described it as a “historical breakthrough“. I would venture to say that it might be a “biblical breakthrough,” but not necessarily for the same reasons. The document says of God “He is the Creator who has formed us with His divine wisdom and has granted us the gift of life to protect it. It is a gift that no one has the right to take away, threaten or manipulate to suit oneself. Indeed, everyone must safeguard this gift of life from its beginning up to its natural end. We, therefore, condemn all those practices that are a threat to life such as genocide, acts of terrorism, forced displacement, human trafficking, abortion, and euthanasia.” The Pope might be thinking that because God created all men equally (a biblical view that I share with him), Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb shares his views, but just because the Grand Imam signed the document doesn’t mean that he will uphold it. Here we see that the Pope is taking a pluralistic position demanding that all men respect one another regardless of their beliefs since “The pluralism and the diversity of religions, color, sex, race, and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. The proverbial roads that all lead to Rome are no longer sufficient, now they all need to also lead to God. The same god for Roman Catholics and Muslims, that is!

March 2019: The Greedy Jew is Alive and Well!
To understand the extent of the “Greedy Jew” canard, we must look at a recent incident that took place in Aalst, Belgium during a yearly street carnival dating back to the Middle Ages. It includes parading floats with music on various themes. This year’s float from the group Vismooi’ln was titled “Sabbath Year 2019”, which according to the builders of the float was decided based on the fact that they might have to take a break from the Carnival in 2020 because of its rising cost. What followed was outrageously anti-Semitic. The front of the float included two giant caricatures of orthodox Jews with streimels (Jewish fur hats) on their heads, side curls and long beards. The facial features included mean looks and large crooked noses (another anti-Semitic stereotype.) Adding insult to injury, the two giant puppets were standing, surrounded by bags of money at their feet and money coming out of their coat pockets (yet another anti-Semitic stereotype.) There were also over a dozen people dressed up as Orthodox Jews, gyrating on the second float with a very apparent lack of respect. Once again, and this time around the world, the bystanders are quickly becoming co-perpetrators in a myriad of anti-Semitic acts because, in 2019, anti-Semitism has become the new normal.

April 2019: The fire at Notre-Dame didn’t have to be a terrorist attack!
First, they came for the Jews… Then they came for the Christians!
Many French Catholic churches have been desecrated and even set on fire in the last year. In some cases, people even get in to defecate on the premises. Both Germany and France have reported that crimes against Christian churches have increased since Muslim migrants became part of the demographics. France alone saw over 1,300 attacks against Christian churches and facilities in 2018 (almost 900 of them being fires.) These attacks, outside of a few coming from deranged citizens of France, didn’t come from the French people, they didn’t come from the Jewish community (as anti-Jesus as a Jewish person might be), but they mostly came from people who ideologically hate Christianity, the indoctrinated radical Muslims. They are the first victims of the hate that has been injected in their DNA for decades. We might never really know the source of the Notre-Dame fire, but the situation is such in France and much of Western Europe, that at least, it makes it possible for one to speculate and leave the door open for a terrorist attack. The soil is fertile to allow more hatred to grow and choke Christianity and Western Civilization. As a matter of fact, ISIS, who didn’t claim responsibility for the fire, threatened to start another one to finish the job. They were not involved, but they were quick to rejoice and post photos of the burning structure on social media with the caption: “It’s time to say goodbye to your oratory polytheism.” Notre-Dame’s fire didn’t have to be a terrorist attack to draw the attention of those who promote Christianity and Western values. There is a track record of the destruction of Christianity in Europe that has existed for a while now. Lovers of freedom and democracy ought to be really concerned.

