Pars Today

Pars Today – Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are two sides of the same coin. The fact that European politicians (leaders) believe that the Israeli regime has the right to murder more than 30000 Palestinians is simply the latest distortion and deviancy in the long-running campaign against racism and racial discrimination.

Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are always thought of as twin brothers from the racial viewpoint of white Europeans. From a historical point-of-view, an all-white, all-Christian Europe necessitated the forced expulsion of both Muslims and Jews from the continent.

But when Israel was founded, this viewpoint took on a much more violent and weird form. The founding of Israel was essentially a Zionist project, based on white European nationalism, rather than being a Jewish project. With the birth of Israel, Jews were newly counted as "white", and many European politicians today accept Israel as part of a newly-established Judeo-Christian tradition which goes back to 1948. This is generally accepted by European leaders.

Is being an anti-Zionist the same as anti-Jewish?

In 2019, virtually all German political parties accepted and passed a resolution which labels the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as "anti-Semitic".  But prior to this, an even more strange occurrence was the acceptance and endorsement of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA's) working definition of anti-Semitism.

 This decision was so ludicrous that 100 international non-governmental and civil society groups wrote a letter to the United Nations urging the international body to reject the IHRA's definition of anti-Semitism since this definition made it impossible to effectively criticize the Israeli regime in any way.

According to IHRA's working definition of anti-Semitism, any criticism of Israel, even perfectly reasonable and legitimate criticism, was counted as an anti-Semitic act.  The adoption of this definition effectively resulted in (violent) suppression of all peaceful anti-Israeli demonstrations, and the outlawing of all public speeches which criticized Zionism or Israel in any way, throughout Europe and America.

In addition to the European Union and the Council of Europe, many member countries of the European Union endorsed IHRA's definition  of anti-Semitism, with national parliaments approving this definition, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark,  France, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.

Even though the IHRA's working definition of anti-Semitism is not legally binding, but nonetheless, it does represent an attempt to restrict and limit free speech in Europe and the United States in the near future.

Fighting Anti-Semitism after October 7 Event

After the events on October 7, 2023, despite the warning of the European Commission, news on the media indicated the increase of anti-Semitic events and Islamophobia in the continent. However, while many European countries have lashed out at Hamas for attacking Zionists, approve of the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by Israel. 

While the European governments adorn their national edifices and government buildings with the Israeli flag, as a sign of solidarity, it is the Palestinian flag which is hoisted by people in the streets of the European cities. But, the voice of the protest and demonstrations in support for Palestine, instead of reaching the ears of statesmen and those who have come to power thorough the same people, are facing with prevention, suppression and insult.

Suppression of Anti-Israeli Stances

Political officials in Europe generally mark the death of 1400 people and captivity of some others during the attacks of Palestinians, but ignore the carnage of over 33 thousand people in Gaza and the West Bank. Worst of all is that people's sympathy with Palestinians is considered as a crime!!!

Palestinian writers, like Adania Shibli, are not invited to the famous Frankfurt Book Fair. A soccer player such as Anwar al-Gazi is suspended due to his posts on social media in support for Palestine.

The anti-Islam European politicians, like the French interior minister Gerald Darmanin, who had already tried to illegalize demonstrations in support for Palestine and pro-Palestine NGOs, also strove to ban any protest rally in support for Palestine with the flimsy excuse of "disturbing public order" and even threatened to deport foreign nationals who participate in the rallies.

At first, the French police suppressed the protests savagely with tear gas and water- cannons, but thousands of people poured to the streets again and again while the number of protestors kept increasing.

A similar thing happened in Germany, too. Protestors took to the streets in support for Palestine and they were harassed only because of hoisting the Palestinian flags in peaceful rallies.

Former British Interior Secretary, Suella Braveman, described the slogan, "Palestine will be free from the river to the Sea" as a potential crime. Moreover, the German interior ministry announced that the this is the slogan of Hamas; hence the Bavarian state's attorney announced that the punishment for the slogan is equal to chanting the Nazi slogan, "Heil Hitler" meaning "Long Live Hitler".

Finally, that the European political elite send tragic signals to the world community: Palestinian lives worth less than Israeli lives. It seems that the main lesson the European leaders have learnt from Holocaust is that the famous motto, "Holocaust will never be repeated" is usable for nobody but Jews and no other human being on planet earth!

MD-RM/UR