The Twin Myths of Antisemitism
It has become widely understood that antisemitism, being an irrational hatred, is full of contradictions and anomalies. Since there is an inclination to view Jew-hatred in the context of broader manifestations of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism, it is fascinating that in many ways the most powerful and insidious contradiction is the idea that Jews are simultaneously attacked as being too strong and in control of too much in society, and attacked as being too weak and inferior to others in society.
Like so much of the history of antisemitism, this dynamic exploded in Nazi Germany.
Hitler in Mein Kampf and the German government in the early years of the Nazi regime pointed to the forgery The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion as the hallmark of Jewish influence over the world, using it to justify persecuting the Jews.
At the same time, the Nazis saw Jews as racially inferior in both mind and body, presenting them as an infectious virus that had to be eliminated from Germany before it could infect the whole of society.
Neither of these themes originated in Nazi Germany, but they reached unprecedented proportions during that era. Following the Holocaust, while antisemitism became less socially acceptable for a time, both themes retained their power to generate hatred. The notion of Jewish influence and control shaped the international community’s response to the State of Israel.
In 1975, when the U.N. passed a resolution declaring Zionism to be racism, the effort was spearheaded by the Soviet Union, a government that specialized in disseminating the Protocols. In doing so, it wove together the themes of Jewish ultra-strength and Jewish ultra-weakness, portraying Jews as secret controllers of the world while simultaneously casting Israel as a racist society.
Today, as antisemitism surges, these two themes continue to frame the world of hate. We see repeated attempts to link “powerful Jews” to events that people are unhappy with. Some voices opposing U.S. military action against Iran have claimed the war is being fought on behalf of Israel and Jewish interests. Once again, Jews are accused of making decisions in service of Jewish interests rather than American or global ones.
At the same time, Jews are being excluded from progressive movements and causes that have been home to Jewish participants for decades. They are told they no longer have a place simply because they are Zionists.
These lines of attack have also been applied to the Jewish state. The notion that Israel seeks to dominate the Middle East, that it exerts undue influence over the United States, or that it uses Iran as a pretext to control the region are all examples of how tropes about Jews are readily transferred onto the Jewish state.
On the same continuum, historic stereotypes about Jews that were perpetuated for centuries, that Jews are greedy, malicious or corrupt, spill over into descriptions of Israel on the international stage.
The fact that these two contradictory themes are held simultaneously speaks volumes about the irrational appeal of antisemitism. Efforts to counter rising antisemitism must grapple with the enduring power of these themes and the persistence of these beliefs even in a post-Holocaust world. The revival of antisemitism is not only about physically and verbally attacking Jews, but about reinstating the notion that Jews are not normal people and must be treated accordingly.
Jews are neither overbearing nor controlling, nor are they inferior to any other group in society. They are a reflection of the broader culture and society, like any other people, and deserve to be regarded as such. When society genuinely comes to see Jews as normal people, the surge of conspiracies against the Jewish people will finally begin to recede.
