The New Nazis Among us – Right and Left
Jaroslava Halper
Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and is not counted among the nations (Numbers 23:9)
Since the ceasefire agreement with Hamas on October 10 and the cessation of fighting, I have noticed a sharp rise of antisemitism worldwide. Since protestors had been demanding a cease fire, one might have expected antisemitism to decrease when it finally came. The protestors call themselves “anti-Zionists,” but advocating for the destruction of Jews in Israel is just antisemitism, and the word anti-Zionism should not be used.
Already on October 8, 2023, the day after the October 7 massacre, huge unruly pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas crowds, called for ceasefire and for a “free Palestine from river to the sea”. When the ceasefire finally arrived in October 2025 the same mobs were not celebrating ceasefire. Instead, they called for the complete destruction of Israel and the murder of Zionists, i.e., Jews. None of the protesters offered to help Palestinians rebuild Gaza. It turns out that this is about Jews, and not about Palestinians. Calls for the annihilation of Israel and Jews are getting louder and louder.
John Bolton in WSJ (11/9/2025) and Isaac Herzog in Times of Israel (11/11/2025) marked the 1975 UN resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism as the beginning of sharp rise of anti-Zionism and antisemitism in recent times. Though that is true, it does not explain why this happened in the first place. What preceded the 1975 resolution? It surely did not come out of nowhere! Was it the delayed effect of the Yom Kippur war? The Soviet Union’s influence as Mr. Bolton claims? Why was there overwhelming approval of the resolution in the first place? Why was there a rapid spread of antisemitism after the resolution? Although resolution 3379 was revoked by the UN General Assembly on December 16, 1991, the damage was done. The impact of the original resolution was seen at the Durban conference in 2001. Ostensibly an event against all forms of racism, Durban became an antisemitic lovefest and a rabid attack on Israel. And antisemitism has been increasing in public venues, as seen in recent anti-Israel demonstrations and widespread boycott of Israelis, Israeli institutions, and even diaspora Jews under the pretext of justice for Palestine.
The acceptance of such actions is quite widespread. It has been promoted by hateful ideologies taught at top universities and supported by news outlets and social media. Equating Israelis and Jews with Nazis, the war in Gaza with the Holocaust has become so common that it is accepted as legitimate.
It is rather rare for an antisemitic academic to be condemned by his peers, but it happens. Samar Maqusi, a professor at University College London spread long discredited claims about Jews killing Christians to use Christian blood in Passover matzos. Michael Spence, the president of the University, issued a very strong condemnation and suspended Maqusi, a former employee of UNRWA, from teaching. Unfortunately, Mr. Spence is an exception. Most university administrators do not object to their faculty’s spreading vile lies and misinformation about Jews and Israel. If they are challenged, they point to academic freedom or free speech. But academic freedom does not protect scientists who falsified their research data. Free speech protects the speaker from government prosecution, but it does not force University students or other to be subjected to lies, bigotry, intimidation, or political indoctrination. Could it be that those loudly championing free speech have no understanding of this basic right?
Unfortunately, indoctrination into antisemitism is becoming more common and acceptable in the American school system at every level. Ethnic studies classes villainize “Israeli colonialism.” Antisemitic tropes are propagated by public figures, e. g, Tucker Carlson. This “teaching” and propaganda should be considered for what it is: falsification and misinterpretation of history and facts. This so-called teaching material does not represent a different opinion or a matter of free speech. Call it what it is: baseless attacks on a minority group that is already the victim of proportionally more hate crime than any other minority. Isn’t this how Nazi propaganda was disseminated among Germans before and during WWII? There were violent rallies, attacks in the press, and segregation in German schools and universities. How is the claim of Israel being a settler colonialist state and Jews being white supremacists in control of the world different from Nazi claims about Jews? And in any case, would comparable statements about other ethnicities or races, especially demeaning claims about Blacks be tolerated by university administrations, state officials and Congress members? It’s only when it comes to Jews that good sense flees.
It now seems that Qatar has provided financing for some of the vicious antisemitic propaganda disseminated by top universities. Self-righteous professors happily indoctrinate students who are quick to express their own self-righteous, if misguided outrage in demonstrations and even attacks. This attitude is getting spread among the American population. Intellectuals and artists bring this outlook to the rest of the world. How is this different from Nazi measures against the Jews? – Well, there are no concentration camps, at least not yet, though the demonstrations supporting Hamas’s October 7 massacre are looking more and more like Nazi rallies. Can pogroms and mass killings be far behind?
How come so-called Western democracies do not see the parallels between the Nazi propaganda and actions that led to the Holocaust and the current antisemitism with its increasing violence? On the contrary, it is exactly these “enlightened countries” that are the loudest in accusing Israel of genocide and that have run to recognize the “State of Palestine” without insisting that this (non-existent) state pledge to live in peace with Israel.
Since October 7, it has been the left leaning and progressive “activists” who were most vocally and violently antisemitic. More recently, extreme (and not so extreme) right wingers have jumped on the antisemitic bandwagon. They may feel emboldened by the lack of resistance among centrists and Democrats towards pro-Hamas positions. They may have entered the antisemitic arena late, but they are quickly catching up, and they have a longer tradition of antisemitism to draw on.
It appears that we Jews are being pushed into the corner without an escape, just like during the Nazi era. The clouds are gathering and we have been ostracized rather rapidly and even attacked physically. No Western countries have dared to interfere with this, except for the US, though even here Jews are exposed to more open hatred. The UN excels in inciting more antisemitism by its constant accusations of genocide and war crimes by Israel. How long do we need to wait until Western civilization will get civilized and act? Let’s hope we do not have to wait for another Holocaust.
