Anti-Semitism and the Rise of Techno-Media Imperialism

Part 1: A Christian Responds

Casper ten Boom standing in line for the yellow star in the film* The Hiding Place

Recently The New York Times prominently provided an international media platform for an extremely offensive anti-Semitic cartoon. If this wasn’t bad enough, the newspaper followed it up with yet another offensive cartoon.[4] These cartoons were strikingly similar to the type of anti-Semitic propaganda used by Hitler in Germany during the 1930s that paved the way to the Holocaust, the extermination of 6,000,000 Jews. An outspoken critic stated the chilling facts:

One of the weapons of hate against Jews deployed by Nazi Germany were cartoons and caricatures that depicted Jews as subhuman animals, often as dogs or spiders. So when The New York Times international edition published a cartoon over the weekend portraying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog wearing a Star of David, its editors should not have been surprised at the outraged reaction to the controversy.

The reason this a big deal is not only that this was published in the Times. It is also because the cartoon is a sign of the times. Both in Europe and the United States, but especially in Europe, we see a dangerous phenomenon of increasing tolerance, especially on the left, of anti-Semitic tropes, images, and stereotypes so long as they are directed against Israel.[5]

The yellow badge the Nazis forced the Jews to wear

When a mainstream newspaper with a global readership engages in this type of incendiary caricature,[6] reviving defamatory canards,[7] it is time for Christians to no longer be silent. While we still retain our own voices and have freedom we must speak out against the Anti-Semitism that is rearing its ugly head in our generation. Scripture exhorts us to “be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.” (1 Chronicles 22:13). Speaking out can include engaging in social media amongst peers as well as the media itself. Christians are being challenged to speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). But increasingly it isn’t so easy to speak out.

Anti-Semitism finds niches to grow like a noxious weed in any unguarded places. This isn’t just an Islam problem.[8] It is also a Christian problem.[9] The fact that the recent California anti-Semitic attack on the Poway synagogue was done by a young church-going man who became violently infected with toxic doctrines on the Internet should concern all church people, and all parents.[10] The young man’s brutal attack on the mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand was frighteningly similar in its origins:

During the attack, the man livestreamed a video of his murders on Facebook. He also posted a link to an 87-page white nationalist manifesto online. In the document, under the heading “From where did you receive/research/develop your beliefs?” the murderer responds, “The internet, of course. You will not find the truth anywhere else.”[11]

In fact, the Internet and social media are toxic breeding grounds for spewing all kinds of hatred against all sorts of people. Christians are not immune – not only are many spewing out hatred, to all our shame, but we are also the recipients of it.

Ravensbruck concentration camp depicted in The Hiding Place*

Pernicious: causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful; deadly; fatal; evil; wicked.[12]

The Most Pernicious Heresy 
Anti-Semitism is an age-old heresy that has poisoned both the church and the world with its pernicious tenets. Anti-Semitism has been going on for the past two millennia, especially during the pogroms[13] and Inquisition,[14] culminating in the Holocaust. Since 1948 Anti-Semitism took on a new aspect because Israel actually became a real nation again on a specific piece of land ethnic Jews claimed was given to them by God Himself. Most Jews and Christians believe that the land deed was a specific inheritance to those of the Jewish race.

Christians should beware of the classic anti-Semitic lies, which include:

They often form part of broader theories of Jewish conspiracies. “The myths that all Jews are responsible for the death of Christ, or poisoned wells, or killed Christian children to bake matzos, or ‘made up’ the Holocaust, or plot to control the world, do not succeed each other; rather, the list of anti-Semitic canards gets longer….”

Antisemitic theories persist today in notions concerning banking, Hollywood, the news media and a purported Zionist Occupation Government.

Holocaust denial also considered an antisemitic conspiracy theory because of its position that the Holocaust is a hoax designed to advance the interests of Jews and justify the creation of the State of Israel.[15]

It is important to know that the 1930s German propaganda machine, filled with its anti-Semitic lies and Aryan distortions, was filtered through the Soviets.[16] They revised it, exchanging the term “Zionist” for “Jew,” and then exported into the Middle East in the ensuing decades, where it found fertile ground for its fervid madness. The worst anti-Semitic document, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake,[17] was “specially edited for Arab readers and the Elders were presented in the context of the Palestine problem.”[18] Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini then developed anti-Semitic propaganda that “followed the medieval line that Jews were sub-human or inhuman, indeed anti-human, and therefore of constituted an exterminable category of creature.”[19] Since that time the ethnic aspect of anti-Semitism has become so inextricably mixed in with hatred towards the state of Israel that it is nearly impossible to sort out.[20]

With the rapid influx of Islamic population groups in Europe, there has sadly been a concurrent rise in anti-Semitism. A 40-page research report was recently released in Germany titled “Antisemitism in Islamism.” A news account describes it:

The report distinguished between “Islam” the religion and “Islamism,” which it describes as a form of political extremism that “aims at the partial or complete abolition of the liberal democratic constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.”…

In its definition of antisemitism, the brochure includes anti-Zionism, since it “aims at the complete elimination of the State of Israel” and falsely defines the Mideast conflict “as a Jewish ‘war of annihilation’ against the Palestinians.”

