Germany leaves out the biggest anti-Semites

As the son of an Israeli diplomat, I spent most of my school days far from my Jewish homeland and faced the ugly reality of modern anti-Semitism almost everywhere I lived. Whether it was old-school prejudice or modern-day hate speech against the State of Israel and its right to exist, the hate I felt was usually the same.

As an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as I led my comrades in uniform to the sites of the greatest crime in human history, the Holocaust, I felt a sense of pride and assurance that the Jews of my generation had an independent and strong homeland and have refuge, unlike 75 years ago. There is always something to learn from history for those willing to listen.

A few days ago I came across an interesting document: the first government plan to combat anti-Semitism in Germany that was recently published. At first glance, I was struck by the German government's seemingly serious efforts to address this defining issue.

While I commend the German government for releasing its first comprehensive plan to "Combat Antisemitism and Promote Jewish Life in Germany," I find it very disturbing that two of the most odious modern proponents of Jew-hatred and violence against Jews on German soil and in around the world are not mentioned once in the report: the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Both officially promote institutionalized Holocaust denial at all levels of government, poison their students with hateful incitement against Jews and the Jewish state, and their leaders openly call for the annihilation of Israel. The Iranian leadership has even gone so far as to threaten Israel with nuclear annihilation if the Islamic State of Iran acquires nuclear weapons.

Even before the modern State of Israel was founded in the biblical land of Israel, our Arab neighbors tried to destroy it. They have consistently failed in more than four wars since 1948, and sometime after the 1973 Yom Kippur War they came to the inevitable conclusion that they could never crush Israel with brute force.

So they looked for other means. Instead of striving for peace and coexistence, they began to intensify their traditional sponsorship of terrorist organizations against Israel, most notably the PLO under the notorious terrorist Yasser Arafat - winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. Nonetheless, he returned to terrorism, which culminated in the second intifada that began in 2000.

Today's Palestinian Authority is ruled by Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, and continues to seek to destroy the Jewish state with any means at its disposal. After using suicide bombings, rockets, guns and stones against Israel with limited success, the Palestinian Authority decided about 15 years ago to change course and diversify its efforts against Israel. She organized a worldwide campaign to boycott and sanction Israel, commonly known by the acronym BDS.

If the German government really wants to protect Jews from the dangers of hatred and violence, it must tell the truth about the state and political entities that are spreading anti-Semitism and violence today: the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Given its unique historical role, Germany should tie its generous financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, as well as its extensive trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the condition that both immediately change their policies on Jew-hatred and anti-Israel incitement. Anything else is whitewashing and an insult to the memory of the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust and their descendants, many of whom live in Israel today.

Amir Avivi is the Founder and Chair of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, a non-governmental organization representing over 16,000 former Israeli security force personnel that advances Israel's national security through outreach, education and research.