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On Anti-Semitism: ‘Does Everybody Hate Jews?’
When I saw Bari Weiss’ latest substack essay in my inbox, I hesitated to read it; did I really need to write another piece for Ricochet about the increase of anti-Semitism in America? At the same time, I’m always curious to know about recent surveys or perspectives on this phenomenon, so I read the essay. And I was surprised to learn that not only did Weiss have some intriguing points to make, but she also stimulated new ideas for me on the topic of anti-Semitism in America.
In many ways, Weiss did cover familiar ground: that Jews continue to experience Jew hatred: that destructive acts, such as graffiti and physical attacks continue to be reported. But more important to me is not whether there is an increase in anti-Semitic activities, but why, in a country like America, they are happening at all. The United States of America was founded on religious principles, with no state religion and with freedom of assembly. If anti-Semitic actions are occurring, why are they happening now?
Bari Weiss does believe that the virulent acts are growing in number. She refers to a song by satirist Tom Lehrer (see video) called “National Brotherhood Week”; Lehrer probably wouldn’t have written it unless it was to be sung to a tolerant and free audience. But Weiss suggests that in today’s environment, it would be seen differently:
But these days, the idea that ‘everybody hates the Jews’ feels like less of a punchline and more like an accurate report of public sentiment. It seems every other day a new study or survey confirms what so many American Jews are feeling, as the old joke had it had it, that they are hating us more than is necessary.
I would also add that Lehrer’s song, which targets many groups including religions, would in these times not only be rejected, but he would probably be loudly condemned and cancelled. “Hate speech,” in just about any form, is forbidden.
We also live in a time when people are continually pressured to conform, to not stand out, to not speak against the Leftist status quo. Religious Jews, who are historically the most common subjects of anti-Semitic acts, tend to lay low when these incidents occur; they fear that bringing attention to these acts will incite further violence. Weiss points out that religious Jews, by their culture and beliefs, are the most likely to draw attention and be criticized:
Where liberty thrives, Jews thrive. Where difference is celebrated, Jews are celebrated. Where freedom of thought and faith and speech are protected, Jews tend to be, too. And when such virtues are regarded as threats, Jews will be regarded as the same.
The current demand for conformity — that sense that our difference is dangerous — comes at us from both political extremes. It is a familiar squeeze, even though the particular terms are American.
She states later in her essay:
For Jews, an ideology that contends that difference is anathema is not simply ridiculous — we have an obviously distinct history, tradition and religion that has been the source of both enormous tragedy as well as boundless gifts — but is also, as history has shown, lethal.
By simply existing as ourselves, by insisting on the freedom to be distinct, Jews undermine the vision of a world without difference. And so the things about us that make us different must be demonized, so that they can be erased or destroyed: Zionism is nothing but settler-colonialism; government officials justify the murder of innocent Jews in Jersey City; Jewish businesses can be looted because Jews ‘are the face of capital.’
Those factors that set us apart turn us into targets. You could say, we are the victims of our time.
Although I was still debating whether to submit this post, a post by @stad included an article (that addressed this issue) that angered me enough to post. The key factor was reported in this way:
Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday removed $1 billion in military funding for Israel from legislation to fund the U.S. government after objections from House of Representatives liberals, setting the stage for a potential fight over the matter later this year.
Some House Democrats objected to a provision in a stopgap spending bill to provide the additional funding so Israel can replenish its “Iron Dome” missile-defense system.
Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, both known for their anti-Israel statements, introduced the resolution to halt the weapons sales. Please note that the Iron Dome is a defensive weapon used to protect Israel against hostile attacks. In addition, these are the steps we have already taken:
The United States has already provided more than $1.6 billion for Israel to develop and build the Iron Dome system, according to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report last year. This reflects perennially strong support for aid to Israel among both Democrats and Republicans.
Some liberal Democrats objected to that policy this year, citing Palestinian casualties as Israel struck back after Hamas rocket attacks in May. Israel said most of the 4,350 rockets fired from Gaza during the conflict were blown out of the sky by Iron Dome interceptors.
* * * *
These are the reasons I’m focusing on the nature of the anti-Semitic attacks rather than the number of attacks. (Anyone who has read my past posts knows that I believe anti-Zionist and anti-Israel attacks are overwhelmingly anti-Semitic.) More than ever, we need to have an ally and a semblance of sanity in the Middle East. Israel has been one of our most reliable allies in that part of the world.
