Experts Discuss Threat of Internet Anti-Semitism
Source: The Jerusalem Post,13-Dec-2000
Experts Discuss Threat of Internet Antisemitism
by Gwen Ackerman
JERUSALEM (December 13) – The Internet, heralded as the brightest technological breakthrough of this generation, connects people to people and has turned the world into a global village. What is being overlooked by many, however, is that the World Wide Web has also become a tool of vast influence wielded by forces of good and evil alike.
It is into this dark side of the Internet that experts delved this week at a conference in Jerusalem on Confronting On-Line Terrorism and Antisemitism, co-sponsored by the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and the Anti-Defamation League.
The conference came as the cyber battle between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian hackers continues to wreak havoc on the ‘Net and the question of controlling the unwieldy World Wide Web is becoming more pressing.
In the hands of hate groups and terrorists, the Internet can be seen as the “potential curse of modern technology,” said Rabbi David Rosen, director of ADL Israel. “The Internet has the ability to link extremist, racist, bigoted groups that a decade ago we would have said have no consequence and now have been given the opportunity to galvanize together to disperse their filth,” he said.
“The lone wolf of the past is no longer such and can link up to become a pack with the ability to undermine society,” he warned, noting a recent upsurge in Islamic propaganda of Christian antisemitic themes such as blood libel.
“No one expected to see a prevalence of such propaganda in the 21st century,” Rosen said.
The efficiency with which antisemitic messages reach wide audiences was made quite clear in the first weeks of the current intifada, when antisemitic attacks reached unprecedented numbers globally.
The violence has since subsided, but the lesson has been learned.
“It is now possible to quickly ignite antisemitism around the world,” Minister Michael Melchior told the conference. “This is a new type of antisemitism, the Internet tool is very approachable and makes it very easy to disperse hatred. Now, rather than going from mail box to mail box, you can stay in the shelter of your home.”
Most dangerous to Israel is the attempt to turn the Mideast conflict over territory into a religious battle where “my God is against your God,” said Melchior, who called for inter-religious dialogue to counter this phenomenon.
The religious battle, or jihad, is promoted in thousands of Islamic Web sites that demonize the Jew as the spearhead of a conspiracy against the Moslem world, said Reuven Paz, academic director at ICT.
The hatred of the Jew, Judaism, Israel, and Zionism is blurred together with the religious tracts on these sites that target the young, secular Moslem population in the West, said Paz. “Hostility is becoming more rooted in Islam through these sites, which are viewed by this young population as the only true interpretation of Islam.”
This is of particular concern, noted Paz, because the median age is dropping in the Moslem world: “Internet influence on the next generation of Internet users, especially in the West, will be great so that the influence of this content is liable to become very strong.” Such hatred-spouting sites are hard to fight, given the liberal policies and free-speech laws of the West, said Paz.
Even if laws are in place barring the posting of threats on the Web, terrorists have found ways to bypass local boycotts. Saudi terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, for example, has set up his virtual headquarters in Sao Paulo and Caracas; Hamas runs its Web site from Lebanon.
The sites are intelligently developed, with voiceovers and photos, not just text, so that even those who don’t know how to read can be influenced, Paz said, adding that “the jump from antisemitism to terrorism is much easier on the Net.”
Global conventions that will allow transnational prosecution of hate crimes on the ‘Net will be hard both to draft and to enforce, said Christopher Wolf, chairman of the ADL Internet Policy Committee and co-chairman of the Internet Practice Group, Proskauer Rose LLP. First of all, Wolf noted, “in the US, where the vast majority of the information comes from, there is a First Amendment guarantee.” There are also issues of privacy to contend with, he said.
As the global legal culture debates whether and how to regulate hate speech on the Web, the best way to counter the hatred is by focusing on the Internet “to further a culture of tolerance, to educate, and to spread truthful information,” Wolf concluded.
