This year International Holocaust Memorial Day on Jan. 27 was different because it came in the wake of the Abraham Accords. Jews around the world should know that they are not alone anymore; that the Abraham Accords countries and other Arabs are on their side. Individuals from the group Sharaka including participants from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Israel held an online event to memorialize victims of the Holocaust and to promote an action plan for Holocaust awareness and combating anti-Semitism.
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If we look closely at the significance of Holocaust Memorial Day, we can see that it is not just about saying "never again" to Jews, but also to the Arabs. Looking back in time, we find a correlation between the prevalence of anti-Semitism in the region and instability, terrorism, and a lack of development. When the lives of Jews and Arab Muslims were intertwined for more than 1,300 years, the region flourished. Pluralist Islam at that time allowed Jews to participate in all aspects of life, engendering a remarkable intellectual renaissance among Arabs and Jews alike.
Lebanese philosopher and historian Anis Zakaria al-Nasuli confirmed in his book The Umayyad State in Cordoba, that there is no doubt that Jews had significant involvement in Spain's conquest. In Cordoba, the Jewish scholar and physician Hasdai ibn Shaprut, became the private physician and finance minister of Abd al-Rahman III (reign: 912 to 929), the Umayyad Caliph of Cordoba.
Also, Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (reign: 1174 –1193), the first sultan of Egypt and Syria appointed the Jewish astronomer and physician, Moses ben Maimon, to be his private physician and asked him to supervise the Jewish community in Cairo. Selim I, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520, welcomed the Jews of Egypt after his victory over the Mamluks, and he trusted them.
The Baghdadi Jewish community was one of the most important in the world for over 1,000 years from 850 to the 1950s. Jews made up one-third of the population of Baghdad and important figures emerged from the community such as Sassoon Eskell, who became Iraq's first Finance Minister in 1920. The Jewish community continued to play an important role in Baghdad and Iraq more generally until the mid-twentieth century when most began leaving because of rising anti-Semitism, which originated in the Pan-Arab nationalism movement.
Over the last century, anti-Semitism has grown in the Middle East. This is largely because Arabs interpreted the United Nations' approval of the 1947 partition into Jewish and Arab states as an act of Western colonialism. In contrast, Jews saw the authorization of the two states as the self-realization of homelands for Jews and Arabs, both natives of the region. What has made matters worse is that the Palestinian factions are dominated by the ideologies of Arab nationalism and obscurantist political Islam. Neither of these ideologies focus on statehood-building nor development but rather on the destruction of Israel and the conflict shifted from armies to guerrilla actions and militias.
On the contrary, Jewish Nationalism (Zionism) focused on building a national homeland with robust infrastructure and a strong army. In the high-tech economy of Israel, the combination of an educated workforce and mechanization has led to increased productivity and wealth. Israel has more than eight times the per capita GDP of the Palestinians. Israel ranked fifth in this year's Bloomberg Innovation Index that measures performance in research, development, technology, education, and patents. Instead of working hard to close the gap between the high-tech economy of Israel and the less developed economy of the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians are throwing their energy into the anti-Semitic BDS movement, which promotes boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel.
In the wake of the Abraham Accords, there needs to be an understanding among the Arab public that combatting anti-Semitism needs to be part of their model for development and modernization. Challenging anti-Semitism requires a new educational curriculum, which is what the UAE is working hard on. New textbooks were used in schools just two weeks after the peace agreement was announced. Another important step is to establish a media outlet that stands up to divisive extremist ideologies as well as to carve out opportunities for Arabs to get to know Israelis and Jews in person, without the interference of radicals, be they Islamists or Arab nationalists. In short, normalization of relations is a prerequisite for combatting anti-Semitism and extremism and it is the best way to solve the conflict, whether a two-state or federation solution is envisaged, not the other way round.
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