Illiberal, Identity Politics, Islamophobia,
Anti-Semitism, Galloping In Tandem
Saeed
Naqvi
Was Shylock
victim or villain? The question never arose when Geoffrey Kendal came to school
in the 50s and 60s to perform Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice was a great
favourite because it appealed to us at several levels. There was the continuing
suspense on whether or not Shylock, Jewish money lender, would be able to exact
the pound of flesh he had meanly inserted in the agreement, should the needy
merchant, Antonio, fail to pay back the loan.
A pound of
flesh closest to the heart was Shylock’s revenge: he had been insulted by the
Christians; he had had his “Jewish gabardine” publicly spat upon. But Shylock’s
grief reaches epic proportions when Christians inflict a nasty bit of “Love
Jihad” on him: his daughter Jessica runs away with Lorenzo, a Christian. Worse,
she runs away with his “ducats”, the currency those days. “O’ my daughter; O’
my ducats”. I cannot remember a courtroom with such nail biting suspense when Portia
saves Antonio from Shylock’s blade.
Anti-Semitism,
from much before Elizabethan times, remained a sentiment in two powerful strands.
One was the direct Christian prejudice against Jews in Europe which climaxed
with Hitler in Germany. The Islamic conquest of Spain in the 8th century
led to the flourishing of a composite culture in which Muslims, Christians and
Jews contributed in equal measure. The Reconquista or the return of Christian
rule in 1478 led to the Spanish Inquisitions which were harsher on Jews than on
Muslims.
The basic
conflict, whether in Northern Europe or in the Iberian Peninsula, was always
between Christianity and Judaism, not the least because Christians blamed Jews
for Christ’s death. What has puzzled me always is the deafening Jewish-Muslim
acrimony. I shall never forget the day in the Royal Palace in Rabat, Morocco
when I found myself seated in the office of Andre Azoulay, the late King Hasan’s
principal adviser. He was the second most powerful man in the Kingdom. He was a
Sephardic Jew like so many others in the country who held key posts. A mandatory
annual event was the jamboree hosted by His Majesty for Sephardic Jews in the
diaspora. This sentimental reunion was a continuation of a medieval tradition. When
50,000 Jews were expelled from Spain after the Reconquista, Morocco and other
North African states had accorded the new “refugees”, extraordinary
hospitality. Even after Jews from this part of the world had made their homes
in Israel, they remembered how well Morocco had treated them. I have seen
photographs of King Hasan dominate Sephardic drawing rooms in Jerusalem.
By the 80s the
Jewish state and the international Jewry had become so powerful that even “reworking”
Shakespeare became a legitimate intervention. Rather than discard the Merchant
of Venice and select anyone of Shakespeare’s plays in 1989, Director Sir Peter
Hall chose to tweak Shakespeare and impart rationalism to Shylock’s character. Dustin
Hoffman virtually reimagined Shylock, toning down his usurious rate of
interest, thereby enhancing the sympathy factor for the money lender. A sort of
Christian ganging up against a hapless “professional” was played up. Shylock’s tragic
end is ironically the heart of the play’s mirth.
The toning
down of the Shakespearean prejudice against Jews was clearly a function of
guilt on account of the excesses during the second war. The remarkable rise in anti-Semitism
in recent decades by comparison leaves one aghast. Sympathy for Jews has given
place to an awe for the Jewish state. The exceptional achievements of Jewish
people will always shine through but individuals are being submerged in unwholesome
Zionist excesses.
These excesses
are being amplified by Donald Trump’s singularly one sided support for anything
Benjamin Netanyahu demands. The general projection of both as heartless bullies
automatically accelerates anti-Semitism. Take the Deal of the Century: only the
duet and their closest groups were ecstatic. There will be a corresponding
spike in ill will.
Do you think
American campuses are falling over each other in adoration for Trump and his Buddy
– after he signed an Executive Order aimed at combating anti-Semitism on
college campuses.
“This is our
message to universities: if you want to accept the federal dollars you get each
year, you must reject anti-Semitism.” What must students do to become good boys
entitled to federal funds? Abandon “Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel
movement” which has been popular on campuses.
Jewish lobbies
in Poland, for example, were bringing to bear their considerable clout on
property transactions. Properties owned by Jews before the war were being
successfully reclaimed by the old owners at throw away prices. When a Polish
law sought to prevent these transactions, the State Department intervened. Officials
in Washington would keep a watchful eye to protect Jewish interests. Imagine how
Poles would respond to such interference.
Rise of
anti-migrant, anti-Semitic leaders in Hungary, Germany, Austria, Poland, is a depressing
list. By their behaviour the Trump-Netanyahu duet have only aggravated the
situation.
At an
international conference in Warsaw last year, Israeli Foreign Minister, Yisrael
Katz accused the Polish leadership of anti-Semitism. His language was unbelievably
coarse: “Poles suckle anti-Semitism from their mother’s milk.” How would this
outburst have registered with Primetime TV viewers in Poland?
An
undercurrent of anti-Semitism remains unnoticed because the global media is
more willingly focused on Islamophobia. Is under reporting of anti-Semitic
incidents a deterrent? The very first question Trump’s first press conference
was by Jake Turx, newly minted White House correspondent for Ami magazine, an
orthodox Jewish publication from Brooklyn. The question was on the recent surge
of hate crimes against Jews. Trump completely misunderstood the question. He thought
the young reporter was accusing the new President of anti-Semitism. Some tongue
lashing followed. A startled Jake Turx sought to mollify Trump.
“You have
Jewish grandchildren. You are their Zayed (Yiddish for grandfather).” The mist
may have lifted that day, but Turx’s publication from that day is a useful
guide to burgeoning anti-Semitism, of which the vicious knife attack in Monsey,
New York, during Hanukkah celebrations last December has been among the minor
incidents.
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