I also believe that when societies are under extreme stress, as ours is regarding government, the border crisis, the economy, the evacuation from Afghanistan and the controversies and fear generated by the pandemic, people will look for scapegoats; Jews have historically served that role.
Finally, when we see these anti-Israel attacks in Congress, and the very people who are supposed to represent this country overwhelmingly approve a resolution by the Democrat party, one is moved to wonder about our government leaders’ attitudes not just toward Israel, but toward American Jewry.
Their actions are not reassuring.
(The title of this post plays on the lyrics in the video above.)
Published in Culture
You might add that it’s not a vanishingly small problem for Jewish people . . .
Ah, but to some people, our opinion doesn’t matter. . .
Yeah, that “We are the storm” is a reference to much older, scriptural meme-ing. Just because Weis never heard it before doesn’t make it Q-nonsense.
I don’t know about numbers or severity. I just know that the Jihad Squad is large up in Congress. Islam is a declared enemy of representative government — we have lost the war.
I keep waiting for the Zionist World Control Grid or bqhatevwr to please please PLEASE hurry up and take over.
Just been notified my social credit score has been lowered because I should have written Woke folx.
There are open, loud and frequent assaults on the Jewish population. This happened in Pittsburgh yesterday, on the same block as the Tree of Life massacre a few years back. Who does it? Is it incidental that Tyrone Anthony Correll identifies as a Democrat? Maybe, but it seems there is a correlation.
From Ace of Spades:
I agree @TBA with that. I think that has much to do with the uptick in Asian bigotry as well. Another couple points I’d include – the overwhelming bigotry and hate directed at Jews (specifically religeous Jews – you don’t see much denigration od Hollywood/Leftist Jews), Asians, devout Christians and “white” people is more political than rooted in the historical religious version. The devout, the Orthodox are targeted over the ‘woke’. The way that Conservative Blacks are denigrated.
They attack obstacles to power. The current hatred has been incubated and fomented in academia, has a home in the Democrat Party – just like the hatred of this nation, its traditions and history.
That’s not how I see the history of the United States, especially the events leading to the formation of the United States.
The Thirteen Colonies were formed by religious persecution, not religious freedom. For example, when the Puritans arrived in what became Massachusetts, they set up their own state religion, and persecuted non-Puritans that arrived there. And remember the Salem Witch Trials? That was Puritans “eating their own” really.
Even the Quakers, which tend to be more pacifist in their outlook did persecution-light of non Quakers in Pennsylvania.
After the U.S. Constitution was adopted, and subsequent to that, the Bill of Rights, there were still state religions in various states, and the nature of those rights were that they applied to Congress not the states. So state religions endured for some time before just dying on the vine.
And it’s not like the anti-Semitism is all that unique. There’s anti-Catholicism as well. As recently as 1960, there was a debate on whether a Catholic could be a loyal president of the United States.
It’s true that the recent history of the United States has been tolerant of different religions, including Judaism. But we have never been immune to bouts of religious persecution, and what we’re seeing today is more normal than many think.
The United States has been successful in mitigating many of our base instincts towards other religions, but there has never been a time when it was erased.
The United States remains the country most friendly to Jews, other than Israel. And in the case of Israel, even taking in recent events, we’ve been more of a help to that country than a hindrance. Not that that can’t change. I would recommend that the country not assume that the U.S. will be there for them forever. I would extend that to other countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and Australia, to name just a few other examples.
You bring up some very good points, @alsparks, so let me address them as best I can:
First, let me say that I was talking about the founding at the time of the Constitution, when we formed the United States. Still, your point is interesting about Mass. What seems noteworthy is that the religions in the states that formalized them eventually died away.
I completely agree with you. The Latter Day Saints were also attacked and still are. I’ve never declared that Judaism is the only religion that has experienced hatred.
You unintentionally reinforce my point. I don’t think we are immune to this type of persecution, thus, my ongoing concern.
I’m in concert with the rest of your comments. I’m quite sure that Israel does not take the relationship for granted, and we’ve seen ample examples of their appreciation. At this time, unfortunately, the current Leftist Israel government is supporting Joe Biden’s politics, particularly regarding Iran. Not a good thing.
Thanks for adding your thoughts, Al. I appreciate it!
Like the Puritans, they fled religious persecution, only to engage in it in their western settlements, in their early years.
This tendency is ingrained in human nature, and no religious denomination has escaped it.
