Pools of 2022

Police vehicles at the entrance to the synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. Brandon Bell (AFP)

Forecasts of all kinds for the year that starts abound everywhere. What if Ómicron is the beginning of the end of the pandemic and if that means that we can finally resume overtones of our previous routines. That if Russia, which has significantly increased its troops on the Ukrainian borders, will invade that country despite warnings from the US and NATO, thereby generating a war and thus distracting attention from its growing domestic problems. That if China, in search of new markets, resources and influence, will continue its impassive march at the global level without major obstacles beyond the efforts of the United States to mark the field. What if in the American nation itself, with the anniversary of the trauma of the insurrection of January 6 on its back,the existing polarization resulting in radicalization and even violence by sectors of the main political forces, as well as the growing efforts to undermine the instruments of democracy, are inevitably laying the groundwork for a new civil war. That if Latin America, which in 2021 experienced a turn to the left in several countries, will continue on that trajectory and that if this new orientation will bring with it responsible policies focused on a truly cutting-edge agenda, including issues such as climate change, increased rights of women and minorities and the construction of an open and plural society with greater equity or the repetition of the remnants of the past, with its authoritarianism and its failed and stagnant paradigms.

Also in the Jewish world, predictions abound and point to light and dark. Just two weeks before the start of the year, an armed assailant, who identified himself as al Qaeda characters, broke into the middle of a virtual service at Congregation Beth Israel in the Texas suburb of Colleyville. Malik Faisal Akram kidnapped the rabbi and three parishioners for 10 hours until the FBI put an end to the tense confrontation and freed the hostages by shooting down the kidnapper who demanded the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist accused of attempted murder of US military in Afghanistan . As expected, this new incident of violence against Jewish institutions in the United States, added to the attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh, Poway, Jersey City and Monsey in recent years,terrorized the global Jewish community once again and underlined its vulnerability in a context of the resurgence of anti-Semitism both in the American nation and in other latitudes.

With COVID-19 raging and political and ideological gaps widening over how to combat it, Jews have been the constant target of accusations of alleged genocide. Mind-boggling charges with medieval echoes point to alleged Jewish responsibility for the pandemic itself and a false conspiracy to destroy either the black or white race, depending on the spurious interests of the accusing party, and further economic gains from widespread misfortune . These absurd but extremely dangerous charges abound mostly on social media and fringe groups, but some pseudo-respectable figures also irresponsibly promote them.

But despite these expressions and the different manifestations of anti-Semitism that were significantly strengthened last year, especially in the United States, with the acts of violence unleashed around the country in June due to the latest conflict in Gaza, there was progress of great importance at the in the fight against this scourge.

In this country where the largest Jewish community lives outside of Israel, although they represent only 2% of the population, Jews are victims of 55% of hate crimes motivated by religious reasons and these numbers do not accurately reflect the scope of the problem. That is why my organization, the American Jewish Committee (AJC), joined efforts with Latino, Muslim, African-American and Asian leaders to promote in the US Congress new legislation that came into force in May 2021, the "

that provides police forces with the necessary resources to detect and counter hate crimes. In addition, in 2021, hundreds of mayors and governors publicly joined a public initiative in the fight against anti-Semitism, openly expressing that this social pathology has no place in a democratic and inclusive society. The AJC's annual survey of anti-Semitism in the United States shows that four out of 10 Americans have personally witnessed anti-Semitic acts and that a significant number of Jewish and non-Jewish Americans alike see this phenomenon as a growing problem that needs to be addressed. special attention.

Another flash of light. In October, the European Union launched a comprehensive new strategy to combat anti-Semitism on the continent and preserve Jewish life. As an important contribution, he identifies anti-Semitism related to Israel as a problem of the first order. This document also focuses on the multiple sources of anti-Semitism, urges all members of the European Union to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Operational Definition of Anti-Semitism that Spain will host in 2020, establishes mechanisms to ensure that external funds are not used to incite anti-Semitic violence and provide funding for the security of Jewish community institutions than in Germany, Belgium,France and other places have been attacked by extremist individuals and groups.

In the Middle East, despite the existential challenges led by the genocidal hostility of Iran and affiliated organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas, the virtuous circle derived from the Abraham Accords continues to bear enormous fruit. In addition to the exponential growth in trade with the nations that were part of the treaty mediated by the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, trade with Egypt and Jordan also increased. One year after the Abraham Accords signed in the White House, trade and tourism between Israel and these Arab countries have benefited significantly.

And Latin America concluded 2021 with a historic event. The appointment of the Brazilian constitutional lawyer Fernando Lottenberg as the first OAS Commissioner for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism. One of the Commissioner's objectives is to expand the number of countries in the region that adopt the IHRA's Operational Definition of Antisemitism as a measure to strengthen the quality of democracy in the region and prevent toxic trends in other latitudes from being repeated there. In this sense, Lottenberg, whose first mission was to visit Chile before the presidential elections in December, as well as Argentina,It will work shoulder to shoulder not only with the local Jewish communities but also with different official and civil society institutions dedicated to combating discrimination and promoting human rights and democracy, subjects in which the fight against anti-Semitism is framed.

In a context of constant uncertainty and pessimistic news with which we wake up every day since the arrival of covid and its different variants, we want to believe that these encouraging developments allow a dose of positive predictions for the months to come, at least in what that concerns the frontal and global combat against anti-Semitism and its various sources.

This is undoubtedly a contribution to strengthening democracy, which unfortunately continues to be questioned and weakened in many latitudes.

Dina Siegel Vann

, originally from Mexico City and based in Washington, DC, is

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