Young enough not to quit and old enough to know better.
The moral deficiency and hypocrisy of self-righteousness
In 2025, Robert Spencer authored a provocative book called Antisemitism History & Myth¹. Reading the book is both enlightening and difficult. The former because Robert does not hold back the recurring pattern of antisemitism throughout history, and the latter because antisemitism never truly disappeared; it merely evolved over time and politics. Antisemitism has been masked as diplomacy, free speech, and everyone’s current favorite: anti-fascism, also known as anti-Zionism.
But antisemitism is rearing its head as another insidious trait: moral equivalency. The self-righteous condemnation of Israel and the victimhood of terrorist states are placed on the same moral footing. This is evident in the case of the new Pope, who has taken a pacifist approach to the Iran war, treating both sides as morally equivalent. This puts terrorist states like Iran and their proxies on the same level of righteousness as Israel and the US, while disregarding the 47 years of atrocities toward Iranians and neighboring countries, mostly Israel, carried out by their terror proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. The Pope’s comments might be dismissed as irrelevant in the grand scheme of things; however, historically, the Vatican does not exactly hold the gold medal for moral equity, which lends to the hypocrisy and moral deficiency of its standing in a global commentary.
A few weeks ago, global outrage erupted after Cardinal Pizzabella was denied entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to celebrate Palm Sunday. Before any context or reason was given, Israel was already being labeled as anti-Christian or worse, a persecutor of Christians. Jonathan Feldstein of The Christian Post² shed light on the incident and exposed the biased and intentional omissions in the legacy media against Israel.
Even before Feldstein² wrote his harsh opinion about undisclosed truths dishonoring Israel, those of us familiar with the situation in Israel knew and understood that security concerns were the main reason. Although the security force might have managed the situation better, the fact remains that neither Jews nor Muslims were allowed to participate normally in Pesach or Ramadan at their respective holy sites due to security reasons. Additionally, a few days earlier, an Iranian missile nearly hit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which underscores the reality that security and safety concerns cannot be dismissed. Factors such as the lack of shelters nearby and the challenges faced by first responders in responding to emergencies like bombings in hard-to-reach areas further influenced the security forces’ decision. Essentially, the decision to prioritize the Cardinal and his entourage’s safety was twisted into a sordid narrative of Christian persecution. Later, Cardinal Pizzabella noted that “there were no clashes, everything was done in a very polite manner.” ²
During COVID, all houses of worship were closed indefinitely, whether in Jerusalem, Europe, or the US. Nobody protested, shutting down worship because of a virus. Governments restricted our freedoms, from personal interaction to mandatory vaccinations. The Vatican closed without hesitation. We accepted the politicians’ claims that our lives were in danger without question. Israel shows concern for worshippers while facing daily attacks, and it is labeled anti-Christian.
Amid the uproar by the Vatican, the EU, and even some Arab leaders, Feldstein² noted that had something happened while the Cardinal was in the church, these same critics would have blamed Israel for permitting him to enter an unsafe location. Where Israel is concerned, damn if it does and damn if it doesn’t.
While the Pizzabella debacle reached epic fury, across Africa in Nigeria, several Christians were murdered while attending Palm Sunday celebrations. Truth Nigeria³ reported that jihadists are suspected of massacring 13 churchgoers and abducting others in Jos, a district of N.E. Nigeria. This happened on the heels of an attack by Fulani militia on the St. James the Great Church in ADU in S. Kaduna a week prior. Truth Nigeria reports that over 90,000 Christians have fled from the Takum District because of attacks by militia.
The self-righteous hypocrisy of the West regarding Israel is clearly highlighted by Peter Laffin of the Washington Examiner⁴. He contrasted the outrage over the Pizzabella incident with the relative silence surrounding what he calls “the greater tragedy” in Nigeria caused by Islamist extremists, illustrating the West’s complete disregard for real threats to “survival and values.” Laffin noted that violence against Christians in Nigeria has increased and become a regular occurrence, especially on Holy Days. However, as he pointed out, while the Cardinal’s inconvenience was featured on the front page, the Nigerian massacre hardly made it to the back page.