The brochure says that anti-Zionists in Germany often argue that they are against Israel, not against Jews. But given that “Israel is the only Jewish state in the world and that its annihilation would inevitably result in the death and expulsion of millions of Jews, this argumentation turns out to be a trick to conceal the actual thrust of anti-Zionism,” the report concludes.[21]

Observing this rising tide of anti-Semitism, seven years ago a Christian writer presciently warned that:

Today, we again see the gradual demonization and isolation of Jewish people. The lead antagonists have changed. The stage on which The Gentile Problem is played out has moved to a different theatre. With the establishment of the state of Israel the game has changed. The antisemite now has the opportunity to sanitize, repackage and rebrand the hatred of the 1930s. Anti-Zionism is generally considered acceptable and it of course now has the support of ostensibly Christian scholars, a few highly visible “non-Jewish Jews”…, and the left wing media. While some may argue that anti-Zionism is not usually antisemitic, this writer will choose to differ.

In the West, antisemitism, once a far-right phenomenon, now has a greater presence on the left. Groups as disparate as the liberal left wing media and radical Islam find themselves co-belligerents in the anti-Israel cause. Once again we witness propaganda, outright lies, bad theology, and the usually passive, but increasingly active, cooperation of professing Christians.[22]

This last sentence in the quotation above indicates the crux of the problem. Sadly we are not seeing prominent Christian leaders speaking out boldly against anti-Semitism. Yet the evidence of a frightening increase in anti-Semitism is mounting. In a recent article “Christians Must Stop the Spreading Sewage of Jew Hatred,” a Christian author compiled current statistics concerning the rise of Anti-Semitism, including the following facts:

• “In 2018, there were 1,879 recorded attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions. 
•  “…assaults targeting Jews rose 13% in 2018, according to Tel Aviv University researchers. They recorded nearly 400 cases worldwide….” 
• “In Germany there was a 70% increase in anti-Semitic violence.” 
• “Anti-Semitic hate incidents in the United Kingdom hit a record high in 2018, with more than 100 recorded in every month of the year.” 
• “In France, attacks against Jews rose by 74% last year…” 
• “…the Netherlands saw a 19 percent increase in recorded anti-Semitic incidents in 2018 to a record 230 cases.”[23]

In fact, ignoring the problem is not helping it go away. There are only a handful news outlets that are even reporting on this alarming rise in Anti-Semitism, many of them leaning towards the political Right. Here are just a few article titles compiled from the past few months:

• “Anti-Zionism is the new anti-Semitism, says Britain’s ex-chief Rabbi”[24]
• “Anti-Semitic doctor who threatened Jewish patients should lose medical license”[25]
• “Germany issues ‘early warning’ about rise of Islamist anti-semitism.”[26]
• “Student group decries Columbia prof’s ‘disturbing’ Israel-ISIS comparison”[27]
• “Harvard Lampoon apologizes for sexualized Anne Frank photo”[28]

These examples do not include the recent spate of inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric used by several influential American Congresswomen. Their offensive statements sadly reflect the extent to which they have been indoctrinated in anti-Semitic (and anti-Israel) stereotypes. They are exercising their freedom of speech, but the fact they hold positions of power and influence render their remarks more consequential.[29]

In the current political wildfires and war of words, conflicts escalating between Right and Left polarize everything. It is difficult to speak out when there is so much mis-labeling and false characterizations. Yet Christians are called upon to be truthful and factual, and simultaneously to be both bold and peacemakers. But increasingly is it more difficult to speak out. . . .

The seedbed into which the Holocaust was sown was not laid overnight. That seedbed is now being relaid with different soil, but this time it is a broader and deeper field. The sower may have changed his garb, but his name is still Satan.

These are the 1930s.[30] 

The Truth:

TO BE CONTINUED. . . .

