Anti-Semitism Without Anti-Semites
A recent speech to the German Bundestag argued that while anti-Semitism has changed a lot, it's still as pernicious as ever.
Last month, the Domestic Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag held public hearings on anti-Semitism in Germany. Many of the speakers chose to focus on the “classical” anti-Semitism to be found in what in Germany are euphemistically called “right-wing extremist” milieus, i.e., among skinheads and self-avowed neo-Nazis. The journalist Henryk Broder, however, located the problem elsewhere: namely, in the mainstream “anti-Zionist anti-Semitism” to be found, for instance, among academics … and Bundestag members. Pajamas Media here presents a complete English translation of Henryk Broder’s statement to the Bundestag’s Domestic Affairs Committee.
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I thank you for the invitation to this hearing. It is an honor for me to be able to speak to you. I know that there has been some unhappiness on account of my participation. But I am sure that by the end of my statement you will not regret having invited me.
This is not the first hearing on the issue of anti-Semitism and it will not be the last. Ever since the writer and self-avowed Jew-hater Wilhelm Marr published his “The Triumph of Germandom [Deutschtum] over Jewry” in 1879, thus becoming the leader of political anti-Semitism in imperial Germany, there have been numerous attempts made to define, explain, and neutralize anti-Semitism. They have all failed. If this was not the case, we would not be here today. Every discussion of anti-Semitism starts with a definition of the concept. And many get no further than that, such that after all the efforts to get a grasp on the phenomenon one is left merely with the finding that anti-Semitism is, as the old joke goes, “when one can’t stand Jews even more than is normal.”
I would like, therefore, to concentrate on two points: two arguments to which one has to pay special attention if one does not want to conduct a merely virtual debate. Firstly, anti-Semitism is not a matter of a prejudice, but rather of a sort of resentment. In and of themselves, prejudices — literally “pre-judgments” [Vorurteile] — are harmless. I have prejudices, you have prejudices: everyone does. It is only negative prejudices that bother us. If I say to you that Germans are hardworking, disciplined, and show their guests great hospitality, you will happily agree with me. If, however, I say that Germans are cheap, infantile, and lack a sense of humor, you will presumably get upset. That’s an unacceptable generalization, you will say. It is the same with Jews. We gladly hear positive prejudices expressed — on the “people of the book” or Jewish humor — but negative prejudices, which thematize our worse tendencies, we take as an insult.
The distinction between a prejudice and a resentment is as follows: a prejudice concerns a person’s behavior; a resentment concerns that person’s very existence. Anti-Semitism is a resentment. The anti-Semite does not begrudge the Jew how he is or what he does, but that he is at all. The anti-Semite takes offense as much at the Jew’s attempts to assimilate as at his self-marginalization. Rich Jews are exploiters; poor Jews are freeloaders. Smart Jews are arrogant and dumb Jews — and, yes, there are also dumb Jews — are a disgrace to Jewry. The anti-Semite blames Jews in principle for everything and its opposite. That is why there is no point in trying to debate anti-Semites or in wanting to convince them of the absurdity of their views. One has to marginalize anti-Semites: to isolate them in a sort of social quarantine. Society must make clear that it disdains both anti-Semitism and anti-Semites: just as it disdains parents beating their children and rape — including spousal rape — even though it well knows that it cannot monitor everything that transpires behind closed doors.
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Henryk Broder is the author of numerous books on contemporary German political culture and anti-Semitism, including Hurrah, Wir Kapitulieren! [Hurray! We Give Up] and Der ewige Antisemit [The Eternal Anti-Semite]. He is a regular contributor to many leading German-language news publications and one of the principal co-authors of the popular German blog Die Achse des Gutens [The Axis of Good].
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34 Comments
1. vb:Broder is also one of the sharpest observers of hypocrisy in Germany, and he is not intimidated by the PC police. After 9/11, he compiled reactions from the intelligensia and published them in “Kein Krieg, Nirgends.” This was to ensure that the oh so insightful analyses of things like the phallic symbolism of the twin towers did not disappear in the dustbin of history. He is always worth listening to.
The linked website is worth checking out from time to time even if you don’t speak German because it also has some posts in English. Benny Peiser is a regular contributor.
Finally, Broder can wax eloquently on lifestyle issues like American breakfasts he has loved. He probably has few fans among the arugula eaters and transfat police. In case you can’t tell, I am a huge fan.
Jul 19, 2008 - 5:13 am 2. Doug:This is too much truth for most to handle. I am a Jew who converted to Christianity and the only thing missing here is the supernatural nature of Jew hating.
