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fact that he's anti-Semitic doesn't seem to disqualifY him from that kind
of admiration among a huge percentage of blacks. So I don't think it's
right to say that the problem is confined to a tiny segment of Muslims.
Rabbi David Woznicka:
Three quick points. It might be helpful in
dealing with anti-Semitism to articu late why it should be of interest to
the rest of the world. In
Why
the J ews; The Reason
Jar
Alltisemitism,
Dennis Prager and Jospeh Telushkin suggest that the Jews are the miner's
canary of the world. Miners are concerned about poisonous fumes in the
mines, so they take a canary with them. Since canaries are more sensitive
to these fumes than people, if the canary dies, the miners know to get
out of the mine . All too often this has been the history of the Jews.
They may be the first to suffer, but they are rarely the last. In Iran, soon
after he took power, Khomeini took over the Israeli embassy. We know
what followed. In Uganda, Idi Amin's stated hatred of Israel was only a
forerunner to his slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Ugandans. It is
important that the rest of the world understand that it is in their best
interst to stop anti-Semites, because while the Jews may be the first vic–
tims, they will not be the only ones.
My second point has to do with the college campus and the issue of
tenure. Most of us who say things that are clearly without substantiation
will be called to task, and if it is an important enough issue, or done
frequently enough, ultimately our job may be at risk. And while a
tenured professor can be challenged by others in the academic commu–
nity, and risk his or her respect in that community, it appears that in
some cases, outrageous and unsubstantiated claims can be made appar–
ently without risk to one's job. We are all aware that there are a few
professors who continually make such claims against the Jews. Do you
believe tenure may playa role in the disproportionate anti-Semitism that
we see on the campus?
Finally, I am concerned should some conclude that Jews are hated
for psychological reasons. To say the Nazis were sick is to no longer
hold them responsible for their actions. Nazis were evil. They committed
evil acts. When people commit evil, we should confront it and call it
evil.
Nortnan Podhoretz:
I agree entirely with your last point, and when I
said that the Nazis were irrational in their anti-Semitic policy, I did not
mean that they were sick. I don't think they were sick. I think they were
indeed evil, and it's very important to maintain that sense of things. As
for the question of free speech on the campuses: Leonard Jeffries, after
being fired, was reinstated when the court ruled that in fact he had been
