Rabbi Marvin Hier: Anti-Semitic Hall of Shame
[Rabbi Marvin Hier is the founder and ean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance.]
Sadly, there was no shortage of contenders in 2010 for the "Top 10 Anti-Semitic Slurs" list we put out at the Simon Wiesenthal Center each year. Taken together, the comments suggest that a bold new kind of anti-Semitism is emerging around the world.
Our list of offenders includes a journalist, government leaders, a historian, a banker and even a prominent Hollywood director, all of them regurgitating the same worn-out themes that have led to hatred and bloodshed through the ages. Who were they? Let's consider a few.
The journalist: "Jews should get the hell out of Palestine. They should go home to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else.... Congress, the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street are owned by Zionists." That was White House correspondent Helen Thomas speaking, a reporter who covered every U.S. president from JFK to Obama. And now she's advising Jews to return to countries that did everything in their power to wipe them out. She claimed the No. 1 spot on our 2010 list of infamy....
The historian: "The [Nuremberg Trial] was the biggest legal farce in history … the legend about 6 million supposedly murdered Jews acquired a legal basis, even though the court did not have a single document signed by A. Hitler concerning the extermination of Jews." Historian Petras Stankeras, who worked for Lithuania's Interior Ministry, wrote those words in a column for a popular Lithuanian newsmagazine. The article sparked enough outrage that he resigned from his position. But the idea that the Holocaust is still being denied by some European officials is terrifying....
Read entire article at LA Times
Sadly, there was no shortage of contenders in 2010 for the "Top 10 Anti-Semitic Slurs" list we put out at the Simon Wiesenthal Center each year. Taken together, the comments suggest that a bold new kind of anti-Semitism is emerging around the world.
Our list of offenders includes a journalist, government leaders, a historian, a banker and even a prominent Hollywood director, all of them regurgitating the same worn-out themes that have led to hatred and bloodshed through the ages. Who were they? Let's consider a few.
The journalist: "Jews should get the hell out of Palestine. They should go home to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else.... Congress, the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street are owned by Zionists." That was White House correspondent Helen Thomas speaking, a reporter who covered every U.S. president from JFK to Obama. And now she's advising Jews to return to countries that did everything in their power to wipe them out. She claimed the No. 1 spot on our 2010 list of infamy....
The historian: "The [Nuremberg Trial] was the biggest legal farce in history … the legend about 6 million supposedly murdered Jews acquired a legal basis, even though the court did not have a single document signed by A. Hitler concerning the extermination of Jews." Historian Petras Stankeras, who worked for Lithuania's Interior Ministry, wrote those words in a column for a popular Lithuanian newsmagazine. The article sparked enough outrage that he resigned from his position. But the idea that the Holocaust is still being denied by some European officials is terrifying....