Jul 19, 2008 - 5:21 am 3. DoktorNo:For keeping the record straight, I have a very important question: does every criticism of Israeli policy counts as “antisemitism/anti-Zionism”?
In my opinion: not; and it is – as usual – a matter of honestly.
And this article points greatly, that unfortunately German (and European in general) Left lacks this.
Jul 19, 2008 - 6:09 am 4. cedarford:vb, he is not intimidated by the PC police because he IS the PC police. In Germany, most criticism of Jews is already criminalized as hate speech and this author wishes to expand it to criticism of Israel counting as verboten hate speech. Thus his call to fire a government employee for making criticisms of Israel in his off-hours on a blog. And his calling the US Israel Lobby an “anti-semitic fantasy”. And his claim that anti-Zionism is indistinguishable in its roots from classical (illegal in Germany) anti-Semitism in that it arises from irrational resentment may be his way of laying the ground to make criticism of Israel forbidden as well in Germany. (and by extension, the EU, eventually)
Jul 19, 2008 - 10:22 am 5. John Moore:I think this article is NONSENSE.
Anti-Israeli sentiment is just that in most cases – anti-Israel. It probably stems mostly from a Marxist-induced tendency to divide the world into oppressors and oppressees. Since Israel is successful, and the Arabs are not, Israel is automatically seen as an oppressor. This same mindset drives the thinking of the left about any identifiable group or organization – business has power so it is an oppressor; whites are more successful than blacks in the US, so whites are oppressors.. ad nauseum.
Anti-semitism is ugly.
Anti-Zionism is usually merely wrong.
Jul 19, 2008 - 10:53 am 6. Ellen K.:John Moore, with respect, you are rather unsophisticated. Where do you think the anti-Zionism comes from and why do you think it is there? Why is Israel being treated by these people unlike all other nations? Thinks more deeply, please.
Jul 19, 2008 - 11:21 am 7. Chicago Boyz » Blog Archive » The New Anti-Semitism:[...] –Henryk Broder, in a speech to the German Bundestag. [...]
Jul 19, 2008 - 11:53 am 8. ursula duba:answer to dokotorno:
what a totally ignorant question!
i don’t know a single israeli or jew who objects to differentiated criticism of specific israeli policies. read either israeli newspapers and/or jewish newspapers, and you’ll find plenty of criticism by israelis and jews about their own communities and/or israel.
on the other hand, most of the criticsm of ISRAEL by non-jews and non-israelis is undifferntiated and frequently a wholesale condemnation of an entire country. (it’s obviously too much trouble for these antisemites inform themselves properly. besides. no other country is subjected to criticism as israel. why exactly is that? nobody of any intelligence scrutinizes, critices and condemns an entire country such as the sudan, china, zimbabwe, saudia arabia, the congo, russia, ukrainia, etc – the list of countries in which deplorable conditions exist, genocides are taking place, ethnic tension is present, and where autocratic dictators oppress their populations and enrich themselves to truly obscene levels is long. none of these countries are scrutinized, critized and condemned the way israel is. in any other couuntry, be it sweden, the UK, france or italy, specific issues and/or policies are picked out for [justified] criticism. not so in criticism of israel.
my conclusion: anybody who uses a different yardstick criticizing israel than toward any other country is very obviously an antisemite.
my advice: be thoroughly informed and use good judgment in criticizing specific issues and policies of israel. nobody has the right to expect that jews should be better and behave better than anybody else.
i am a non-jewish german-born/raised woman who has been living in the usa for almost half a century and who finds plenty of policies to criticize in the usa – just like many other americans.
Jul 19, 2008 - 12:02 pm 9. robotech master:Not every criticism of Israel is anti-semitism/anti-zionism in fact I would argue very few are… however the process and time spend on these criticism is the important part. If israel drops a arty round and kills 5 terrorists and 1 civ that news for weeks plus grounds for the UN to write of a nasty-gram about how evil israel… yet a pala can launch hundreds of rockets killing hundreds of civs and that barely gets 30 seconds of coverage… that is where the anti-semitism/anti-zionism. Israel can do something minor wrong and its a huge affair… any other country in the world such as china with tibet can do 10x worse and its just a 30 second sound bite. Most ppl in europe have very irrational views of the world around them and are easily controlled by both their government and media. As John Moore points out this irrational view is heavily driven by Marxism and I would argue Nazism as well. Along side those ideals a deep seated hate of the US because the US is better then them… it should be france, germany, insert XXX country here that should be a super power and leading the world not the US and their barbarian ways.
