Europe´s bias lies in its short memory, not anti-semitism

By Rafael D. Frankel

OPINION

VIENNA, Austria--Though residual and burgeoning anti-semitism is
surely a factor in Europe´s pro-Palestinian bias in the current Mideast
War, it cannot be said that even a sizeable portion of Europeans harbor
genuinely anti-semitic attitudes.

In Germany, merley mentioning the holocausst brings a look of shame
upon peoples´ faces. And in France, site of the most recent wave of
anti-semitic attacks, voters strongly rejected Jean-Marie Le Pen, a man
who in their minds symbolizes the old attitudes of racism and anti-
semitism with his anti-immigrant policies and notorious remark about
the holocaust being but a "footnote" in history.

Why then the overwelming anti-Israeli media coverage and pressure from
the governments in Europe?

Despite their acknowledgement of the henious crimes millions of
Europeans took part in during the holocaust, they now see that chapter
in history closed. Consequently, they fail to grasp the inherent
insecurity complex into which the State of Israel was born, and from
which--due to the unceasing threat posed to Israel first by its Arab
neighbor states and now terrorists--it has yet to recover.

Yesterday, I attended Shabbat services in Budapest at the oldest
synagogue in Europe. Where churches and cathedrals stand every few
blocks on this continent as monuments not only to previous centuries,
but to previous millenia, this "relic" is a baby in comparison, built
during the U.S. Civil War. There were, of course, synagogues of radiant
splendor built across Europe during the last 2000 years, but after the
inquisition, progroms, the holocaust, and other acts of violence
against Jews which ocurred with regularity, that is the oldest.

Today, in Vienna, I wandered through the former orthodox Jewish
neighborhood where my grandfather grew up. It is now a neighborhood
like any other in Austria. There is a grocery store, a park, even a
strip club--and no Jews. Of the 200,000 that lived here in 1939, only
6,000 Jews now reside in Vienna, the majority of which do not even have
family roots here.

Despite his experiences with the Nazis, my grandfather never carried
with him any hatred toward Germans or his fellow countrymen, and he
raised his children and grandchildren to carry only love in our hearts.

Nevertheless, during the last week while traveling through Germany,
Hungary, and Austria, I have been overcome by confused emotion. With
every elderly person I see here, I cannot help wondering if they were
complicit in the crimes commited here against my family.

For Europeans, the holocaust may be ancient history, but for Jews and
Israelis--who are still victims of anti-semitic violence on a near-
daily basis--it happend only yesterday.

When the truth about the holocaust emerged from post-war Europe, one of
the common questions asked was: why didn´t the Jews fight back? Having
been mostly passive as we were threatened, shipped as cattle to
concentration camps, and eventually exterminated so recently, can
Europe seriously expect Israel to be passive again and excersie
restraint while Yassir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority support
terrorist organizations whose stated goal is no less than to drive every
Israeli Jew into the sea?

Indeed, having been the perpetrators of the worst anti-semitic crimes
in history, Europe has a special burden to bear in supporting the right
of Israel to live peacefully as a Jewish state. This does not mean acquiesing to an Israel which would completely deny the right of Palestinian self-determination. But it does mean the European governments need to tone down their rhetoric and acknowledge that Israel is currently engaged in yet another war for her survival, and temper their judgement accordingly.

For its part, the European media should realize that by making false
reports of massacres and tossing around terms like "genocide," they are
only inciting the anti-semitic tendencies their progenitors brought
to bear here; the results of which they have yet to come to terms with.

If my grandfather were alive today, he would be speaking out
passionately for the right of Palestinians to live with dignity and freedom on land under their own control. But he would be preaching with equal zeal against Europe´s short-term memory and her inability to this day to give the Jewish people and the State of Israel a fair shake.

©2002 Rafael D. Frankel