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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Return of Anti-Semitism
(Snip)
The murder of Jewish shoppers at a Parisian kosher supermarket three weeks ago, after the killing of 12 people at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, sent shivers down the spines of many Jews, not because it was the first such event but because it has become part of a pattern. In 2014, four were killed at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. In 2012, a rabbi and three young children were murdered at a Jewish school in Toulouse. In 2008 in Mumbai, four terrorists separated themselves from a larger group killing people in the citys cafes and hotels and made their way to a small Orthodox Jewish center, where they murdered its young rabbi and his pregnant wife after torturing and mutilating them. As the Sunday Times of London reported about the attack, the terrorists would be told by their handlers in Pakistan that the lives of Jews were worth 50 times those of non-Jews.
An ancient hatred has been reborn. Some politicians around the world deny that what is happening in Europe is anti-Semitism. It is, they say, merely a reaction to the actions of the state of Israel, to the continuing conflict with the Palestinians. But the policies of the state of Israel are not made in kosher supermarkets in Paris or in Jewish cultural institutions in Brussels and Mumbai. The targets in these cities were not Israeli. They were Jewish.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, an Egyptian cleric, Muhammad Hussein Yaqub, speaking in January 2009 on Al Rahma, a popular religious TV station in Egypt, made the contours of the new hate impeccably clear: If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. We will never love them
They are enemies not because they occupied Palestine. They would have been enemies even if they did not occupy a thing
You must believe that we will fight, defeat and annihilate them until not a single Jew remains on the face of the Earth
You will not survive as long as a single one of us remains.
(snip)
At this juncture in the history of hate, we must remember what anti-Semitism is. It is only contingently, even accidentally, about Jews. Jews die from it, but they are not its only victims. Today Christian communities are being ravaged, terrorized and decimated throughout the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, and scores of Muslims are killed every day by their brothers, with Sunnis arrayed against Shiites, radicals against moderates, the religious against the secular. The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews.
(snip)
In 1095, Pope Urban II delivered his call for the First Crusade. A year later, some Crusaders, on their way to liberate the holy city of Jerusalem, paused to massacre Jewish communities in Northern Europe, in Cologne, Worms and Mainz. Thousands died. Many Jews committed suicide rather than submit to the mob and forcible conversion to Christianity. It was a traumatizing moment for European Jewryand the portent of worse to come. From the time of the Crusades onward, Jews in Christian Europe began to be seen not as human beings but as a malevolent force, a demonic and destructive power that mysteriously yet actively sought the harm of others. Jews were accused of desecrating the sacramental bread used in communion, poisoning wells and spreading the plague. They were held responsible for the Black Death, the epidemic that in the 14th century cost millions of lives. They lived in fear.
(snip)
What had happened to activate a hate that had been incubating for 10 centuries, since Christianity emerged from Judaism? Why was it Germany that conceived and executed the Final Solution, an elaborate program with the sole purpose of exterminating Europes Jews? The answer is the same in both cases: Anti-Semitism becomes deadly only when a culture, nation or faith suffers from a cognitive dissonance so profound that it becomes unbearable. It happens when the way a group sees itself is contradicted by the way it is seen by the world. It is the symptom of an unendurable sense of humiliation.
Christianity, which had been transformed by the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, found itself overtaken by Islam by the 11th century. Germany, which had seen itself as the supreme nation in Europe, was defeated in World War I and then punished under the Treaty of Versailles. These humiliations resulted not in introspection but in a search for foreign culpritsfor external enemies who could be blamed and destroyed. The parallel in Islam over the past century was the defeat and dissolution of its one remaining bastion of imperial power, the Ottoman Empire, in 1922. Six years later, radical political Islam was born in Egypt in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood.
(snip)
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-return-of-anti-semitism-1422638910
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)unless it grows out of its pathological need to believe in Iron Age myths and fairytales.
Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)It is the 'gift' that keeps on giving. There are always excuses; political ideologies, economic crisis, national pride, religious differences, and of course, Israel and any given Jew on the planet. Take a look at the Russia/Ukraine situation, each blaming the other of "hating Jews" while both sides are mired in anti-Semitism. However, it seems some forms of anti-Semitism have become more acceptable than others, and so have the excuses for not being an anti-Semite: Arabs are Semites too!; Some distant relative/friend is a Jew!; I guess I'll be called an anti-Semite, so who cares!; Jews always play the "anti-Semitism" card!; Other groups have it much worse!; It's been 70 years, get over the Holocaust, other people died there too! Then there are the excuses that ring out from the right. They aren't usually as mired in "intelligence."
