Page 3-THE NEWS-May, 1984
The Policies of Antl*Semitism
By Harris 0. Schoenberg
(Editor’s note: Harris O.
Schoenberg is the director of
United Nations Affairs of the
International Council of B’nai
B’rith. This analysis is based,
in part, on reporting by B’nai
B’rith representatives in Paris
and Geneva.)
Not since the days of Adolf
Hitler have the anti-Semitic
themes of the genocidsil Nazi
propaganda machine been
aired in the West with such
impunity. And, of all places,
they are being aired in the
public forums of the organiza
tions created to overcome the
Nazi legacy — the United
Nations.
There are very few states, no
more than about 10 out of 158
UN members, that are involv
ed in the perpetration of anti-
Semitism. In fact, in 1984 this
evil, which the UN was design
ed to combat, is largely the
work of just two states — the
Soviet Union and Libya. But
a shocking complacency
among the representatives of
Western European, Com
monwealth and other
democracies permit the bigots
to deliver their incitements to
hatred in one forum after
another without interruption
or objection.
The result has been pointed
out in a letter to UN
Secretary-General Javier
Perez de Cuellar by Israel’s
Permanent Representative to
the UN, Yehuda Blpm, “There
can be little doubt,” wrote
Ambassador Blum,” that the
escalation of anti-Semitic
rhetoric at the United Na
tions...has been largely respon
sible for the recrudescence of
anti-Semitism worldwide and
for the resulting numerous
acts of anti-Jewish violence in
recent years.”
Anti-Semitism has been
around the UN for yecirs. But
it was not until the adoption
on Nov. 10, 1975 of the in
famous General Assembly
Resolution 3379 that the UN
gave official sanction to anti-
Semitism, as the great Soviet
human rights champion An
drei Sakharov noted at the
time. Since that period, the
problem has grown dramat
ically.
It is well-known by now that
Ambassador Ali Treiki of
Libya accused Jews as a group
in the General Assembly on
Dec. 8, 1983 of owning the
pornographic operations of
New York, “exploiting the
American people and trying to
debase them. If we succeed in
eliminating that entity,” the
former Libyan foreign
minister concluded, “we shall
by the same token save the
American and European
peoples.”
Among the assembled dele
gates, only Ambassador Blum
and Constantin Dombalis,
representing the U.S. bothered
to protest. To his credit,
Secretary-General de Cuellar
issued a statement the next
day in which he regretted “the
use in the General Assembly
of epithets and slurs of a
racial, religious or personal
nature, even in the heat of the
debate.” The Secretary-
Generral appeals to members
“to refrain from language
unbecoming to serious inter
national debate.”
But his appeal went unheed
ed. At the Feb.-Mar. ’84 ses
sion on the UN’s Commission
on Human Rights, the Soviet
and Libyan delegates engaged
agian in racist rhetoric under
the agenda item entitled
“Measures to be taken against
all totalitarian...ideologies...”
After alleging at length
common features of Zionism
and Nazism, the Ukrainian
delegates stated that whereas
South Africa’s white majority
used apartheid to dominate
the Blacks, Israel with its
theory of the “chosen people”
adopted a policy by which
those “beloning to the Jewish
race” dominated the Arabs.
V.A. Zorin, the chief Soviet
delegate, whose speeches are
usually fine tuned to the Com
munist Party line, repeatedly
stated that Zionism is related
to Nazism. He claimed
Zionists dwell at length on the
victimization of the Jews dur
ing the Holocaust to obtain
support and to win sympathy.
The Libyan representative,
who spoke after Zorin, describ
ed Zionism as a philosophy in
which the Jews claim to be the
chosen people of God.
The Byelorussian’s speech
was similar to those of his
Soviet colleagues.
Responding to these “mon
strous statements,” the B’nai
B’rith representative at the
Commission session observed
on February 23, 1984 that
they “reveid the torturous
thinking inspiring such
demented slanders.”
