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Poisoners are back
By Abraham H. Foxman
National Director of the Anti-Defamation League
This op-ed originally appeared in the New York Daily News on March 23, 2003.
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Posted: March 23, 2003
We had thought it couldn't get any worse: After 2-1/2 years of conflict in Israel and an international assault on Israel's good name ... after a barrage of conspiracy theories blaming Jews for the 9/11 attacks ... after a wave of anti-Semitic attacks against Jews in Europe - we had hoped the nightmare was over, that the war against terrorism was gaining ground, that Jews could again feel some measure of security in an uncertain world.
Get worse it did. It began with a whisper about the space shuttle disaster, gathered force as pundits and political commentators ruminated on the reasons for going to war and burst into the light of day when Rep. James Moran (D-Va.) accused the Jewish community of driving America's war on Iraq: "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this."
Moran's statement is not an isolated viewpoint. It is a voice in the chorus spreading the age-old anti-Semitic canard that when our country faces danger, Jews are responsible.
Now, with our nation four days into its campaign in Iraq, the notion that the war is being driven by "Jewish interests" or the "pro-Israel lobby" has revived the conspiracy theory that "hawkish" Jews are driving the war.
The first whisperings were heard after the crash of the space shuttle Columbia, when anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers accused Israel and Jews of having a hand in the disaster. After all, wasn't there something sinister about the presence of an Israeli astronaut on the ill-fated mission? Some Internet chatter suggested Col. Ilan Ramon was a spy for Israel who was secretly gathering intelligence photos of Iraq.
Since then, the whisper about Jews driving the war has grown into a chorus made up of anti-war activists, anti-Israel pundits and mainstream media. In its purest form, the charge embodies central themes of classical anti-Semitism: control of government decision-making by Jews, disloyalty of the Jewish community and Jews acting in conspiracy.
We heard this occasionally during the 1991 Gulf War, most notably from Pat Buchanan, that Israel's "amen corner" was responsible. But that war had wide support, so the notion that some conspiratorial group was behind it all did not have legs. Today's environment is more complicated. Opposition to war is more widespread. The idea that the U.S. is acting out of a belief that it is doing the right thing on its own behalf and that of the free world is scoffed at in many circles. The willingness to look for hidden motives and causes is rampant.
Remember that even in America, where Jews are more at home and secure than anywhere else in 2,000 years of the Diaspora, Anti-Defamation League polling has found consistently that one-third of Americans believe that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to America. Thus, there is fertile soil for such issues.
Let's be clear. There is nothing illegitimate in noting that ousting Saddam Hussein from Iraq would be in Israel's interest. And there is nothing wrong in discussing the views of many advisers in government, as long as the focus is on all key players - non-Jewish and Jewish - and doesn't present some kind of organized Jewish conspiracy. But when the image is that a small group of Jews together with Israel are the causative factors behind the American position, that is another matter.
Keeping perspective on all this is critical. We have full faith that Americans, whether they are for or against the war, will reject this latest anti-Semitic conspiracy charge. America is different. But this issue reminds us as well that anti-Semitism has a life of its own when crisis and anxiety erupt. Jews as a convenient scapegoat continue to be a tempting option, even in America.
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