It is as it has always been, and will likely always be.
question everything
(47,510 posts)that anti-Semitism is really the targeting of minority groups, including Christians in Arab countries and small minority Muslims who are not part of the ruling classes.
By the way, the essay was written by Lord Jonathan Sacks, who was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth in the U.K.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)It isn't even always the big things, but sometimes, the little things, like using anti-Semites as sources of "truthtopower" in regards to Israel or Jewish matters. Or, even using anti-Semitic sources on other topics and not giving two shits that the source is renowned for it's rancid anti-Semitism, no matter the topic. By doing those little things, it demonstrates a casual attitude toward anti-Semitism and a lack of interest in issues affecting Jews.
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)anti-Semitic talking points, and a large part of that is because they can afford to be ignorant (or pretend to be ignorant) of anti-Semitism.
It's gross and ugly, but not surprising when, as you note or imply, anti-Semitism is so embedded in the history of Europe (and European-settled America, by extension). And it's been exported to other parts of the world and gotten more virulent in many parts of the world since Israel's creation.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)It never went away.
Bonobo
(29,257 posts)When there is a conflict among Muslim countries, you always see Jews being blamed -usually a MOSSAD conspiracy blah, blah -- I have links. I won't post them.
Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)Within 2 hours of Sandy Hook, I was able to find Jewish conspiracy theories. Within a day, I found multiple sites. By week's end, the more notable conspiracy theorists, including some who are used here (Gordon Duff) were throwing their hats into the ring.
question everything
(47,510 posts)which, I think, is a common denominator for all anti-semitic conspiracy.
The most notorious example, again from the original post
The first was the blood libel, the mad idea that Jews kill Christian children to use their blood to make matzo, the unleavened bread eaten during Passover. The idea is absurd, not least because even the tiniest speck of blood in food renders it inedible in Jewish law. The libel was an English invention, born in Norwich around 1144, and was unsuccessfully condemned by several popes. It was introduced into the Middle East by Christians in the 19th century, leading to trials of innocent Jews in Lebanon and Egypt and, most famously, in Damascus in 1840.
840high
(17,196 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I am not religious, but was brought up Christian (both Catholic and Episcopalian) and I never heard a negative word toward Jews. I simply do not understand the hatred. I have numerous Jewish friends and as someone who was brought up in a mostly Italian culture, like my old Aunt said "they are just like us, except they aren't catholic". I was never brought up with an anti-Semitic viewpoint so I simply don't get it. It is something that just baffles me.
question everything
(47,510 posts)and it was taught in churches for generations. In addition, the Gospel of John attributed to Jesus these words about the Jews: You belong to your father, the Devil.
I also think - not being a religious scholar - that since Christianity was supposed to have replaced Judaism - "Old" vs "New" Testament - that the continuing presence of Jews flew in the face of that assumption and may have undermined a major belief in Christianity. I don't know. Perhaps others can comment.
From http://www.religioustolerance.org/jud_jesu5.htm
In 1965, the Roman Catholic Church partially abandoned its historical stance towards Jews and Judaism. In a remarkable reversal of their position, the Church rejected its earlier teachings that:
All of the Jews in Palestine circa 30 CE were responsible for the execution of Jesus.
All Jews who are currently living are also responsible for Jesus' death.
God has rejected Jews because they murdered Jesus.
And in March 2011 Pope Benedict XVI wrote that the Jews were not responsible for the death of Jesus, what's important is less the passage itself than the man who set it down on paper.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2057120,00.html
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I guess if you are inclined to hate, it would give you a reason. I suppose.
Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)In the past 24 hours, here are two examples of the "modern" version of anti-Semitism:
Jewish members of Congress should not desert their Party or their country to support the Israeli leader, Netanyahu. They really need to re-examine their loyalties, in my opinion.
How many Representatives and Senators does the state of Israel have in the US Congress?The really important word isn't "have" it's "own."
