From Bahrain to Chelsea Football Club: The fight against anti-Semitism around the world has escalated

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Tel Aviv University presented the President with a report on positive trends in the world regarding anti-Semitism in 2021. The main points of the report dealt with the legal and cultural arena.

Two Frumkin and his Tal

27/01/2022

Thursday, January 27, 2022, 4:30 p.m.

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In the video: A member of the team of experts who investigated the Anne Frank affair talks about the conclusions of the study (Reuters photo)

The Cantor Center at Tel Aviv University publishes today (Thursday), International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual review of positive trends in the fight against anti-Semitism around the world in 2021.

The report includes legal precedents in the fight against anti-Semitism, allocation of resources for the protection of Jewish communities, expansion of activities to preserve Jewish cemeteries, mobilization of leading sports clubs to fight anti-Semitism and, for the first time, an exhibition commemorating the Holocaust in an Arab state museum.

"Strengthening light is no less important than the fight against darkness," said President Yitzhak Herzog.

In the legal arena, in 2021 a series of encouraging precedents were set in the fight against anti-Semitism, which reduced the ability of disseminators of hate propaganda to operate freely.

Prominent among them is the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights against a Bulgarian MP who spread antisemitic propaganda in his books.

In addition, the European Union has launched a "strategy to combat anti-Semitism and cultivate Jewish life," which, among other things, encourages prosecution for antisemitic remarks and actions in member states.

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Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine (Photo: Official website, Rohatyn Jewish Heritage (RJH))

In addition, several states in the United States have enacted laws in the wake of recent waves of anti-Semitism: New York has banned the display of hate symbols on public property; And California has determined that religious motives and discrimination in hate crimes at the local level should be recognized, and police forces should be instructed on the matter.

In the political and legislative arena, governments around the world have increased the resources allocated to the protection of Jewish communities, appointed commissioners to fight anti-Semitism and adopted the definition of anti-Semitism of the International Task Force to Commemorate the Holocaust. For example, in the city of Malmo in Sweden convened in October 2021 "International Forum for Holocaust Remembrance and the Fight against Anti-Semitism", with the participation of dozens of delegations and leaders from around the world, who responded to the invitation of the Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Lofben.

In Canada, in response to a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, the government has launched an action plan: allocating $ 5 million to protect Jewish institutions, cemeteries, and sites, funding training programs, promoting legislation and enforcement measures, and promoting the adoption of the IHRA anti-Semitism definition.

Legal precedents have been set in the fight against anti-Semitism.

Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine (Photo: Official website, Rohatyn Jewish Heritage (RJH))

In the cultural arena, the activity of preserving Jewish cemeteries has intensified in Eastern Europe.

In the Ukrainian village of Cheshniki, non-Jewish residents erected a monument commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, with the support of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine and the Jewish community of the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

In the west of the continent and in North America, the fight against anti-Semitism has become the banner of leading associations and sports clubs, including: Chelsea, which has launched a dedicated website called "Say No to Anti-Semitism", Borussia Dortmund and Feyenoord Rotterdam.

In the United States, actor Myers Leonard's NBA career came to an end after his antisemitic remarks during a video game were circulated on social media.

His team, the Miami Heat, canceled his contract and he was fined $ 50,000.

In June 2021, Dexbury High School football coach Dave Mimron was fired following antisemitic remarks.

Exhibition to commemorate the Holocaust at the "Junction of Cultures" Museum in Dubai (Photo: Official Website, Ofir Winter, Cantor Center)

Exhibition to commemorate the Holocaust at the "Junction of Cultures" Museum in Dubai (Photo: Official Website, Ofir Winter, Cantor Center)

Leading sports clubs mobilized to fight anti-Semitism (Photo: Reuters)

In the Middle East arena: For the first time, the Holocaust of the Jews of Europe won a significant debate in a public museum in an Arab country - the United Arab Emirates.

This, along with other encouraging measures taken by the authorities in the Emirates, as well as in Bahrain.

In Abu Dhabi, the Avraham family home is located - an integrated complex that includes a synagogue, a church and a mosque, which are similar in height and appearance, but differ in interior design according to the needs of different religions.

Construction of the compound is expected to be completed during 2022.

"The global anti-Semitic crisis is intensifying, but the global struggle against it is also intensifying," said President Herzog.

"We are witnessing many initiatives in the world that are fighting anti-Semitism, and we must encourage and nurture these positive trends. Strengthening light is no less important than the fight against darkness."

At an event held at Yad Vashem on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Herzog warned that the "shock" surrounding the Holocaust was "dissipating."

"We are seeing an increase in antisemitic attacks on the Internet; a normalization of antisemitic terminology in the media," he detailed, adding, "how the world's worst human rights violators are elected to serve on UN human rights bodies;

We see the ayatollahs' regime in Iran calling for the destruction of the State of Israel, initiating terrorism against Jewish communities around the world and killing civilians throughout the Middle East while there are those who are simply looking the other way;

And how to refute the truth about the past, and how alternative facts imprint history.

"" Holocaust commemoration is the duty of every man and of every nation, "President Herzog declared. More.

When we fail to strengthen our commitment - 'Never again',

Herzog called for "renewing our commitment to remember the lessons of the Holocaust."

He added that "we must expose and condemn any attempts to distort, rewrite or forget what happened not long ago."

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