Challenged by Israel’s Am
bassador in Geneva, Ephraim
Dowek, Zorin was at pains to
stress that his attacks on
Zionism were in keeping with
the General Assembly resolu
tion on the subject.
Once again, only the United
States joined Israel in con
demning these attacks on the
Jewish religion and on the
movement of Jews to live free
in their own land. U.S. Am
bassador Richard Schifter
noted that “anti-Semitism has
now become one of the
established elements of Soviet
policy...”
He referred very pointedly
to the anti-Semitic remarks in
the Commission by the Soviet
and Libyan delegates, dif-
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ferentiating between opposi
tion to the political philosophy
of Zionism and attacks on the
rights of Jews, like everyone
else, to believe in and promote
a liberating political
philosophy of their own.
Cataloging the various
aspects of officially sponsored
Soviet anti-Semitism, Schifter
concluded that “there is no
doubt that Jews are today an
outcast people in the Soviet
Union for no reason other than
that they were born Jews.”
Returning to the subject of
Zionism and Judaism during
the religious intolerance
debate in the Human Rights
Commission, the Libyan
delegate asserted that Israel
and the Zionists are distorting
the principles of Judaism as
part of a conspiracy ag£unst
the Moslem and Arab world.
He repeatedly cited passages
from the Bible, claiming that
sacred texts were used to
spread “racist Zionism.” He
alleged that Jews treat each
other better than Gentiles.
And he made obscure allusions
to usurious practices.
Why these extremists of the
left and right use racist anti-
Semitic rhetoric is relatively
easy to explain. More than
anything else the UN is the
leading agent for legitimizing
and delegitimizing political
authorities in contemporary
international affairs. Attacks
on Israel degenerate into gut
ter anti-Semitism as part of
the process of and a cheap
shortcut to the delegitimiza
tion of Israel. Thus, anti-
Semitic bigotry is used to
deny Israel’s legitimacy and
these attacks are repeated so
often that the outrageous
comes to be accepted.
What it is harder to explain
is the silence of most of the
democracies. I, among others,
talking with a variety of UN
diplomats after the Treiki af
fair to learn why they fail to
respond to such incitement to
racial hatred. I encountered a
variety of excuses even among
the envoys representing
democracies.
One representative said that
his delegation does not take
seriously such nonsense.
Another said the debates are
too boring to pay attention to
what is said. One said that his
junior officer on duty had no
instructions to respond.
Another said he would reply
only if his own country were
attacked. One differentiated
between the Security Council,
which he took seriously, and
the General Assembly, which
he labelled “a circus”. Another
said anti-Semitism is
deplorable, but his delegation
cannot allow itself to get in
volved in polemics. Someone
suggested that bigotry is
allowed under the rules of pro
cedure, and someone else
shrugged and said everyone is
attacked at the UN.
I came away feeling that
these st£ilwarts of Western
democracy, outside the United
States, were intimidated by
the anti-Semities and prefer
red to ignore their vicious at
tacks on Jews. Whether it was
the fear of terrorism or
petropower that motivated
them, or something else, it is
hard to say. But they spoke of
crude anti-Semitism as if it
were merely a diplomatic
discourtesy.
During the annual debate in
the Human Rights Commis
sion on alleged Israeli viola
tions of human rights, many
commission members spoke
aggiinst Israel. The last of this
group, the representative of
East Germany, Herman Klen-
ner, proposed that the Securi
ty Council invoke sanctions.
This ultimate enforcement ac
tion has never been invoked
against states practicing
genocide. Exercising his right
of reply. Ambassador Dowek
of Israel questioned the pro
priety of blowing Klenner to
speak on human rights. In
support of his challenge, Am
bassador Dowek offered the
Commission the number
9756141. It was the number of
the Neizi Party membership
card issued to Klenner in 1944.
Jews know only too well that
the Holocaust did not begin
with the building of
crematoria. It began with
words.
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