Our loyalty, not only to the Democratic party, but to our very countries, are constantly called into question. Every, and I mean every fucking election, the "Jewish vote" is always under scrutiny. It doesn't matter that as a group, Jews are overwhelmingly democrats and vote that way. It doesn't matter that Jews have consistently been at the forefront of the civil rights of others. It doesn't matter that in poll after poll, our issues of concern reflect those of the greater population. It comes down to "Jews are not to be trusted; they are only loyal to themselves (this includes Israel)." It is anti-Semitism through and through.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)'Father of Lies' name for Satan when he says LGBT rights are a 'machination of the Father of Lies'. He knows exactly what he is invoking when he does so, he is fully aware of his Church's history with those passages when he makes yet another bigoted use of them.
question everything
(47,510 posts)a religious organization, a dictatorship, even local sects, is to find enemies to, literally and figuratively circle the wagons and ensure loyalty and obedience.
Which may be a reason why when there is a Republican president all Republican members of congress vote for whatever he wants, while we, Democrats, are the first to challenge our own president, even vote against him and be proud.
Sigh..
jwirr
(39,215 posts)about the blame my church points straight back at ALL of us. He died for all of OUR sins. That is the difference between a church that preaches hate and ours that teaches personal responsibility for our own sins. We did it. If I blame the Jews then I am a hypocrite.
Hate used to be considered one of those sins but today we actually have churches preaching hate. They have a long list of people we should be hated and that list almost always includes the Jewish people and that includes churches who support the state of Israel because they want all Jews to return there to prepare for the end times.
We live in a sad and dangerous world.
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)approved discussion.
Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)at least, that's been my experience with you. i'll retreat from your chastisement now. sorry once again for failing to meet your standards of commentary.
Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)What was your comment about anti-Semitism again? you know, the actual topic of the OP?
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,967 posts)How can I disagree with your comment on anti-Semitism when you haven't said anything about it?!
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)The difference is anti-muslim/arab sentiment doesn't have the historic conspiracy theory behind it that has definitely been re-activated now.
In terms of body count, you certainly have a point - intolerance is growing everywhere. But IMHO, the ideological structure to worry about here is antisemitism.
eridani
(51,907 posts)OF course it has changed forms over the years.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)During the early 20th century the Robber Barons were under pressure as tremendous wealth gaps were revealed and socialism began to get more of a hearing. The communist Revolution occurred in Russia, and Social Democrat parties arose across the rest of Europe. There were also more populist moves in the US with the rise of unions, government trust-busting, and "Bellamy clubs" (based on British Fabian socialism) spreading across the US.
One reaction to this was the wealthy elite trying to point to a conspiracy of wealthy Jews as the real enemy, with Henry Ford publishing and disseminating the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This was one the first steps in the chain of event that built the rage against the Jews resulting in the Holocaust.
I suspect the same thing is going on right now. With all the roil about the 1%, the super rich are looking for escape routes and scape goats instead of considering ways to redistribute their wealth. The old standby is, of course, blame the Conspiracy of the Jewish Bankers.
Any time you friend someone on the Internet, you are less than 6 degrees away from someone with a conspiracy theory about the Rothschilds. Try it! I dare you! There is a lot of active chatter right now about the international conspiracy of Jewish bankers and how they are behind everything that is anything. Of course this chatter is always around, but now it has intensified, and as this post points out, it is being accompanies by actual attacks on Jews.
Are trolls being paid to create this weapon of mass distraction plant the seeds of attacks on Jews?
Are we edging closer to the next Kristallnacht?
I have to say Netanyahu has not helped in this matter. I feel he has simultaneously exploited Holocaust sympathy and bribed members of Congress to the point where they will put Israeli interest before US interest - that's just wrong. The Palestinian issue will just converge with the 1% need to find a distraction/scapegoat...and the next thing you know people will be nodding their heads at the "common sense" knowledge that the "usury" of the Jews is behind all their personal debt problems. And when a Charismatic Leader says they can offset their stress over their unemployment and debt and housing foreclosures by overthrowing the Jewish Banker that has been terrorizing them financially, they will listen!
Netanyahu's behavior is not doing the Jewish people of the US or the world any favors right now.
Glad you posted this.