There is much talk everywhere about anti-semitism. As a Jew, I experienced anti-semitism in my youth in the statements and actions of everyday people. It is hurtful, and so I welcome any discussion that educates the public about anti-semitism and the baseless nature of its "causes."
But the cause of all the tumult today has little if anything to do with anti-semitism. Anti-semitism is a bias against Jews for attributes supposedly descriptive of Jews or the Jewish people—rich, elite, manipulators, Christ-killers, controllers of the world. All of these are easily disproven, which I shall address later in this post.
But first I must address what is commonly referred to as anti-semitism today: being against the State of Israel, or more exactly, against Israel's conduct of the Gaza War against Hamas. This is not anti-semitism.
First of all, there are many Jews in this country and around the world, myself included, who are very much against the way Netanyahu and his ultra-right nationalist supporters have turned a legitimate initial defensive response to Hamas' vicious attack on Israeli citizens on October 7 into an all-out war, out of total proportion to that attack, killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians and destroying vast areas of Palestinian occupied territory.
I and my fellow Jews who have opposed the war are not anti-semites. We are not even anti-Israel. We are, however, very anti-Netanyahu and the ultra-right coalition that keeps him in power.
It is unfortunate that many well-intentioned supporters of a Palestinian state and opponents of the war have been led by provocateurs to turn that opposition into an opposition to the State of Israel, rather than the current leaders of Israel. It's as though people who are against Donald Trump and MAGA were turned into haters of America instead. Wouldn't that be unwarranted and ridiculous?
Yes, there has been some violence against Jewish students as part of these protests, but that violence has not been against them as Jews, but as supporters of Israel and the Gaza war. This, again, is not anti-semitism.
But, there has also been an up-tick of violence against Jews, whether in synagogues or elsewhere. This is clearly anti-semitism, and it is very worrying. But whether the perpetrators are white supremacists taking advantage of the tumult or people against the war is not known; from the reports I've read, I suspect the former..
What of Trump's assertion of anti-semitism against Columbia and other universities and his assertion that he is the best friend Jews ever had? As I've just shown, actions against these protests has nothing to do with anti-semitism; they are more actions against free speech. This is just a ruse for him to attack liberal institutions and withhold funding for liberal issues that have nothing to do with anti-semitism.
As for his claim that he is the Jews best friend—how ludicrous. Here is a man who as President has cozied up to white supremacists who are known to be anti-semites, as well as Blacks such as Kanye West.
And now to the supposed attributes of Jews that are the underpinning of anti-semitism:
* Rich - while it is true that a somewhat greater proportion of Jews are well-off relative to the rest of the white population, a large proportion of Jews are low-income (31%).
* Elite - while it is true that a larger proportion of Jews are college graduates than the rest of the white population, Hindus and several Protestant denominations have as high or higher rates. The Jewish rate is a function of how Jews view the importance of education, mainly because as an historically oppressed people, education was an avenue to improve their lives.
* Manipulators - The human race is full of people who manipulate others. This is not an attribute that can be attributed particularly to Jews.
* Christ-killers - While the Temple priests considered him a rebel and according to the New Testament urged Herod to crucify him, the Jews as a people, while mostly not considering Jesus the Messiah, were not involved in the process and so were not his killers.
* Controllers of the world - This charged is based on the so-called "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." This fraudulent fabrication, which originated in Tzarist Russia—a very anti-semitic society—purports to show that Jews plan to dominate the world. It would be laughable were it not still in this day a document that moves many to become anti-semites.
But even if these specific "causes" of anti-semitism are debunked, the real cause of anti-semitism is that it's been around so long that it's in some people's blood. They heard it from their parents, and so they believe it. As the song in Rogers & Hammerstein's South Pacific says, "You've got to be taught before it's to late, before you are six or seven or eight, to hate all the people your relatives hate, you've got to be carefully taught,"
Anti-semitism, just like racism, will be with us until the leadership of this country and its cultural institutions decide it's time at long last to have a national discussion of these issues, to show people the baselessness of these attitudes and their lack of humanity.
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