May 2019: Who Cares about the Holocaust Anymore?
This year more than ever we need to remember what took place in Nazi Germany almost 80 years ago:
• At a time when Israel is falsely accused of ethnic cleansing in their very own land, we must remember the days when Jews were almost eradicated from the face of the earth.
• At a time when it is becoming more and more dangerous to be Jewish anywhere in the world (except Israel), we must remember those who died simply because they were Jewish.
• At a time when worshipping in a synagogue could end in a lethal terror attack, we must remember the victims of Pittsburgh and San Diego and all other houses of worship around the globe.
• At a time when the world is pushing for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, we must remember that it already took place during the November 1938 Kristallnacht and that there is nothing new under the sun.
• At a time when the US Congress has been infiltrated with a new generation of anti-Semitic representatives, we must remember when Jewish people didn’t have a voice in government.
• At a time when a mainstream US newspaper publishes yet another virulently anti-Semitic cartoon, we must remember 2,000 years of anti-Jewish caricatures leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths.
• At a time when two-thirds of millennials do not know what Auschwitz is, we must remember the motto “NEVER AGAIN.”
• At a time when anti-Semitism is becoming the new normal around the world, we must remember that according to Edmund Burke, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men do nothing.”

June 2019: The US Senate Antisemitism Resolution: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!
On June 13, 2019, a joint resolution was introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, and on June 14, it passed unanimously! The resolution is a short document that unequivocally denounces antisemitism. It comes less than three months after the House brought another resolution of the sort, but changed the wording at the last minute to speak of “bigotry of all kinds” instead of clearly denouncing antisemitism. This is a bold and necessary move in the right direction at a time in our history when global antisemitism is increasing exponentially on a daily basis. That resolution is definitely a move in the right direction. It uses words that cannot be misconstrued. The opening statement says ” Antisemitism is a unique form of prejudice stretching back millennia that attacks the equal humanity of the Jewish people.” It is indeed very unique and history’s longest-lasting hatred against one specific group of people. We need to take a close look at that bi-partisan resolution that was just passed unanimously. Indeed, we need to look at the good, the bad and the ugly! Let’s start with the ugly. What I think is very ugly, is the fact that we even have to pen such a resolution in 2019. How long will the Jewish people have to suffer unmerited persecution before the world wakes up to the reality of antisemitism? It is so despicable to have to come up with a resolution condemning antisemitism in all its forms, just a few months after a similar attempt was made, but watered down in its verbiage. It is pathetic that Senator Cruz would even have to list some of the myths that have been believed about the Jewish people. To be sure, I do not criticize Senator Cruz’ initiative, but rather the fact that he would even have to delineate what antisemitism has done over the last two millennia.

Part II will be published in the first week of January 2020.

November 2, 2019 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

What unites the Left more than its disdain for Trump?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that America’s political landscape is suffering from the worst case of polarization in its history. The amount of hatred for President Trump currently displayed by his opponents is mind-boggling. Republicans and Democrats used to be somewhat cordial even when disagreeing. They even found ways to advance and promote the United States in a bi-partisan way. Everything seems to indicate that these days are gone. Yet, there is something else that unites the Left even more than their disdain for Trump, it is their hatred for Israel and the Jewish people. It doesn’t always appear to be that bad, but under a thin veneer of social justice and multiculturalism, antisemitism is quickly identified.

One of the most asked questions, when I speak around the United States, has to do with the American Jewish community’s apparent support of the Leftist agenda. With a puzzled look on their faces, people often ask me to explain why so many Jewish people vote Democrat. I must say that as a Jew, I don’t categorize myself as either a Democrat or a Republican. Yet, I would tend to be very conservative. This being said, I could have voted for a Democrat like JFK back in the days, but Democrats of yesteryear are a far cry from today’s Left.

So what makes Jewish people in America vote Democrat? First, the Republican party often appears to be the party of “Right-wing bigots” or “white supremacists.” It is often thought to be a party that aligns itself with the political agenda of Nazi Germany, and we all know how that played out for 6,000,000 Jews. Incidentally, the Nazi Party or “The National Socialist German Workers’ Party” had “Socialist” in its name. To this day, its adherence to a Socialist agenda is widely debated. Hitler might have used the word “Socialist” to attract people to a movement that would end-up becoming a totalitarian, genocidal party closer to Fascism than Socialism. Instead of looking at what we call a political spectrum with moderate in the center of Left and Right, we need to consider a full circle with Left and Right getting closer together the further they move away from the moderate center. Eventually, they meet on the other end of that circle. Let’s face it, extreme Right and extreme Left promote a lot of the same agendas.