Endnotes:
1. Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews (Harper Perennial, 1987), p. 569. 
2. Corrie ten Boom, Father ten Boom: God’s Man (Fleming H. Revell Co., 1978), p. 67. 
3. I listened to Corrie ten Boom speak in May of 1976 at a time when I recommitted my life to the Lord. Her life changed my life. I knew in my heart that should the day ever come that anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in my own lifetime that I would heed her admonition to speak out. 
4. We refuse to show these cartoons. To view the cartoons see Kyle Morris, “New York Times Publishes Antisemitic ‘Offensive’ Cartoon, Fails to Apologize,” Breitbart, 4/25/19, https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/04/27/new-york-times-publishes-antisemitic-offensive-cartoon-forced-to-apologize/. See also Matthew Boyle, “New York Times Prints Another Anti-Israel Cartoon Amid Antisemitism Scandal Rocking Newspaper,” Breitbart, 4/29/19, https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/04/29/new-york-times-prints-another-anti-israel-cartoon-amid-antisemitism-scandal-rocking-newspaper/ 
5. Alan M. Dershowitz, “Dershowitz: Anti-Semitic cartoons, anti-Semitic synagogue shootings,” The Hill, https://apple.news/AMfB-4mXtR3GOGMn6uRYc0w. 
6. See Barry David, “Cutting Satire- Israeli Cartoonists on NYT ‘Antisemitic’ Cartoon,” The Jerusalem Post, 5/3/19, https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/Cultural-Affairs-The-context-consensus-588578 F
7. For those who are not familiar with this, for an overview see the webpage “Antisemitic canard” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitic_canard. The page opens by stating that “Antisemitic canards are unfounded rumors or false allegations which are defamatory towards Judaism as a religion, or defamatory towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group.” This pages links over to “A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust,” for parents and teachers: http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/DEFAULT.HTM. Please be aware that Wikipedia gets edited by competing ideologies and that it may itself contain elements of revisionist history and embedded Anti-Semitism. 
8. See the May 9, 2019 article in The Jerusalem Post by Toby Axelrod titled “Germany issues ‘early warning’ report about the rise of Islamist antisemitism,” https://www.jpost.com/printarticle.aspx?id=589218 
9. See Kelleigh Nelson’s May 9, 2019 article “Christians Must Stop the Spreading Sewage of Jew Hatred,” https://www.capitolhilloutsider.com/christians-must-stop-the-spreading-sewage-of-jew-hatred/ which contains the graphic images of the offensive New York Times cartoon alongside the old German anti-Semitic cartoons. Nelson's article is also published on NewsWithViews: https://newswithviews.com/christians-must-stop-the-spreading-sewage-of-jew-hatred/ 
10. Tarpley Hitt, Barbie Latza Nadeau, Pervaiz Shallwani, “Synagogue Shooting Suspect Was a Piano-Playing Nursing Student From Religious Family With a Racist Secret,” The Daily Beast, 4/28/19, https://www.thedailybeast.com/poway-synagogue-shooting-john-t-earnest-a-piano-playing-nursing-student-from-religious-family-was-secretly-racist?ref=wrap. Note that this young man wasn’t just Anti-Semitic but also reported to be both Islamophobic and a white supremacist. This has caused soul-searching within evangelicaldom. Evangelical mainstream media and social media responded. See Carl Trueman, “Who’s to Blame When the Shooter is One of Our Own?” Christianity Today, 4/20/19, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/april-web-only/whos-to-blame-synagogue-shooting-orthodox-presbyterian.html. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) responded to the shooting with “A Public Statement on the Shooting at the Chabad Synagogue,” https://opc.org/feature.html?feature_id=432&fbclid=IwAR1ZGBsvLG0ReY6Cdxla3cOK20fevr1zmwivgHSIYv0vzBxUg2D-SacOuf0. And read another opinion at Daryl Hart,“No Comment Is an Option,” https://oldlife.org/2019/05/07/no-comment-is-an-option/amp/?__twitter_impression=true 
11. Joe Carter, “The Age of Terrorism Meets the Era of the Troll,” The Gospel Coalition, 3/16/19, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-age-of-terrorism-meets-the-era-of-the-troll/. This article links over to Henry Farrell, “The Christchurch shooting suspect comes from an extreme online culture,” The Washington Post, 3/15/19, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/15/christchurch-shooting-suspect-comes-an-extreme-online-culture/?utm_term=.acd24f694a88
12. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pernicious 
13. For a brief overview see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogrom and follow the links. Note that pogram is defined as “a violent riot aimed at the massacre or persecution of an ethnic or religious group, particularly one aimed at Jews.” 
14. Another brief summary can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition and follow the links. True Christians as well as Jews were persecuted during the various Inquisitions because their religious beliefs were considered heresy by the ruling Roman Catholic Church which was in cahoots with the ruling State. This is an example of Dominionism. 
15. Antisemitic canard, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitic_canard. Links removed. 
