In the United States, recent protests and violent riots have been infected with antisemitic discourse. The coronavirus pandemic has also led to a surge in classical antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes, blaming Jews for the outbreak of the pandemic, and at the same for both spreading infection and profiting from the disease. This is alarming for American Jews and for all Americans as well. As the preeminent Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer told world leaders in a speech in Jerusalem earlier this year marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, “‘Antisemitism is not a Jewish illness, but a non-Jewish one.” Bauer went on to describe antisemitism as “a cancer that kills and destroys your nations and your countries.” Indeed, Hitler's ideological motivation to rid the world of Jews led to a war that resulted in some 29 million non-Jewish deaths in Europe alone. In light of history, we can no longer say we do not know that hatred and intolerance lead to war and genocide. We cannot afford to stand still for one moment and must do all we can to stop the spread of antisemitism!
‘Antisemitism is not a Jewish illness,” the preeminent Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer told world leaders in a speech in Jerusalem earlier this year marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, “but a non-Jewish one.”Addressing the Fifth Holocaust Forum, Bauer went on to describe antisemitism as “a cancer that kills and destroys your nations and your countries.” Read more!