The Big Lie Returns
How October 7 revived an old reflex—and why Jews must see it clearly to survive it
When the world flipped the story of October 7 within days—terrorists became “resistance,” slaughter became “context,” and Jewish grief became a political inconvenience—it felt sudden. It wasn’t. The inversion was simply the newest expression of a very old mechanism.
One way to understand this mechanism is through René Girard’s theory of scapegoating: the reflex societies display under pressure to project fear and instability onto a symbolic target. Girard argued these reflexes are ancient, but not immutable. They can be unlearned when people choose truth over mythology. But in moments of crisis, they return with terrifying speed.
The 1967 Template
The modern version of the inversion was perfected after 1967. Israel survived an existential war launched by surrounding states—and the narrative flipped almost instantly. The aggressors became the aggrieved, and the Jewish state that had been fighting for its life was recast as the regional bully. This was not a normal political shift; it was the birth of a myth that would reshape global discourse.
To understand how easily that inversion spread, we need to look back to 1948—not as a detour, but as the dress rehearsal. The same rhetorical alchemy appeared then: a defensive war fought after the rejection of partition and an invasion by five Arab armies was reframed as “colonial conquest.” The lie was not yet global, but the template was set. By 1967 it was ready to deploy.
Where Left and Right Meet
People like to argue over which political camp is “worse” for Jews. That’s the wrong question. The more important truth is that the far left and far right now launder the same poison through different channels.
The hard left launders antisemitism through the vocabulary of “anti-colonialism,” turning the erasure of Jews into a moral virtue. The far right channels it through demographic panic—the “Great Replacement” narrative that recycles classic conspiracy tropes. Different delivery systems. Same toxin.
Neither side invented the hatred. Both discovered how politically useful it is.
The Global Performance
Since October 7, we’ve seen synchronized expressions of the same script across continents:
• Birmingham: “From the river to the sea” chanted as a dehumanizing mantra.
• Sydney: “Gas the Jews” echoing under the Opera House.
• Amsterdam: Israeli soccer fans hunted in the streets in November 2024.
• Los Angeles: “Anti-colonial bloc” riots targeting Jewish neighborhoods.
• Multiple cities: FOI requests and investigative reports showing two-tier policing—radical demonstrators permitted to terrorize openly while Jewish counter-protesters faced immediate restrictions.
These are not centrally coordinated operations. They are ideological echoes of the same inversion: victims recast as aggressors, aggression recast as justice, Jews recast as obstacles to utopia.
Why It Hit So Hard This Time
Jews were told that Western democracies had matured beyond the reflex. That education had overcome it. That memory had inoculated societies from it. That technology would give voice to truth, not amplify hatred.
All of these assumptions collapsed the moment the lie found resonance again. The narrative inversion after October 7 did not emerge spontaneously; it surged because the infrastructure for it was already prepared—ideological, academic, journalistic, and algorithmic.
What Survives the Inversion
Empires that set out to erase Jews have collapsed with astonishing consistency.
But Jewish survival has never been a slogan—it has always been something concrete, lived, stubborn, and daily.
Yesterday a rocket fell near Be’er Sheva.
Today a kindergarten reopened there.
That is the vow.
Am Yisrael Chai.
