Netanyahu says at global forum, ‘anti-Semitism is back in fashion.’

“We are prepared to compromise for genuine peace, but it’s not reciprocated,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – Israel MFA Screenshot

In a video message to the delegates at the 4th Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that anti-Semitism has taken a new form since the rise of Israel, and that it is a myth it has disappeared since the Holocaust.

“Anti-Semites may have taken a respite [since the Holocaust], but all it was was a brief intermission that has now come back in fashion since the rise of Israel.”

The prime minister claimed there are three central arguments to the new form of anti-Semitism, firstly, that Israel was guilty of war crimes.

Addressing this accusation, which was pronounced recently by international NGO Amnesty International, he said only war criminals themselves make the accusation.

Secondly, Netanyahu stated, anti-Semites accuse Israel of being expansionists who do not seek peace.

“We repeatedly offer peace, make concessions for peace,” Netanyahu stated, adding that there was “no other case where the victor makes concessions, but we’ve done it, we’re prepared to compromise for genuine peace.”

“It’s our most fervent hope, but its not reciprocated. Recently, it’s not reciprocated at all,” he stated.

The third accusation was that Israel violates human rights. Responding to what he terms as anti-Semitism, Netanyahu said Israel is the one country amongst its neighbors who recognizes the rights of the individual.

In summary, the prime minister explained, these three vilifications are “part and parcel of the anti-Semitic campaign” to which “truth is the only remedy.”

At the conference, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ze’ev Elkin echoed Netanyhau’s sentiments, explaining that the “classic old malady of anti-Semitism has metamorphosed into ‘modern anti-Semitsm’ and has spread to new audiences.”

The event was co-hosted by Elkin and Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett.

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/PM-Prepared-to-compromise-for-peace-but-not-reciprocated-314636