By Jeffrey Katz
The
latest anti-Semitic remarks of Rep. Ilhan Omar are not just like any other
racial slurs. To say that is to deny history. In my
new book, The Secret Life: A Book of Wisdom, I write that
Maimonides taught that the lessons of history, and the truths we learn
from it, must always be kept at the forefront of our minds, and guide our
present course. Truth must be accepted from whatever source it comes, and when
history has taught us such a precise lesson - such as about what lies about
Jewish control and disloyalty can lead to - we must be most vigilant.
There
is a long, brutal past to anti-Semitism, which has seen Jews tortured, raped,
mass-exterminated, and their bodies burnt in ovens, all accompanied by such
lies and stereotypes. About 80 years ago, Nazi Germany spread propaganda about
Jews, using stereotypes with themes that included those of Rep. Omar’s, to
paint Jews as disloyal and supposedly in control of society through their
money, fomenting hatred. Jews were sent by the millions into gas chambers and
exterminated, fueled by the propaganda of the Nazi death machine.
Not
dealing with anti-Semitism in light of its unique history would be like
ignoring the history of slavery in our country when dealing with racism and
prejudice against African-Americans. Those who are ignorant of history are
doomed to repeat it. This may be why many of these same people, seemingly
unconcerned about rising anti-Semitism, are also promoting Socialism here. They
may be unaware of history’s lessons and of the devastation that Socialism has
wreaked on societies in the past century, turning many from rich to poor, from
democracy to dictatorship. To those unconcerned about rising anti-Semitism, or,
for that matter, those who would lead America into a future of socialist
poverty - are they not aware of history?
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