Manifestations of Antisemitism Around the World- THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER LOCAITIES - 19-Oct-93

Re: Manifestations of Antisemitism Around the World
Follow-up Report No. 5

THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER LOCAITIES

Polls and studies over the past few years point to a decrease in antisemitic attitudes, beliefs, and manifestations among the American public. A 1992 survey by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith showed that 20 percent of Americans hold antisemitic views, as against 29 percent in 1964. However, another survey by the same organization concerning antisemitic incidents shows that the curve has risen without interruption since 1986. Only in 1992 did an 8 percent decline occur (1,730 incidents in 1992, 1,879 in 1991). The explanation for the seeming contradiction between the two sets of data is, on the one hand, an increase in the rate of general violence in the United States and the emergence of groups such as the skinheads, and, on the other hand, an intensification of anti-Jewish hostility among African Americans. A research report on the antisemitic riots in the Crown Heights neighborhood of New York in 1991, in which a young Jewish man was murdered, was published in July 1993. The report pointed to the overdue and slack response of the police, but expressed no personal criticism of the mayor, David Dinkins, an African-American. According to a 1993 public-opinion poll in New York, taken by the American Jewish Committee, 63 percent of African-Americans and 66 percent of Hispanics believe that Jews have too much influence on life and politics in the city. These responses evidently reflect the struggle for control of local government in New York, in view of changes in the city's demographic structure. The spread of antisemitic manifestations among the Hispanics, whose numbers are approaching those of the African-American population, deserves special attention. Anti-Jewish hostility among African Americans is expressed blatantly in the universities.

One proclaimed antisemite is Professor Leonard Jeffries, an African- American, who chairs the Department of African Studies at the City College of New York. In 1991, in a speech in Albany, he accused the Jews of having dominated the trade in black slaves and of responsibility for the derogatory depiction of blacks in Hollywood movies. In response, City College nullified Jeffries' appointment as department chair. In August 1993, a federal judge ordered the university to reinstate Jeffries as department chairman, because the remarks attributed to him had been stated off campus and not as part of his teaching; the judge also gave the university a heavy fine. An ADL report on antisemitic incidents for 1992 noted that the number of incidents on campus had increased, in contradiction to the general downward trend.

African American intellectuals and leaders such as Professor Henry Levis Gates of Harvard and Jesse Jackson, the latter a Democratic candidate for the vice presidency, have decried the deterioration of relations between the two communities, which had formerly been closely allied in the struggle for civil rights. Jesse Jackson, once criticized for remarks concerning Jews, expressed his position on intercommunal relations at the World Jewish Congress conference in Brussels in 1992.

The United States also has antisemitic organizations, some of them violent, that emphasize Aryan white supremacy. They include the Christian Identity Churches, the Aryan-White Resistance, the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazis

(a marginal group at present), and gangs of skinheads, whose total membership is estimated at 3,000. Several fundamentalist churches preach antisemitic messages. The largest antisemitic organization in the United States is the Liberty Lobby, which preoccupies itself with Holocaust denial. The lobby is headed by millionaire Willis Carto, a devotee of Hitler. The Lobby publishes a journal called Spotlight, which has 100,000 subscribers, and broadcasts on 300 radio stations a Holocaust-denial program called "Radio Free America." An extension of the Liberty Lobby is the Institute for Historical Review, headquartered in a Los Angeles suburb. The Institute publishes a pseudo-scholarly journal on Holocaust denial and holds international conferences on the theme.

These antisemitic organizations spread their propaganda using universally accessible media channels. It is worth emphasizing that several of them, such as the American Nazis, are miniscule in size, but their joint activity makes them somewhat important. The politician who tried to promote himself by pandering to the antisemitic feelings of the public is David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan member who was elected to the Louisiana state legislature in 1989 and, in 1992, offered his candidacy for the governorship of Louisiana and the Presidency of the United States. In the gubernatorial elections, Duke obtained a majority of the white vote in Louisiana but a minority of the total vote. In the Republican presidential primaries, he performed poorly and quickly dropped out of the race. A much more serious candidate was the well-known journalist Patrick Buchanan, who habitually spices his remarks with antisemitic allusions and sarcastic comments on Jews, who, he says, suffer from tortured-victim fantasies. His remarks verge on denial of the Holocaust. Buchanan was defeated in the 1992 primaries but earned a reputation and a prominent appearance in the Republican National Convention.

Extremist Islamic activity in the United States, which attracted heavy coverage in the wake of several incidents, is mentioned elsewhere in this report.

OTHER LOCALITIES

(1) Miscellaneous antisemitic manifestations including violent incidents, anti-Jewish graffiti, slander, and demonstrations also occurred in Canada, Australia, South Africa (among both whites and blacks), Argentina (a rather large number of manifestations, including anti-semitic literature, coupled with explicit condemnations by the Government), Brazil, and other Latin American countries. Participants in a survey in Uruguay were asked whether various immigrant groups had contributed favorably or unfavorably to Uruguay. The responses, in percent (favorable response first) were 75 percent versus 12 percent with respect to Spanish immigrants, 61 percent versus 14 percent with respect to black immigrants, and 43 percent versus 33 percent with respect to the Jews.

(2) In Japan, the phenomenon of best-selling antisemitic literature has continued. Recent examples are a book written by Henry Ford in 1920, and the books of Japanese author Masami Uno. However, other recently published books depict Jewry, Jewish history (e.g., the diary of Anne Frank), and Israel in a sympathetic light, and they have been widely disseminated. A large film company has begun preparing a documentary on the life of Tempo Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Kaunas (Kovno) in 1940, who, against the instructions of his Government, granted transit visas to thousands of Jews, thereby saving their lives. (He was recognized as a Righteous Gentile for his action.) Jewish and Israeli organizations make efforts to operate on several planes to help combat the manifestations.

(3) In the Arab countries, the press is packed with antisemitic articles. A standout in this respect is Egypt, a country with well-developed media in which no few antisemitic writings appear. An example of the material that is given space in the respectable press is an article on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion published on August 8, 1993, in the weekly October. The author, striking a "scholarly" pose, reiterates the fictional depiction of the Protocols as a secret plan adopted by the First Zionist Congress, and notes that the plotters are advancing toward the fulfillment of their scheme. He cites the influence of AIPAC on policymaking in the United States as evidence. Several Egyptian newspapers have published crude libels, such as one alleging that Jewish women are spreading AIDS in Egypt.

(4) Among the Muslim countries, Iran and Malaysia publish antisemitic literature such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (including editions in various languages for foreign consumption).

(5) Great Britain, Australia, and South Africa, are home to muslim organizations that circulate "classic" antisemitic literature and antisemitic articles in the spirit of Islamic fundamentalism.