(Jewish Group) Antisemitism matters: Jews are the canary in the coalmine

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

Easter? The very word gives me a migraine.” Not my view, but that of an old family friend who couldn’t shake the folk memory of Easter as pogrom season, a time of anti-Jewish attacks as Christians resurrected the libel that it was the Jews, rather than the Romans, who killed Jesus. But this weekend is also Passover, when Jews retell the story that defines them as a people, sitting around a Seder table and recalling through words, song and, crucially, food their exodus from slavery in Egypt.

The Easter/Passover combination means that at this time every year Jews are reminded of two core facts about themselves. The first is that they are raised, from the start, to remember that their place is with the oppressed and against injustice because, were it not for the exodus, they would still be slaves today. The second is that, from the start, they have been hated.

Both of those messages feel timely this weekend, as Jews reflect on the way a movement that they long saw as their natural home – on the left, fighting oppression and injustice – has been rocked by the question of anti-Jewish hatred. In the last week, the Passover and Easter messages have collided painfully.

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Remember, antisemitism differs from other racisms in its belief that Jews are the secret masters of the universe, pulling the strings that shape world events – and always for the sake of evil. (Witness the former Labour mayor of Blackburn who suggested Israel was behind the Sandy Hook school massacre.) Once you swallow that canard and see the Jews as the wielders of clandestine, malign power, why, then it becomes your duty as a good leftist to fight the Jews. This is why August Bebel called antisemitism “the socialism of fools” more than a century ago – and the Tower Hamlets mural illustrates that doctrine perfectly.

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[MaryMagdaline]

1. Good post

Anti-Semitism should be fought, regardless of whether it bodes ill for other nationalities. Anti-Semitism is unique in its perverse, illogical, inhumane and destructive force in Europe and Russia. If they can't defeat it, country by country, they don't deserve to rule. (Don't make me a Tory, people)