During a recent phone call with Israeli President Herzog, the Pope urged him to end the Iranian conflict and “to protect civilians and promote respect for international and humanitarian law” ⁵. This seems quite rich coming from the Vatican, which appears to overlook the ongoing attacks on Israeli civilians since October 7, 2023. The hypocrisy is further exposed by the Vatican’s failure to address Christian persecution in major African nations, China, and India. According to Bonner of Court Magazine⁶, while the Pope campaigns for peace and singles out the US and Israel, the Catholic Church has not only failed to act but has also remained complacent about Christian persecution worldwide. Bonner’s argument is that the Vatican has no problem criticizing a country like the US, founded on religious freedom, but ignores the violent oppression of religious groups in corrupt and hostile nations.
But the self-righteous hypocrisy does not end at the Vatican; it is embedded in the UN, EU, and left-leaning legacy media that championed the MeToo movement but ignored the plight of women in Iran and other Islamic states. The pro-Hamas sympathizers who roamed elite campuses and cities worldwide were mostly women who, if they had tried to “protest” in Iran or Gaza, would have been flogged, imprisoned, or worse. They support regimes that literally hate women and young girls, while demonizing the only democratic state in the Middle East, Israel.
Antisemitism does not occur in a vacuum. Matthias Kuentzel¹, a German historian, argued that the Jewish world conspiracy trope, a fundamental aspect of antisemitism, was a European ideological model adopted by the Arab world. Far-right hyperbole by the likes of Tucker Carlson, Candy Owens, and now even Megyn Kelly espouses the conspiracy libel that Jews control US interests, including the government. From Tucker’s conspiracy theories to Kelly’s implications that Jews are creating antisemitism⁷, high-profile influencers have reverted to century-old antisemitic tropes, shielded by freedom of speech. Although the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)⁷ has come out strongly against these three musketeers of hatred, they continue to spout libels against Israel, to the point that Owens⁷ accused Israel of being the protagonist behind the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Sadly enough, only very recently did Trump distance himself from these three, and only because they criticized the war in Iran.
An October 2025 Jewish Star article⁸, Micha Danzig exposed the “broader sickness of American discourse” where personalities like Megyn Kelly make excuses and justify antisemitic rhetoric as baseless especially when coming from her friends. The large following of these three individuals is not only disturbing but dangerous, as such indoctrination was fundamental in the backlash against Israel after October 7th.
When celebrities or global leaders like the Pope are selective about whom and what they condemn and choose to remain silent when the truth is distorted or ignored, they encourage the likes of Carlson, Owens, and Kelly to continue their perverted crusade against Israel and Jews. The backlash against Israel after October 7th happened because “journalists” like Elijah Schaffer¹ equivalated that although Hamas was evil, what Israel does to Palestinians is equally evil. This equivalency spawned a narrative of reverse victimhood which justified in the unapologetic global antisemitism.
As history has taught us repeatedly, silence is not benign, and holocausts do not happen in a vacuum. They are the product of years of selective acceptance of evil disguised as pacifism or free speech. Unless this moral relativism is challenged, Israel and Jews in the diaspora will remain subject to hatred and violence. When protestors can openly and safely display signs calling for “Final Solution”¹ on university campuses, and society and governments condone it, the damage has been done.
In 1965, Tom Lehrer sang a satire song “And everybody hates the Jews”¹. In 1965, the world had woken up to the atrocities of the Holocaust and condemned the horrors. It is disconcerting that 61 years later, Tom Lehrer’s song is no longer a punch line but a reality. As Golda Meir⁹ once said: “The world hates a Jew who hits back. The world loves us only when we are pitied.”
¹Spencer, R. (2025). Antisemitism History & Myth. 1st. Edition Post Hill Press, NY.
² Feldstein, J. (April 2, 2026). The Christian Post. The untold story behind Cardinal Pizzaballa’s barred entry to the Holy Sepulchre
³Truth Nigeria. (March 30, 2026). Nigerian Jihadists Rampage across Christian Strongholds during Palm Sunday Week – Truth Nigeria
⁴Laffin, P. (April 3. 2026). Washington Examiner. Palm Sunday in Nigeria: An inconvenient massacre
⁵Dawn. (April 3, 2026). Pope Leo urges Israel’s Herzog to end Iran war in phone call, Vatican says – DAWN.COM
⁶Bonner, J. (n/d). Court Magazine. The Vatican’s Rebuke, Trump’s Resolve, and the Price of Hypocrisy
⁸Danzig, M. (October 29, 2025). Megyn Kelly ignores Jew-hate by right-wing pals | The Jewish Star | thejewishstar.com