The Blogs: Predictability

‘Abbas world’s No.1 purveyor of anti-Semitism, minister says’

‘Ultra-Orthodox daily blames Israel for anti-Semitism’

‘Knesset member implies Kerry guided by anti-Semitism’

Times of Israel: January 30, 2014

There appears to be a lot of it going around these days, much more so than is usual. Should this be taken as a cause for concern or is it all just hot air, people feeling they have to remark on the subject because it makes for good PR, grabs a few headlines and, anyway, such claims are easy to make without being overtaxed by any great burden of proof?

If it is to be taken seriously, then how can anti-Semitism be effectively reduced in general terms and also in its intensity within various individuals, groups and even nations?

Well, battening down the hatches and hoping it will all blow over has not been the best option historically. Neither is protesting the unfairness of such attitudes, all with their origins in belief systems other than Judaism. Pointing out the benefits that Israeli society brings to the world and the strides it has made in scientific, medical and academic fields is simply never going to be enough.

No, if any real headway is to be made in the combating of anti-Semitism, this can only be found in new ideas and concepts that place Israel in a much better light, a light that can then extend to Jews the world over.

Unless changes are made that resonate within humanity’s collective consciousness, challenge all previous assumptions and call into being some new spirit of the age, any positive alteration in anti-Semitic mindsets must remain a very distant prospect indeed. And the failure by all concerned to somehow resolve this Israeli-Palestinian conflict will have been paramount in that most predictable of assumptions.

And the answer? To make sure nothing is predictable, not to anyone ever again.