David Bedein: Genesis of an anti-Semitic state

[The following article was first published on the website of the Times of Israel]

Imagine, if you would, if a nascent nation-state, somewhere in the world, was in formation, and that it had taken on the following features:

* Its new constitution would not allow for juridical status for Judaism and Jews would not even be allowed to live in the country.

* The designated head of state earned his Ph.D. on the basis of a published thesis that millions Jews who were murdered during World War II were actually executed by the Zionists, who were allies of the Nazis.

The reaction to such a “state in formation” would be an outcry from all of the Jewish groups that monitor anti-Semitism.

Yet there has been no outcry from most Jewish groups in the case of the proposed Palestinian Arab state, even though it possesses these horrific six characteristics, as described above.

However, there are a some influential non Jews who have expressed concern about the anti-Semitism of the nascent Palestinian Authority.

A case in point. Eight years years ago, our agency covered a briefing for a visiting United States congressional delegation provided by the former Vatican representative to Israel, Archbishop Pietro Sambi. The Papal Nuncio warned US lawmakers that the new Palestinian Authority approved draft state constitution, funded by USAID, provided no juridical status for religions other than Islam in the new Palestinian Arab entity.

The Papal Nuncio also warned that the Palestinian Authority had adopted a Shariah law. that was modeled on Sharia law that rules in Saudi Arabia, which dictated absolute supremacy of Muslims., as matter of law.

Archbishop Sambi provided our news agency with the text of that PA constitution, with the hope that Jewish groups which would object to such a proposed Palestinian state constitution. .

In addtion, Archbishop Sambi initiated a Vatican study of the new PA textbooks, which the Vatican would determine to be anti-Semitic in nature.

As a result of the Vatican study of the PA textbooks, the Italian government withdrew its money from Palestinian Ministry of Education textbook project.

An expert whose research is impeccable on this subject is journalist Dr. Arnon Groiss, who earned his PHD in Islamic studies at Princeton, and who worked for ten years as a researcher for IMPACT.se , also known as the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, where Dr. Groiss became an expert on Arab school books.

Over the past year, Dr. Gross made presentations for staffers and members of the US Congress and the Canadian Parliament, where he showed how the new textbooks of the Palestinian Authority, instead of educating for peace with Israel, promote the “armed struggle” to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine.

From these textbooks, Groiss showed that the PA curriculum teaches the following fundamentals:

* The exact area to be liberated is never restricted to the areas taken by Israel in 1967..

The list of accusations against Israel appearing in the new Palestinian Authority schoolbooks includes more than 25 allegations, including:

Over the past year, New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, a 32 year Republican veteran of Congress, announced that he would lead a campaign for the US to condition aid to UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority on the nullification of the anti-Semitic curriculum of the Palestinian Authority.

Rep. Smith’s initiative was reminiscent of Archbishop Sambi, who died this year while serving as the new Papal Nuncio in Washington.

Archbishop Sambi was never afraid to take a stand on the official anti-Semitism which he discerned in the Palestinian Authority,

It remains to be seen whether mainstream Jewish groups will follow the lead of Rep. Smith and the late Archbishop Sambi, to make such demands of the Palestinian Authority.

Sometimes it takes a courageous gentile to speak up, so that Jews will not hesitate to follow their example.