Anti-Semitism “does not need the Jew, but his representation.” This is what Nathania Zevi, Tg1 journalist and author of the book, explains The ideal enemy which will be presented tomorrow afternoon at the Maxxi Auditorium at 6pm, with the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, Noemi Di Segni, Roberto Genovesi, Paolo Mieli and Alessandro Giuli, moderated by Marco Frittella. A text that starts from a question: why has anti-Semitism never been overcome?
The ideal enemy “are the Jews” and “not knowing them” facilitates and fuels “a prejudice against them” that comes from afar. “It’s easy to point them out as responsible, to dress them as responsible,” he says. An example is Covid: «Pointed out as the spreaders on the one hand, those who carried the virus around the world, and on the other indicated as the heads of the pharmaceutical companies». And again: during the demonstrations against the Green Pass: «First they attack Anne Frank, then they march in striped pajamas against the “health dictatorship”». Everything and the opposite of everything, what matters, in other words, is to identify an enemy. A mere nothing is enough to relight the fuse of anti-Semitism: proof of this is the escalation – as also highlighted by the Interior Ministry – following the outbreak of the war in Gaza, starting from 7 October last, with the attack by Hamas.
“It’s just a matter of getting it out,” says Zevi, especially at a time when direct witnesses to the horror of the Shoah “are dying.” “There is no doubt that the memory has done an excellent job – he states – but it must concern not only the Jews, but the others because what these people were experiencing was an international drama.” Remembrance Day, as the author of the text explains, “must be rethought: people are tired and memory is too often used by deniers precisely to deny what has been”. «Prejudice, projected onto a before, is reflected and spreads in countless directions». In the book, a chapter is also dedicated to school. The starting point, looking at the past, is “anti-Judaism” as a “feeling that spread, historically, especially in Catholic schools”. Hence «fertile ground for sowing and growing hatred towards the Jews. Prejudice, hatred, fear. Anti-Semitism has never really been overcome, it can remain latent for years and then explode, in any corner of the planet, in a violent and devastating way.”
Journalist Nathania Zevi analyzes it and tells it starting from the dramatic events of current affairs. That of anti-Semitic sentiment is an ancient history which, over time, has undergone evolutions, taking new and subtle forms. Stereotypes of the past, very difficult to eradicate, today find increasingly powerful channels of amplification. Anti-Semitism lives and manifests itself in real society and on the web, in the workplace, in schools and at stadiums. «Never before – writes the author – full knowledge of the phenomenon represents a necessary starting point to explore the origins of a more current issue than ever before». «I want to thank Rai Libri for carrying forward this project, starting last April and which required hard work after 7 October”, underlines Zevi.
The ideal enemy by Nathania Zevi, published by Rai Libri, is on sale in bookshops and digital stores from 17 January 2024 (cost 19 euros).