16. For background history on Germany’s anti-Semitism, particularly on movements going on in Germany during the 1800s and at the turn of the last century, see Richard Noll, The Jung Cult: Origins of a Charismatic Movement (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994), and Richard Noll, The Aryan Christ: The Secret Life of Carl Jung (New York: Random House, 1997) 
17. This fact has been confirmed by numerous historians over the past century who sought to determine the veracity of this document. See the chapter titled “Zion” in Paul Johnson’s The History of the Jews, Ibid. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion for a summary. Also see Ralph Epperson’s book The Unseen Hand: An Introduction to the Conspiratorial View of History (Publius Press, 1985), which is not anti-Semitic. 
18. The History of the Jews, Ibid., p. 566. 
19. Ibid., p. 567. 
20. The reader will find important documentation, especially the history of Anti-Semitic propaganda, and a good historical summary in this book. See, in particular “Part Seven: Zion,” pp. 519, 578. Note the date. Johnson published this book before the Berlin Wall came down, 9/11 and Osama bin Laden, the ISIS Caliphate, the Arab Spring, and before Jerusalem was officially recognized as the capital of Israel by the United States. Also see Henry Hart Milman’s vintage 1800s 3-volume set: A History of the Jews: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, available as a Classic Reprint on Amazon.com. 
21. See the May 9, 2019 article in The Jerusalem Post by Toby Axelrod titled “Germany issues ‘early warning’ report about the rise of Islamist antisemitism,” https://www.jpost.com/printarticle.aspx?id=589218 
22. Perry Trotter, “The Gentile Problem,” January 15, 2012, published on the Moriel Ministries Blog, http://blog.moriel.org/church-issues-1/19896-the-gentile-problem.html 
23. Kelleigh Nelson, “Christians Must Stop the Spreading Sewage of Jew Hatred,” Ibid. 
24. Jonathan Sacks, “ANTI-ZIONISM IS THE NEW ANTI-SEMITISM, SAYS BRITAIN'S EX-CHIEF RABBI,” Newsweek, 4/3/16, https://www.newsweek.com/jonathan-sacks-anti-semitism-anti-zionism-bds-israel-labour-442978 
25. Jay Sekelow, “Anti-Semitic doctor who threatened Jewish patients should lose medical license,” FOX News, 1/7/19, https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/anti-semitic-doctor-who-threatened-jewish-patients-should-lose-medical-license 
26. Toby Axelrod, Ibid. 
27. Samuel Chamberlain, “Student group decries Columbia prof's 'disturbing' Israel-ISIS comparison,” FOX News, 4/4/19, https://www.foxnews.com/us/student-group-decries-columbia-profs-disturbing-israel-isis-comparison 
28. The Jewish girl Anne Frank wrote a diary while in hiding in Amsterdam during the Holocaust which became famous after her death. She died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank. Marcy Oster, “Harvard Lampoon apologizes for sexualized Anne Frank photo,” The Jerusalem Post, 5/16/19, https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/Harvard-Lampoon-apologizes-for-sexualized-Anne-Frank-photo-589825: “The text accompanying the doctored photo… read “Gone Before Her Time: Virtual Aging Technology Shows Us What Anne Frank Would Have Looked Like if She Hadn’t Died.” 
29. In our Christian walk we are called upon to pray for these women, Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar, and if ever given an opportunity, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. They have been the subject of quite a bit of press, including counter-attacks and threats. Here is just a small selection of articles expressing concern; be aware that most come from the political Right which is quite often polarizing in its criticism. Soeren Kern, “First Muslim Women in US Congress Misled Voters About Views on Israel, Gatestone Institute, 11/16/18, https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13308/ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib; Andrew Silow-Carroll, “What did Rashida Tlaib really say about the Holocaust,” The Jerusalem Post, 5/15/19, https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/What-did-Rashida-Tlaib-really-say-about-the-Holocaust-589711; Kyle Morris, “Guiliani Gives Rashida Tlaib a History Lesson: Palestinian Leader ‘Close Ally of Hitler,” Breitbart, May 14, 2019, https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/05/14/giuliani-gives-rashida-tlaib-a-history-lesson-palestinian-leader-close-ally-of-hitler-in-wwii/; “Dershowitz: Rep. Tlaib’s Claims of Islamophobia by Dems and GOP ‘Designed to Stifle Debate’,” FOX News Insider, March 18, 2019, https://insider.foxnews.com/2019/03/18/dershowitz-tlaibs-islamophobia-comments-designed-stifle-debate; Caleb Parke, “Rabbi blasts Ilhan Omar for pushing claim Jesus was’Palestinian,’ not Jewish,” FOX News, April 24, 2019, https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/rabbi-ilhan-omar-nyt-jesus-palestinian-jewish; Holly McKay, “How Minneapolis’ Somali community became the terrorist recruitment capital of the US,” FOX News, 2/16/19, https://www.foxnews.com/us/how-rep-ilhan-omars-minnesota-district-became-the-terrorist-recruitment-capital-of-the-us-officials-highly-concerned. 

*There are several places on YouTube that show the entire movie The Hiding Place which depicts the experience of the ten Boom family during WWII. The movie is also available as a Prime Video, Blu-ray and DVD on Amazon.com. Read the book. *Listen to a portion of Corrie's testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdTN_wowNU8