A New Code Word for Anti-Semitism

Ari Bussel

For anyone following Israel-related events, the year 2010 would be remembered by one word: Delegitimization.

Just half a year ago, no one knew the meaning of this word or how to pronounce it. As the year comes to an end, people use it freely, understanding very little about what it means in action and how to combat this process. It sounds good, as much as “Israel is Apartheid” became a commonplace statement with Israel’s haters. In Israel “Delegitimization” became a magic word, as it seems all the ills of the world are directed at “delegitimizing Israel.” Her enemies though do not use the word; they act, undermining the very existence of the Jewish nation.



The situation is dire, and one would expect that action be taken, that Israel will go on the offensive, at the very least try to protect her very being. Instead, there is only talk.



When deeds and actions substantively back talk, then speech becomes unnecessary. But without substance, talk is immediately recognized for what it really is: blowing hot air.



Israeli politicians are guilty of dereliction, taking center stage and pronouncing out loud what needs to be done and yet never engaging, refusing to change old habits or getting their hands dirty.



“Our hands are tied,” they pronounce readily. “It is up to individuals and non-government organizations to act,” they point fingers and assign tasks.



Lack of action and meaningless pronunciations are very dangerous, for they give a false sense that the leadership is at the helm, directing and engaging. Modern day Israel, like the Titanic, is about to sink, and the passengers drown in the icy cold water, the lifeboats unusable and insufficient.



One day perhaps a new movie will be made, Exodus II of sorts, an epic saga of a people who were blinded by their own success and deserted all the goodness they were afforded – Israel, a gift created in Heaven for them, and them alone.



First, allow me to define “Delegitimization,” so that we are on the very same page. This is a process on multiple fronts, both visible and covert, seemingly innocent on the surface yet insidious and sinister, that denies the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish nation, blames anything bad on Jews and Israelis (often calling them Zionists and Occupiers) and plants in our minds the notion that ridding the world of Jews is beneficial for they only bring evil to the world.



Delegitimazation is the new code word for anti-Semitism. It has replaced the word “restricted” in polite conversations and belies little of its dangerous and frightening implications or very purpose: to destroy the Jewish people.



Its clever effect of attacking a nation in lieu of the individual Jew is clearly the new secret weapon of the hoards of Jew haters that populate today’s world.



The process attacks Israel (“it is legitimate to criticize Israel”) as a substitute for the Jewish People. Thus, in essence, it tries to rid the world of Jews, a modern-day version of centuries-old anti-Semitism.



In many ways, by dehumanizing the Jews, it becomes acceptable and thinkable to harm them. Homicide bombings in weddings and other gatherings, missiles directed at civilian populations, inflicting chemical and biological agents, lynching innocent people and tearing their hearts out or limbs apart while they are still alive, setting people and their property on fire and other horrors are all excusable if directed against those who do not deserve to live, sub-humans who are the filth of the globe.



Most cannot understand how the Germans acquiesced to hundreds of thousands of people being burned, shot dead or gathered to perish in ghettos and concentration camps, while life just a few blocks away continued, people went to restaurants and the opera or for weekend excursions to the country where their children played and completely ignored what they did not want to see, smell or experience.



A person dying in the street was nothing more than filth, not deserving a moment’s brief acknowledgement. She was no longer a human being, she became a nuisance, and so her fate was just and deserving.



Is anything different today? No, we are nearing a point of eruption, and then all the hatred will surface, having no bounds, no stops. Will Israel, the designated shelter and safe haven of some eight million Jews living outside of Israel, be able to protect her six million Jewish residents and fulfill her role and obligation toward world Jewry?



As it stands now, Israel will be unable to carry out her obligations. New leadership must rise to lead Israel from the darkness that will engulf her and the world into light.



What are some of the current mistakes or shortcomings?



Israeli “professionals” err at looking back rather than forward. When the benchmarks are yesterday’s failures, then “improvements” are only relative to a very low starting point. No one can be expected to excel when he himself does not look up and forward.



The head of Israel’s Ministry of Public Diplomacy and the Diaspora, for instance, is a very important person. A Director General of a Ministry has a hefty salary, personal benefits, numerous subordinates, budgets (enormous at times) and self-importance. Almost without exception, ministry director generals are political appointees of the current ministers. Their main qualification for the job is that they ran their ministers’ campaigns or to whom a debt is owed.



If “Delegitimization” is today’s most valuable commodity in politics, then the person in charge of the Ministry that is supposed to combat it must be not only influential, but also detrimental to the successful accomplishment of that destruction mission.



Ronen Plot, however, has the false notion and is under the wrong impression that the world believes Israel is a desert with camels as the preferred mode of transportation. Thus, Israel’s iconic response is a segment, commercial-like, trying to dispel this notion.



In most elementary courses about Israel-hatred, one would point out that there exist notions that Israel is a desert with camels, a war zone where everyone possesses guns, Rambo-like, or a religious country where everyone wears black hats, a male-version of Afghanistan. More recently Israel is portrayed as the new Nazi Germany with concentration camps and ghettos, walls and vicious guard dogs.



As one graduates to a higher level, one realizes that Israel is not the main figure in this little pretend play; she only has a supporting role to highlight the plight of the Palestinians. Thus images, even if disconnected from reality, have no bearing on the plot, and dispelling them will do nothing to alleviate the situation.



