Anti-Semites Despise Western Civilization, Not Only Israel
Jew-hatred in the West used to arise from viewing Jews as outsiders, aliens within Western civilization, “rootless cosmopolitans” as the old slander put it. Now, Jews are hated because they are identified with Western civilization.
As my Ethics and Public Policy Center colleague Devorah Goldman recently observed, “Jews are treated on the left as patriarchal oppressors, virtually indistinguishable from whites/Christians/Westerners.” And so large swaths of the left now traffic in Jew-hatred because the left’s fundamental impulse is civilizational patricide — rage against their own culture and a longing to destroy it.
This hatred for the West and those identified with it explains why leftists are not bothered by the inconsistencies of their support for radical Islamists. It might seem odd that there are so many self-proclaimed feminists and queers cheering for Hamas, especially because one need not like Israel, or even Jews in general, to recognize that Hamas is a genocidal death cult that should be destroyed. But the left’s ideological imperatives push them to side against whomever they perceive as more white, Western, and Christian, which in this case are the Jews and Israel.
This is why many on the left have been indifferent (at best) or gleeful (at worst) regarding the atrocities committed by Hamas. For the left, only oppressed identities are deserving of sympathy. And in this view, Jews no longer count as oppressed but are instead viewed as oppressors — and therefore legitimate targets. Settler-colonists, as leftist argot labels them, have no moral standing to complain about how the colonized respond to them.
This is morally deranged and historically illiterate, which is to be expected when academia’s intellectual offal is processed through TikTok. Nonetheless, the left’s Jew-hatred has a certain perverse rationality to it. After all, Jews are intertwined with the history of the West and are natural enemies of hateful fanatics who want to destroy Western Civilization. It is not just that Christianity was self-consciously derived from the Hebrew faith (though that alone would be enough), or that Jews have punched far above their demographic weight in contributions to culture, science, and art. It is that Jewishness is a rebuke to leftism itself.
Contrary to the old imprecations, Jews aren’t rootless, for they are rooted so long as they remain Jewish. And this rootedness, this ancient identity that has endured through persecution and exile for thousands of years, is precisely what the left hates most about them. Jewishness will still be here when woke leftism is a comic footnote in intellectual history.
Though there are plenty of politically liberal Jews, including in Israel, and though there have been many Jews who became leftist radicals, Jewish identity remains a threat to leftism. Jewishness provides a living tradition and identity that is deeper than the latest intellectual trends or emotional whims. Jewishness, even when attenuated and irregularly observed, is still a redoubt against leftism’s determination to have no other gods before it.
At heart, leftism is a perversion of religion. Faced with the evil and brokenness of the world, leftism responds not by turning toward God, nor by first seeking to tame the evil of one’s own heart, but by seeking power. Call it critical theory, anticolonialism, or just old-fashioned Marxism — the promise of leftism is that power, properly redistributed from the oppressors and to the oppressed, can be used to remake the world. And so they constantly seek to seize power, flattering themselves that they will use it wisely, for the good of the people.
Of course, this seizure of power is necessarily tied to the destruction of the old (unjust) order. The past is seen as little more than a catalog of injustice and the status quo as the perpetration of injustice. Hence the constant calls to smash the system, burn it all down, stage a revolution, and so on. If people get hurt, well, they probably had it coming, and if not, well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
Of course, now the question is not merely, “Where’s the omelet?” but whether anyone even believes there will be an omelet. Today’s left still wants to destroy, but without any apparent faith in a glorious future, they take power to hollow out institutions and secure patronage, not to build anything just or worthy or beautiful. Those chanting “from the river to the sea” know that the fulfillment of their slogan would not be a prosperous, multiethnic secular democracy, but genocide and an Islamist hellhole.
Yet they carry on — hopeless, but full of resentment and a desire to hurt others. Hatred gives them meaning, so they have eagerly embraced Jew-hatred as the latest iteration of their rage against all of Western Civilization.
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How has the perception of Jews in the West changed over time and what has led to the transformation of Jew-hatred?
Jew-hatred in the West has undergone a significant transformation. Previously, it stemmed from the perception of Jews as outsiders or “rootless cosmopolitans” within Western civilization. However, hatred towards Jews has now evolved due to their identification with Western civilization.
Devorah Goldman, my colleague at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, recently highlighted that Jews are treated on the left as patriarchal oppressors, indistinguishable from whites, Christians, and Westerners. As a result, a significant portion of the left now engages in Jew-hatred, driven by a fundamental impulse of civilizational patricide – a rage against their own culture and a desire to destroy it.
This growing animosity towards Western culture and its identification with Jews explains why leftists are not bothered by the inconsistencies in their support for radical Islamists. Despite Hamas being a genocidal death cult, there are numerous self-proclaimed feminists and members of the LGBTQ+ community cheering for them. The left’s ideological imperatives push them to side against those they perceive as more white, Western, and Christian, which, in this case, are the Jews and Israel.
This indifference or even gleeful response to the atrocities committed by Hamas is rooted in the left’s belief that only oppressed identities deserve sympathy. Jews, in this view, are no longer considered oppressed but are seen as oppressors, making them legitimate targets. Labeling them as settler-colonists, as leftist jargon often does, undermines any moral standing for Jews to complain about their treatment by the colonized.
Such moral derangement and historical ignorance are to be expected when academia’s intellectual output is processed through platforms like TikTok. Nevertheless, the left’s Jew-hatred possesses a perverse rationality. Jews are intertwined with the history of the West and are natural enemies of fanatics seeking to destroy Western civilization. Not only has Christianity drawn from the Hebrew faith, but Jews have also made significant contributions to culture, science, and art. Jewishness, therefore, stands as a rebuke to leftism itself.
Contrary to previous accusations of rootlessness, Jews remain rooted as long as they maintain their Jewish identity. This rootedness, an ancient identity that has endured through centuries of persecution and exile, is precisely what the left hates most about them. While woke leftism may one day be relegated to a mere footnote in intellectual history, Jewishness will continue to endure.
Despite the presence of politically liberal Jews, including in Israel, Jewish identity remains a threat to leftism. Jewishness offers a living tradition and identity that transcends fleeting intellectual trends or emotional whims. Even when Jewish observance is attenuated or irregular, it serves as a stronghold against leftism’s insistence on being the sole authority.
Ultimately, leftism can be seen as a distortion of religion. Faced with the evil and brokenness of the world, leftism does not turn towards God or seek spiritual solace. Instead, it seeks to tear down existing structures without offering a suitable alternative. In contrast, Jewishness provides a sense of rootedness and a connection to something greater, serving as a counterbalance to leftism’s desire for dominance.
In conclusion, the transformation of Jew-hatred in the West reflects a shift in perception, from viewing Jews as outsiders to identifying them with Western civilization. This shift has led to an increasing presence of Jew-hatred on the left, rooted in a desire to destroy Western culture. However, Jewishness, with its ancient roots and enduring identity, stands as a rebuke to leftism and offers a refuge against its ideological dominance.
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