When Jew-Hatred Isn't Anti-Semitic
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The ideology of “anti-Semitism” was created in 1879 by German pamphleteer Wilhelm Marr. He put a modern, Darwinian gloss on ancient anti-Semitic myths by positing that Jews were innately inferior because of racial characteristics handed down through generations. Well-meaning activists often say that even though Hitler was defeated, anti-Semitism was not. But in this narrow sense, anti-Semitism was largely defeated. Hardly anyone makes a “scientific” case for Jewish inferiority anymore. But Jew-hatred, like a virus, survives by adapting to changing conditions. Today’s version focuses on a new “evil,” as Ms. Omar calls it. The French diplomat Daniel Bernard might have put it most concisely when he said in 2001: “All the current troubles in the world are because of that s—y little country, Israel.”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has pointed out that Jew-hatred is usually justified by appeals to a culture’s highest authority. During the Middle Ages, that was religion—so the Jews were charged with killing Jesus. During the Enlightenment it was science, so Jews were deemed an inferior race. Today’s highest source of authority is human rights—so Israel is portrayed as the worst violator. Opponents insist that it is possible to be critical of the Israeli government without being anti-Jewish. That’s true of any country, though it almost never needs to be said—so why is it so often repeated when it comes to the Jewish state? Because “criticism” of Israel so often is accompanied by simple hatred of the Jews.
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After Holocaust survivor Mirelle Knoll was brutally murdered in her Paris apartment a year ago, a memorial march in her honor was planned. Hours before the march, the office of the Union of French Jewish Students at the Sorbonne was ransacked and defaced with graffiti like “Viva Arafat” and “death to Israel.” And the charter of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, mentions the struggle against the “Jew”—not the Zionist—23 times. Israel’s greatest sin, according to the Hamas charter: “Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.”
For anti-Zionists, the verdict against Israel is set before the trial. It’s an old hate with a new mask. If the U.S. House won’t condemn it, who will?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-jew-hatred-isnt-anti-semitic-11552429415 (paid subscription)
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