JERUSALEM— ‘’ There are neo-fascist movements today that have considerable and very dangerous influence, and sometimes they also express their strong support for the State of Israel. You cannot say we admire Israel and want relations with your country, but we are neo-fascists,’’ said said Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in an interview with CNN.
He was responding to the worrying results from a survey on anti-Semitism in Europe published by CNN earlier this week.
President Rivlin continued: “I meet leaders from all around the world – presidents and prime ministers – and they tell me that sometimes they need to work with movements like these to build coalitions and that although they are neo-fascists they are great admirers of Israel. I tell them that this is absolutely impossible.”
‘’ Neo-fascism is absolutely incompatible with the principles and values on which the State of Israel was founded. As a state that is Jewish and democratic, a place that is open to every Jew in the world, we must say to the world – anti-Semitism is a pestilence, a dread disease, not just for us Jews but for the whole world, and if the world does not confront it, it will corrupt us all,” he said.
According to the results of the CNN survey of 7,000 people in 7 countries, one in 20 Europeans know nothing at all about the Holocaust and one in five believes that Jews have too much influence over war and conflict, 20% believe that anti-Semitism is a reaction to the everyday behavior of Jewish people. A majority of respondents said they were not aware of ever having met a Jewish person, and 40% said that they believe that Jews in their country were at risk of racist violence
“We must fight anti-Semitism by strengthening memory. Memory is the basic element and we must stick to the historical facts, not politicians’ talking points,’’ the president said.
He was responding to the worrying results from a survey on anti-Semitism in Europe
‘ The institutions responsible for Holocaust remembrance have the tools to research its roots and the build-up of anti-Semitism that helped the Nazis carry out their horrific deeds,” Rivlin said.
He added : “A few weeks ago, I met Pope Francis and he told me that he considers anti-Semitism to be evil. I agree with him entirely. It is evil and it can be found anywhere – left and right, nationalist and religious. It is not just a problem for us Jews, it is an international problem everywhere it spreads,” he said.
He stressed that the State of Israel ‘’is in no way compensation for the Holocaust.’’ ‘’It is the nation-state of the Jewish people and it is our ancestral homeland. The Holocaust was not the reason for the establishment of the State of Israel.44
The president described Holocaust denial as a direct continuation of anti-Semitism, and said “I think that Holocaust denial is rooted in anti-Semitism, as well as its anti-Israel roots. We need to confront Holocaust denial no less stringently than we confront anti-Semitism.’’
Relating to the question of whether Israel does enough to help the global Jewish community, the president said, “the fact that the President of Israel says to neo-fascist movements ‘you are persona non grata in the State of Israel’ is a statement that fights anti-Semitism in a concrete way. It is a statement that makes clear that memory is important and that we will not compromise on for the political expediency of the state of Israel, as Jewish as it is democratic and as democratic as it is Jewish.”
He added, “we want to ensure the memory of the Holocaust and educate future generations. This is certainly something that links world Jewish communities and the State of Israel. The State of Israel comprises four tribes and world Jewish communities are the fifth tribe. We must also work with the whole world to fight against xenophobia and discrimination, of which anti-Semitism is a variant.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVKRsG99bhU