Another reason why Jews vote Democrat is that the more liberal agenda of the Democrats appeals to the Jewish community at large–at the very least to the 85%+ who are not religious. The issue is that to the non-religious Jews, social justice is more important than Israel, Jewish identity or even Jewish survival. Jewish identity used to be connected to a feeling of belonging to Israel one way or another. Support for Israel was much stronger from American Jews a couple of decades ago. It appears that the non-religious Jewish community finds more solace in supporting any sort of social justice agenda rather than supporting Israel. In the process, they seem to ignore–willfully or not–that the Left is anti-Israel, period! Consider the following:

• Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren recently said she will “reverse President Trump’s policy decisions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to restore aid to the Palestinians, resuming support for the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees and inviting a Palestinian envoy back to Washington.” She completely ignored the way that the Palestinian leadership goes about things ie: Rocket launching out of Gaza and other acts of terrorism.

• The liberal Jewish organization J Street met recently for its eighth annual conference where they clearly pushed the idea that the USA should withhold aid to Israel to promote peace in the Middle East. Many of the current Democratic candidates for 2020 were present and in support of that move. As JTA reported J Street president Ben-Ami said “assistance to Israel could be checked against, for instance, the Arms Export Control Act, which requires U.S. arms sales to be used strictly for self-defense.” Well, is there still any doubt–at least in the minds of people of goodwill– that Israel is always acting in self-defense, only retaliating because of acts of terrorism, but never initiating acts of terror?

• Bernie Sanders (a Jew) declared that he would rather have some of the money the USA gives to Israel be re-routed to Gaza. He said, “My solution is, to Israel, if you want military aid you’re going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza,” he said. “I would say that some of the $3.8 billion should go right now to humanitarian aid in Gaza.” What for, Mr. Sanders? More rockets, more tunnels or more money to reward the families of homicide bombers? Incidentally, for reasons that totally escape me, Muslim feminist activist Linda Sarsour has become Sanders’ campaign surrogate. Somebody needs to explain to her that the words “Muslim” and “Feminist” are oxymoronic at best unless she is a trojan horse slowly making her way into the American political landscape. Consider the concept of taqiyya where it is OK for a Muslim to lie to “gain the upper-hand over an enemy.” This obviously does not mean that all Muslims are deceivers, but rather, that some in powerful positions have agendas that are unethical and as a result, make a bad name for the rest of the Muslim community.

A lot more could be said to make a case against the Left’s antisemitic agenda. Overwhelming growing support for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel for “occupation” and “colonization” of “Palestine” is a recurring problem based on hearsay. Campus indoctrination of our youth against Israel, known as “Campus Intifada” is also going rampant. Are we becoming responsible for raising a new generation of Jew-haters?

At the end of the day, the Leftist antisemitic agenda–albeit not always physically violent–encourages those on the fringe of society to act against Jewish people in America and the rest of the world. Physical harm resulting in death is now a recurring very alarming theme for the Jewish global community. America has long been the friend of Israel, based on our Judeo/Christian common heritage. Biblically speaking, Israel remains in God’s program and will never be destroyed (Jeremiah 31:35-37), but too many on the Left have little regard for God or His Word. While it is not always a black and white proposition, I still think that it is time for American Jews to consider moving away from the party that wants them dead and join the party that understands Israel’s right to exist in her ancestral biblical land.

July 20, 2019 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Anti-Semitism Clearly Acknowledged at DOJ Summit, Now What?

A Summit on combating anti-Semitism was held at the Justice Department in Washington, DC on July 15, 2019. The one-day summit was filled with presentations and panel discussions on various topics such as anti-Zionism, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement (BDS), anti-Semitism and the First Amendment, Campus anti-Semitism and others. A myriad of experts was present to provide the audience with exposés on the various contemporary iterations of anti-Semitism.

