causes. But the sounds make the music, and Mahathir's music does indeed sound anti-Semitic.
So should we ignore anti-Semitism?
Definitely not. Racism is a kind of virus that exists in every nation and in every human being. Jean-Paul Sartre said that we are all racists, the difference being that some of us realize this and fight against it, while others succumb to the evil. In ordinary times, there is a small minority of blatant racists in every country, but in times of crisis their number can multiply rapidly. This is a perpetual danger, and every people must fight against the racists in their midst.
We Israelis are like all other peoples. Each of us can find a small racist within ourselves, if we search hard enough. We have in our country fanatical Arab-haters, and the historic confrontation that dominates our lives increases their power and influence. It is our duty to fight them, and leave it to the Europeans and Arabs to deal with their own racists.
July 27, 1998
We have already become accustomed to the scene: yeshiva students chasing archaeologists on the hills, cops chasing the yeshiva students. The diggers into holy books are at war with the diggers into antiquities.
And what is this fight about? On the face of it, they are fighting over dry bones in old graves. But that is only a pretense. The real bone of contention lies buried much deeper, in the subconscious of the warring parties.
When the founding fathers of Zionism decided to go to Palestineagainst the inclinations of the atheist Theodor Herzl-they pulled out the Old Testament. It contained the divine Deed of Purchase to the land. It was also a record of a magnificent national history, which is essential for any modern national movement. We are not invading someone else's country. After all, it's right here in writing.
The Hebrew Bible is an extraordinary literary work which also tells a historical tale. But first and foremost, it is a religious document. It records the covenant between The Almighty God and his people Israel. Its writers used historical and literary materials solely for the purpose of driving home the religious moral lessons. ("And he did wrong in the eyes of The Lord ..."). As far as the great Torah sages of the last century were concerned-most of who regarded the Zionist Founding