History Teaches Nothing Sometimes: Anti-Israelism is not Anti-Semitism

Nearly anyone remembers from high school physics lessons that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. Far fewer recall the caveat: At normal atmospheric conditions. In contrast, at the summit of Mt. Everest water boils at a much lower temperature – approximately 70 degrees centigrade – because of the lower atmospheric pressure.

How is this natural phenomenon related to Holocaust Memorial Day which we mark today? Israelis tend to think of anti-Semitism as yet another natural phenomenon that cannot be erased under any circumstances. Thus, any incident that targets Jews or Jewish landmarks overseas is immediately interpreted as “Holocaust Comeback” or at least “Kristallnacht  the Sequel“. However, the prosecution of Jews by Nazi Germany occurred at a very unique historical moment that does not even slightly resemble the current circumstances. Europe was engaged at a total war which prevented external observers from intervening or even seeing what was happening behind barbed wires. Communication technology was far less developed so news came late and intermittently. Beyond technicalities, the ideological landscape was also completely different. Germany was a dictatorship. Hatred toward Jews was rooted in earlier traditions due to religion (Jewish involvement in the crucifixion of Christ) and because of the role filled by Jews as money lenders and bankers responsible for plenty of hardships and bankruptcies of their Christian neighbors. None of these factors is relevant in modern Europe, where most of the population is secular and the share of Jews in senior banking positions is meager. The current Rothschild bank (target emblem of old school anti-Semitism) is more a business advisory firm that deals with corporations than a bank that lends money to private customers.

Jewish symbols attacked during the post October 7^th protest in Europe are nearly always substituting Israeli targets. Whether we like it or not – Israel’s war in Gaza is highly unpopular in most parts of the western world with the exception of few extremely xenophobic right wing circuits that dislike foreigners in general but still hate Arabs more than they hate Jews. These right wing groups (Alternative für Deutschland in Germany ; Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs in Austria ; Partij voor de Vrijheid in the Netherlands) see Israel as a proxy at their apocalyptic battle against Islam, but the predominant sentiment of the mainstay of the old continent is anti-Israeli because modern peaceful Europeans cannot accept a brutal behavior almost a-la Middle Ages coming from of a country which pretends to be western and liberal just like them.

History can teach us a lesson only when the original context remains unaltered. Nothing in Europe at the moment resembles the 1930s or the 1940s. Therefore, while it is tempting to ignore the arguments of anti-Israeli protest in Europe by calling it anti-Semitic comeback – this view does not hold water.