Would you say that Jews have practiced religious discrimination? Certainly there are divisions within Judaism, but not discrimination that I know of. I’m not clear about whether you’re talking about attacks from within or without.
Right, and (contra your earlier argument) there is only the slope of change from support to opposition as you view the transition from in-group to out-group. From “like me” to “not like me.” Religion is just another way to divide people into groups.
I do not say that dividng people into groups is bad. I say that it is a part of being human, and your chosen lens is just one among many — even if you feel it is the One True Lens.
I don’t really have a strong opinion, but one item stood out: 57.58%. According to my Windoze 10 calculator that’s the percentage of crimes motivated by religion that specifically targeted Jews. What percentage of “religious” people in the US are Jews? Are they disproportionately targeted?
In Tom Sowell’s book, Black Rednecks and White Liberals, he pointed out that historically, one of the reasons that Jews have been hated because they many times occupy the position of minority middlemen. They lent money to the rich and powerful. So the rich and powerful resented their dependence on Jews and the poor resented the Jews’ relative prosperity. They got it from both directions.
There is also the fact that Jewish culture reveres education and hard work. So even if they weren’t in a position to be banker to the king, they often were successful in their chosen occupations. Another reason for the poor to feel resentful.
It’s a superior culture that develops human capital better and create more output. In my opinion, the religion reinforces that.
They were doing what Deirdre McCloskey observes about successful societies with good output way before everybody else. I haven’t heard it yet, but she has a new interview on a podcast called meeting of the minds.
Having said that, I don’t know why they vote Democrat so much. lol
Mostly the non-Orthodox vote Democrat, Rufus. That’s because they’ve lost touch with the Jewish traditions, beliefs and meaning. Jews required and provided education to their people very early on, which made a huge difference.
I took some classes from a local synagogue. Later I happen to watch a video of those guys brainwashing the children about climate change. I wanted to jump out of my skin. Man oh man.
I think they get too simplistic about worrying about justice or something. That’s just my extremely amateur take.
Susan – in Europe emancipation came from the Left, not the Right. It was the Left that offered a vision of society where heritage was not overwhelmingly important. This was freeing, because the focus on heritage inevitably included a focus on why Jews were different from Gentiles. And why that was important. There’s a good reason why so many Jews went Left – and it can only be ignored in a culture (like America’s) where that “difference” has become irrelevant, or so functionally minimal that it can be exoticised and fetishised as an identity thing.
I think that would be difficult to substantiate, Zafar. Over the centuries, Jews were given freedom and then were expelled and sometimes brought back with rights and later restricted. So trying to credit the Left with a broad brush would be hard to do.
The Left tried to exterminate the Jews in Germany. The Left gets no points after that.
Convincing the left of that is a lost cause. The need for him to be Literally Trump.
The left-right distinction is rotated to an unknown but undeniable degree as well — from historic times (classical disestablishment “liberal” vs modern big gov’t welfare “liberal”), and in a smearing of that same distinction with the least similar poles being old European and new American.
It’s not that the labels aren’t useful — just that they rapidly shift meaning with changes in context.
A big part of this is the Communist’s application of the label “rightist” to the ever-so-slightly less leftist heresies of Socialism, including Trotskyism and Fascism. From the left pole, all impure leftism is considered rightism, and in the left’s media, that’s the song the shotgun sings.
Yeah, the whole Nazis were on the Left thing….not a widely held view, but whatever.
That’s right. Thanks for pointing that out, @bdb. They always try to push the evil people over to our side.
If you can call yourself a national socialist — it’s right there in the name — and be on the right wing, where does a small-government, WFB, Jr. conservative belong? Damn sure not with the Nazis. Maybe instead of a line we need ordinate and abscissa, and a new way to visualize the parties.
Cultures are stubbornly mixed up things, but the excuses people made for persecuting Jews in Europe were based on a mixture of Blut, Boden and religion. Hence me hanging it on the Right, as opposed to the Left which classified people based on what they did/their economic role.
It makes sense for minorities to find ideologies which don’t demonise them attractive.
This is not to say the Soviet Union lacked antisemitism – Russia was still Russia. But was that cultural pathology due to the influence of the Communist Party or due to the historical influence of the Orthodox Church? I say the Church.
It’s a mystery. Like the DDR, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
True, it was freeing. It was also enslaving, because it left people as autonomous individuals with no protection from the all-powerful state.
Other than that, I think your paragraph is accurate.
I think the word “liberal” has been stolen by the Left, but the Left/Right distinction remains.