Antisemitism

Schwartz has written about various aspects of antisemitism. Schwartz has published several articles about the controversy surrounding Ariel Toaff's book about the blood libel of Trento.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

Holocaust

Schwartz wrote about the role of the Belgian authorities in the persecution and deportation of the Jews during World War II,^[17] about Mimi Reinhard, Oskar Schindler's secretary,^[18] about Katrin Himmler's book "The Himmler Brothers: A German Family History",^[19] and various other aspects of the Holocaust.

Muhammad al-Durrah

Schwartz has published several articles about the Muhammad al-Durrah incident for Haaretz. Schwartz was the first Israeli journalist to conduct a thorough interview with Philippe Karsenty about his misgivings regarding the incident.^[23] Schwartz wrote a follow-up about the incident in which he discussed the ballistic report by Jean-Claude Schlinger.^[24]

Israel's right to exist

Schwartz criticizes in his articles those who object to Israel's right to exist. Schwartz claimed that "the discussion of Israel's right to exist is no longer just the realm of Arab parties in conflict with Israel, and has become part of the European and American discourse".^[25] Schwartz pointed out articles written by American-Jewish historian Tony Judt and by Norwegian intellectual Jostein Gaarder as denouncing Israel's right to exist. Schwartz characterized Gaarder's article as layered with "harsh religious, eschatological and apocalyptic elements, which resembled a messianic prophecy" (see Tony Judt's views about Israel and Jostein Gaarder controversy).^[25]

Religion and the Holocaust

Schwartz highly criticized Pope Benedict XVI interpretation of the role of religion in the Holocaust. Pope Benedict have said: "In the darkest period of German and European history, an insane racist ideology born of neo-paganism gave rise to the attempt to exterminate European Jewry" and "The holiness of God was no longer recognized, and consequently contempt was shown for the sacredness of human life".^[26] Schwartz argued that the Pope's interpretation of Holocaust history is "more troubling and less exact". Schwartz claimed that:

This interpretation is very convenient for the Church, of course. It distinguishes between what he calls a secular, pagan, "insane" Europe, which does not recognize the holiness of God, and a religious, sane, peace-mongering Europe. As far as Ratzinger is concerned, the Holocaust took place because of non-recognition of the Christian faith.^[26]

In response to the historical claim made by Pope Benedict, Schwartz stated that:

The Holocaust took place on Christian soil, including Catholic Bavaria, where Ratzinger was born. It was made possible, at the very least, by the collaboration of Poles, Hungarians, Austrians, French and Belgians – all of them members of the Catholic community. This collaboration was achieved in part due to the heritage of anti-Semitism that was the legacy of the Church, the same Church that massacred Jews during the Crusades and established the first ghettoes.^[26]