There is no doubt that antisemitism is on the rise in this country. The question is: Why? Has the world gone mad? Here are some thoughts.
It’s important to first note that antisemitism has always
existed in America. But prior to October 7th, 2023, it was mostly expressed by
fringe groups on the political right. Ever since Israel’s victory in the
Six-Day War of 1967, however, there has been increasing criticism from the
political left over Israel’s recapturing of all of biblical Israel (including
the Kotel), to which Jews had been denied access since the founding of the
state.
This criticism was led primarily by Palestinian academics or
their sympathizers, whose rhetoric has increasingly influenced students on
college campuses across the country. Students began urging university
administrators to honor the BDS movement and boycott Israel. Campus protests
against Israel’s so-called ‘apartheid’ -a canard perpetuated by those same
academics - became more frequent.
It was against this backdrop that the October 7th massacre
happened. After a brief period of near universal sympathy for Israel, it was
back to business as usual. Anti-Israel protests increased exponentially on
campuses nationwide.
Some argue that this is not antisemitism at all. Especially
since many young Jewish students joined these protests, often referring to what
was happening in Gaza as ‘genocide’ based on the tens of thousands of civilian
deaths reported by the Hamas-run Health Ministry and the constant images of
death and destruction in Gaza dominating the media.
But it wasn’t only on college campuses that Israel was being
treated this way.
One of the most poignant Holocaust films ever made is Zone
of Interest, a foreign film depicting the banality of ordinary German
citizens living just outside the walls of Auschwitz while it was in full
genocidal operation. The producer of that Oscar-winning film, Jonathan Glazer -
a Jew - said the following when he accepted the Oscar just a few months into
Israel’s war against Hamas:
“We stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”
He went on to ask, “Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza—all the victims of this dehumanization—how do we resist?”
The audience dutifully applauded. An audience composed
primarily of liberal Hollywood elites. Many of whom are themselves Jewish. Just
a day or two ago, another prominent Jew, Senator Bernie Sanders, said it was a ‘shameful day’
for the U.S., declaring:
“Today, a war criminal under indictment from the ICC will be welcomed to the White House,”
He accused Israel of intentionally starving Gazans and “systematically” killing civilians in the enclave, adding:
“Trump, like Biden before him, has aided and abetted the extremist Netanyahu government as it has systematically killed and starved civilians in Gaza. It is a shameful day in America.”
When so many Jews - some quite prominent - are themselves so
aggressively anti-Israel, is it any wonder that many non-Jews follow suit? The
assumption is that if you’re Jewish, you support Israel - a state now portrayed
as genocidal led by a man declared a war criminal by the ICC.
It should then come as no surprise that New York voters have
chosen the most anti-Israel candidate in their city’s history to be their next
mayor. The mayor of a city with the largest Jewish population of any other city in the world. Nor
should it be surprising that some New York Jews voted for him. Not because he is anti Israel. But because they either
don’t care about how he feels about Israel, or worse, don’t themselves care.
One thing all of these anti-Israel voices have in common is
that they are almost all on the left side of the political aisle. Many are young
and progressive. Those that happen to be Jewish among them have little to no
understanding of what being Jewish really means. Dismissing our biblical right
to the land as irrelevant in today’s world. To the extent that they care about anything the Torah says - it's
about Tikkun Olam. And even then, their interpretation of Tikkun Olam
is often reduced to providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians suffering under
what they see as Netanyahu’s genocidal war.
There is far more sympathy expressed for suffering Palestinians than
for the hostages still in Hamas captivity or for the families of IDF soldiers who have died
in battle.
When progressive views have so thoroughly permeated our culture,
it’s no wonder that Jewish particularism is frowned upon. Progressives believe
in the universality of man. To a progressive, Jewish ‘chosenness’ is seen as inherently
racist.
This belief has become a guiding principle in today’s
culture. The younger someone is, the more likely they will be progressive and see
universalism as the most moral outlook. And by contrast anyone who identifies
as a Jew is viewed as a Zionist. And thus a racist by default.
Thankfully, most conservatives still support Israel. And that’s still about half the country. But the idea that we can return to a time when Israel was looked upon favorably by all - including the left is quickly vanishing. The more ‘Jewish’ Israel becomes the more the left will favor abandoning it.