The day started with an opening statement by Attorney General Bill Barr. His opening remarks went straight to the heart of the problem as he said, “I am deeply concerned about the rise in hate crimes and political violence that we have seen over the past decade. And this trend has included a marked increase in reported instances of anti-Semitic hate crimes. We can all agree this trend is intolerable. We must have zero tolerance for violence that is motivated by hatred for our fellow citizens whether based on race, sex, or creed. Anti-Semitic violence is especially pernicious because it targets both Jewish ethnic identity and religious practice.”Mr. Barr eloquently and passionately expressed his and this administration’s frustration over the rise in anti-Semitic acts over the past 10 years. He is right in saying that it is intolerable, and yet, we now have several new members of Congress who tolerate it and are trying hard to make it become the new normal.

The uniqueness of the new anti-Semitism is that it is a poison spewed at people ethnically, spiritually AND geographically. It isn’t just racism, religious bigotry or geo/political discrimination, it is all three. This makes it very hard to fight on all fronts from so many fields like academic, political, religious, entertainment and government.

For the longest time now, anti-Semitism has been either under-reported, inaccurately reported or simply not reported. I first started speaking and writing about it twenty years ago when people couldn’t or refused to see the handwriting on the wall. What took us so long? Bill Barr said that anti-Semitism was akin to cancer, and I agree. I have used that analogy for a long time now. Barr saw the danger when he stated “I think of the various forms of anti-Semitism as very much like different kinds of cancer. A healthy body with a strong immune system can have success in preventing cancers from emerging and spreading. But if the immune system weakens cancer can emerge. Some might be localized. But others can rapidly metastasize and become systematic. Like a physical body, a body politic must have an immune system that resists anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred. “

The Summit was good at identifying the problem, as others have partially done in the recent past. Now we must move into action to rectify, stop and prevent anti-Semitism from growing bigger. Mr. Barr described it as cancer and rightfully so. But nobody would ever think of leaving cancer unchecked. Unfortunately, the cancer of anti-Semitism is no longer localized. It is almost fully metastasized. Is it too late to eradicate? Probably not, but like with all cancer that has become aggressive, treatment must also be aggressive. There are different methods to fight cancer, as well as various levels of intensity with each method. A powerful analogy can be drawn between cancer and anti-Semitism as one looks at the various types of surgical procedures available:

• Preventive Surgery (removing pre-cancerous tissue): This can still work on a younger generation in schools and universities. They need to be educated with the facts about the Middle East in order to counter the lies of BDS and Campus Intifada.
• Diagnostic Surgery (removing tissue for cancer testing): This also can be utilized to test the level of indoctrination of students or members of various organizations. Surveys can work well towards that goal. Although unfortunately, the data is already in!
• Debulking Surgery (removing a portion of a tumor when the whole area cannot be safely cleared): This is not the best option as partial clearing of an issue often allows for it to re-occur, sometimes even in a stronger way. Planing on passing a resolution on anti-Semitism, but changing the verbiage to racism at the last minute was an example of that type of failure.
• Curative Surgery (removes the localized tumor): This might work in some isolated cases of anti-Semitism where a person can be disciplined, re-assigned or fired if necessary. The Florida principal who couldn’s say that the Holocaust was a fact and was re-assigned was a perfect example (although it is uncertain if his re-assignment will still keep away from a position of educational authority.)
• Palliative Surgery (relieves discomfort while not curing advanced stages of cancer): Encouraging people who have been victims of anti-Semitism without really facing the problem head-on.

I have seen a lot of people speak-up against anti-Semitism in the last two decades. For people in the general population, we must speak up, attend rallies and conferences, sign petitions, all to show our support of Israel and our rejection of any and all forms of anti-Semitism. At the government level though, they MUST DO MORE! The recent Summit identified a problem and exposed its dangers to the American People. Now, laws must be passed AND enforced to truly discourage this kind of bigotry and discrimination.

When you identify that you have a problem and start going to AA meetings, as you go through each of the steps, you have to make an effort to refrain from your destructive actions and be true to your accountability partner to be successful.

Step one, America has identified that anti-Semitism is a real problem, now we have to show that we truly want to stop it by making some changes on campuses, within organizations and even possibly within Congress, otherwise, it will keep poisoning the Jewish community to death. Oh, and America… Your accountability partner is that very Jewish community. Let’s get busy!

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