There is concern that the congressional approval of the bill that compels the State Department to create a special office to monitor anti-Semitic abuses around the world and compile annual reports rating countries on their treatment of Jews could be turned into one that opposes Arab rights in their conflict with Israel.
However, even with the possibility that the bill, known as the Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, could be misinterpreted as to what is meant by the term “anti-Semitism”, we should take it as it is.
This is a law intended to monitor rather than punish. It fights racism, a move that should be encouraged, not denounced by us. We should say yes to this bill and call for it to be expanded to include those who whip racist sentiments against Muslims, blacks or other minorities. A bill like this would have much clout and would be enthusiastically received by many with its effect not confined to one group of people.
Under the legislation, the State Department will have to produce an annual report on anti-Semitism around the world and publish it as part of its annual review of human rights. Moreover, the bill creates a specific office within the department that would document anti-Semitic abuses and design strategies to combat them. The report will also take note of instances of anti-Jewish propaganda and governments’ readiness to promote unbiased school curricula emphasizing tolerance.
We shouldn’t confuse between Israel and Judaism, between the extremist nationalist Zionist ideology and Judaism as a religion. Otherwise, we should be committing the same kind of racism that is no different from the one being practiced by those who show enmity toward Arabs and Muslims just because of acts committed by a minority amongst us.
A historical fact that may not be known to many is that protecting the Jews from a rising racist trend in Europe has indeed benefited Arabs and Muslims who emigrated to the continent in their millions after the end of World War II. Following the defeat of the Nazi racist ideology, tough legislation against racial discrimination targeting religious and ethnic minorities came to light. Half a century ago, intellectuals fought a bitter battle to rid the continent of the racist tendencies that the Nazis preached for the sake of protecting the purity of their race. Lawyers and activists fighting racism succeeded to a great extent in curbing acts by racist organizations targeting the Jews as well as Muslims.
Much of the legislation and laws that we see today protecting mosques, ensuring the rights of people of Arab and Muslim origin living in European countries and penalizing those who discriminate against people in jobs and other activities can be traced back to that intellectual movement. It was a movement that committed itself to doing all it could to prevent the recurrence of the racist atrocities committed prior to and during World War 11 that resulted in many people losing their lives just because they were Jews, Gypsies or of other races.
We must remember that many racist and fascist movements are still very active in Europe and the United States. These consider Jews and Muslims legitimate targets and are bent on defaming and discrediting them, inciting ill feeling against minorities and calling for the establishment of a puritan society. These movements benefit from the wide range of freedoms guaranteed by Western societies including freedom of expression and association under whose shadow these despicable racist organizations take shelter.
For all these considerations, any new bill or legislation that seeks to fight racism, no matter how limited it might be in scope at the beginning, would in the end achieve the ultimate objective of standing to all forms of racism anywhere in the world.
We must remember that those who suffer most from racial discrimination these days are the Muslims and that it is the Muslims who are in need of such new laws and legislation.
