Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the “Center for the Study of European Jewry in Our Time” at Tel Aviv University published the annual report “For a High Purpose”, which focuses on governmental and civil initiatives around the world to preserve Jewish heritage, to teach the lessons of the Holocaust and to fight anti-Semitism and racism in general.
From the report’s findings, it emerged that the recognition of the Holocaust and the teaching of its lessons have recently expanded even in countries where they did not have a significant place in the past, including in Africa and the Arab world. Alongside this positive trend, in the past year in Western Europe, America and Australia, many educational, social and legal initiatives were promoted to combat Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism, which express cross-political recognition of the seriousness of the problem.
Teaching the history of the Holocaust and its lessons is expanding
As mentioned, the findings of the report show that the recognition of the Holocaust and the teaching of its lessons have also expanded to countries where they did not have a significant place in the past. The report discusses Cyprus in detail, and presents it as an exemplary country: although no anti-Semitic incidents have been recorded there in recent years, its government devotes significant efforts to teaching the history of the Holocaust and instilling the lessons of the Holocaust in the education system, law enforcement authorities and sports clubs. This, from a proactive point of view, an overall commitment to the fight against racism and xenophobia, and an understanding that studying the history of the Holocaust is essential for a society that seeks to strengthen democratic and liberal values.
According to the report, in one of the countries of the Arab world, in the last year there was an encouraging trend of recognizing the history of anti-Semitism and the crimes of the Nazis. For example, in January 2022, Egypt participated in the UN General Assembly meeting that adopted a resolution condemning Holocaust denial. The Egyptian ambassador to the UN said that there was an Arab consensus regarding the resolution. Likewise, significant positive developments were also recorded in former communist countries.
This positive trend, which constitutes a significant turn in the Arab discourse on Jewish history, was accompanied by a long series of new enterprises, including literary ones, for the recognition and preservation of Jewish heritage in Arab countries, among others in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco. These factories are reviewed in detail in the report.
educational initiatives
The report indicates a long series of initiatives taken in the past year in the Western world to preserve Jewish heritage, to teach the lessons of the Holocaust and to fight anti-Semitism. The initiatives indicate a growing awareness in the West of the dangers posed by anti-Semitic propaganda on the Internet, and a growing recognition of the importance of teaching about the Holocaust and its lessons among young people.
In October 2022, the European Council marked a year for the launch of the comprehensive action plan “European Union Strategy for Combating Anti-Semitism and Fostering Jewish Life 2030-2021”. Following the discussions held this year on the subject, the European Parliament and the European Council are expected to approve the Digital Services Law that will oblige Internet platforms to remove hate speech, provide information on how algorithms are used, and establish clear rules for handling complaints on the subject.
In January 2022, an annual report was presented to the Austrian Parliament for the first time detailing actions taken to promote the national strategy to prevent and combat all types of anti-Semitism. Among the actions: preserving Jewish life and securing the future of the Jewish community, the adoption of the IHRA definition by the top soccer league (Bundesliga), holding dedicated seminars for police officers, and an initiative for a statement against anti-Semitism in the UN Human Rights Council.
In March 2022, the American Senate appointed for the first time a special ambassador to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, the historian Prof. Deborah Lipstadt. In the summer, the ambassador visited Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Also, in March, President Biden signed a federal funding package for 2022 in the amount of two million dollars to implement the “Never Again” law. The allowance will be used, among other things, for teacher training on behalf of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and for a special activity to monitor and combat anti-Semitism in the world.
Also, New York State Governor Kathy Hokul signed a package of three laws aimed at ensuring that schools in the country will instill significant knowledge about the Holocaust, museums will recognize works of art stolen from Jews by the Nazi regime, and Holocaust survivors will receive the full compensation they deserve from Germany. Several of the states of the alliance, including New York, Iowa, New Mexico and Arizona, have adopted the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism.
Last July, the Organization of American States (in collaboration with the American Jewish Committee, AJC) published the “Guide for practical use of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism” in the Spanish language. Guatemala and Colombia have adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, thus joining the US, Canada and Argentina in committing to act against anti-Semitism in the Western Hemisphere.
Some positive initiatives were also registered in Australia. New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia have adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. In Victoria and New South Wales, laws have been enacted that prohibit the display of Nazi symbols in public, including swastikas, and impose a penalty of up to a year in prison and/or a large financial fine on those who do so. Queensland and Tasmania have also enacted laws against the display of Nazi symbols.
The head of the center, Prof. Uriah Shavit, said: “We have to admit with regret that, despite the global mobilization to fight anti-Semitism, in recent years it is less safe to be Jewish almost anywhere in the world. But the solution is not to abandon the fight, but to study in a comparative and systematic way what has been done, and what can be improved “.
He added that “precisely against the background of the prominence of positive initiatives all over the world to combat anti-Semitism, we found it appropriate to state at the beginning of the report that this struggle must not become the sole identity-definer of Jewish intellectuals and organizations, that the moral compass of Jews will be directed to this issue only, and that the study of Jewish history will be focused exclusively in the history of the Holocaust. Israel cannot withdraw from parties with fascist roots in Europe and expect a different attitude in Europe towards Israeli parties with fascist roots.”