The only image that was implanted in our collective minds is the understanding that Israel, Goliath, one of the strongest militaries in the world, an unstoppable colonialist power, Occupier of Arab lands, is preventing the Palestinian refugees from returning to their rightful homes, land and capital. The Zionists are preventing the Palestinians from having running water and the Settlers are contaminating Palestinian land with sewage.



Dear Director General: The world needs not be told that Israel is modern and thriving, where high rise buildings and freeways, a beachfront and nightlife, history and archeology meet nanotechnology, medical and technological advancements the likes of which can be found nowhere else on earth. All these are irrelevant to the process of Delegitimization.



Ronen Plot, you head a ministry of propaganda, what you call “Public Diplomacy” and not tourism. They seem to be doing a very good job.



The desert and the camels are part of the picture in which Israelis are bad and the Palestinian-David is the underdog. Understand this, fight this, and you will start understanding what “Delegitimization” is all about.



Ronen Plot, though, is not alone. He is endemic of Israeli bureaucrats and politicians.



Over the past ten days two Israeli Vice Prime Ministers visited Los Angeles (as well as the Minister of Public Diplomacy and the Diaspora himself).



There was a plethora of activities welcoming both Vice Prime Ministers. It seems most of us like to shake hands with “influentials,” have our pictures taken with them and feel momentarily “important.”

So the honored guests were ushered from one event to another, breakfast, lunch and dinner, speaking engagements here and there. There were police officers and security guards, half the Consulate staff, photo-ops abound; a genuine dog and pony show.



What is amiss with such important visits? After all, these very important guests have used the word “Delegitimization” so many times it became obvious that combating the process is on their minds day and night. Their attention is focused solely on this existential threat to Israel’s very existence.



Except that they stop short from taking even the most basic action to actually combat Delegitimization. First, they need to understand what it is all about. Appearing before adoring, loving and supporting audiences does not expose them to the dangers the world hosts in plain eyesight. People seeking a photo op are not relevant to this battle.



Second, by excluding those on the forefront of the battle lines, they do disservice not to the foot soldiers, but to those who need to understand what is going on. The schedules are so meticulously prepared, that only very important people are ever notified of the visits to the clear exclusion of all others.



Salvation will not come from the status quo or from following what has clearly allowed “Delegitimazation” to flourish and reach the epidemic proportions it has already achieved. Excluding and refusing to see and listen to criticism, other views and reports from the ground does not make the problem go away, instead it makes one passing moment seem more comfortable and enjoyable.



Many of these visits are either for the sole purpose of fundraising or are intermingled with fundraising events. A day will come when Israeli law will prohibit any elected or appointed official or their staff members from either asking for money or attending any event whose purpose is to raise funds. Then perhaps they will be able to actually focus on the agenda of their office and purposes for which they were elected or appointed, rather than money.



Money could be raised in Israel, one of the stronger economies today in the world. There seems to be no shortage there, just a different way of thinking (where giving is not expected and demanded as from Jews in the Diaspora).



The following can and should all take place in Israel: fundraising, legislation to combat anti-Israeli actions stemming from within Israel and the flow of funds supporting these activities and other defensive and offensive measures. Instead, Israeli officials come here to the U.S. and ask for help.



Israel will continue suffering greatly until Israelis, as one, start fighting back.


From the Prime Minister to his dozens of Ministers along with the hundreds of paid-advisors and thousands of support staff, to each member of the Parliament, to each diplomat and staff member, the bureaucracy must move to action. When this giant good-for-nothing, big government begins to fight back, only then will Jews around the world witness for themselves the resurgence of the Jewish Spirit and be incentivized to enter the battle.



When those elected, appointed, paid and expected-to-do-the-job start doing their duty and engage all those who want to destroy Israel, there will be momentum and inertia against the new armies of anti-Semites. Then words will not be necessary, for we all understand and “know” deep down what “Delegitimization” and hatred are all about.



Israel and the Jewish people need someone to lead by example, to take the helm and move us to a safe harbor. At the moment, we are sailing deeper and deeper into the freezing waters of the iceberg-dotted arctic waters while music plays on board our Titanic.



On the upper decks, empty words provide a false sense of protection, a false pretense of action that is either meaningless or nonexistent and a false promise of hope for a future that is becoming darker by the minute.



The picture painted is depressing and hopeless, so let us all join one of the celebratory events for the foreign guests. Between the handshakes and photo opportunities, the wine and hors d’oeuvres, the main course and desserts with Cognac sipping, we will undoubtedly feel relaxed and at ease. Perhaps that will be the time to speak up and take aim at the madness.





The series “Postcards from America—Postcards from Israel” by Ari Bussel and Norma Zager is a compilation of articles capturing the essence of life in America and Israel during the first two decades of the 21st Century.



The writers invite readers to view and experience an Israel and her politics through their eyes, Israel visitors rarely discover.



This point—and often—counter-point presentation is sprinkled with humor and sadness and attempts to tackle serious and relevant issues of the day. The series began in 2008, appears both in print in the USA and on numerous websites and is followed regularly by readership from around the world.



© “Postcards from America—Postcards from Israel,” December, 2010

Contact: aribussel@gmail.com