Israel is a good target because unlike the US europe can live without israel… they need the US to protect and feed and even take care of them but they don’t need israel… so they like many in the world are happy to pick on the “little satan” because it makes them feel better about themselves. It makes them feel as it their attacking the US and its not just hating the jews but hating the US that has really lead to such problems for israel.
Jul 19, 2008 - 12:16 pm 10. david levavi:To an American Jew who has never visited Germany and has contact only with Germans who have decided to make America their home, Germany and the German mind are opaque.
My maternal grandmother, an early female university graduate, toured Europe lecturing on Schiller and Goethe in German. My paternal grandparents, aunts and uncles were robbed and murdered by the Germans. Two of my American born children know German (one is qualified in Old German, as well) and a third will probably have to learn German before she is finished with her education. One of my daughters is headed off this fall for a year of research at a German University.
From my comfortable vantage here in the blessed United States of America, Henryk Broder’s crisp analysis is impressive mainly for its elegant simplicity. It is a clear speech I am happy to know may be made openly to German lawmakers in their Parliament. It says something very important to me about a place I have no experience of and don’t understand well.
German-Jewish relations are forever shadowed by the holocaust. It cannot be otherwise. But this American Jew feels no visceral hatred of contemporary Germans. Reading Jewish history where it touches on Germany makes by blood boil but I don’t believe that the sins of fathers are visited on their sons. And Jewish history is a lot longer than Hitler’s brief, if horrible, career.
The larger question of anti-Semitism transcends Germany. Anti-Semitism’s source is religious not national. Semite is a Biblically rooted word as is Judas or Jew. Anti-Semitism begins with supersession of Judaism by Christianity. The elimination of Jews was necessary for Christianity to legitimate itself.
Jewish literature, Old Testament and New were the sum and substance of the Christian Canon and the core of Christian Liturgy. The new Christian priesthood was the replacement for the Levite Kehuna (Cohen, Khan, Kahane). All that remained to authenticate the New Covenant was to remove the persnickety Semites (children of Shem, oldest son of Noah) whose religion and culture were being superseded.
Supersession has a history that predates Christianity and offers an interesting window into the process. The Romans superseded the Greeks before the Christians superseded the Jews.
In the Roman foundation myth, the God, Mars, impregnates a Greek virgin who births Romulus and his twin who father the Romans. Zeus and his family depart Olympus to take up residence and new Latin names in the Seven Hills. What was formerly Greek becomes Roman.
The Romans expressed prejudices toward the Jews but they did not distrust the Jews or see them as a threat. Romans were irritated by the special privileges bestowed upon the Jews by Julius Caesar and enjoyed by no other ethnicity. Jewish reluctance to expose their infants drew the criticism that Jews were deficient in the stoic Roman virtues. Jews not working on their Sabbath and being forgiven their tax obligations while they rested suggested to some Romans that Jews were lazy.
But Roman Jews were not charged with being overly clever. Arrogant. Duplicitous. Overrepresented in the important professions Always underfoot but never fully trustworthy. Those people were the Greeks. Roman Prejudices against the Greeks were strikingly similar to later Christian prejudices against the Jews.
Anti-semitism is limited to the Christians and Muslims whose religion and culture are derivative of Judaism. Buddhists and Hindus do not hate Jews because their faiths and cultures owe nothing to Judaism.
Anti-Semitism arises from the anxiety and insecurity of those who have culturally and religiously looted the Jews and feel threatened by Jewish survival and witness. The more Jews are imitated, the more they are hated.
Jul 19, 2008 - 1:31 pm 11. 4infidels:As a Jew, I feel no personal animosity toward today’s Germans for the sins of previous generations. I see Germany as an American ally with whom I sometimes agree and sometimes disagree. While I may be more concerned when reading about a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Germany than I would with respect to other countries, I firmly believe that Germany and Germans should be judged by their actions not their history.
So my question is this: if Jews (and non-Jews) can accept modern Germany as a full-fledged member of the family of civilized nations 60 years after the Nazis exterminated 6 million Jews, when does Israel get to be an equal member of the democratic world, rather than continue to be vilified in Europe because 500,000 Arabs fled Israel 60 years ago under encouragement from their own leaders, in a war the Arabs started with the stated aim of destroying the Jewish community in Palestine. At the same time, the Arabs evicted close to a million Jews from their countries for which no anti-Israel advocate has ever held them accountable.
The victorious allies in WW2 had no problem forcing 12 million Germans out of their previous homes, an act of which caused 2 million deaths as the refugees traveled a long way to Germany without international aid. Yet Israel must somehow atone for its “original sin” of the Palestinian refugee problem, which was caused by the Arabs, and maintained Arab countries and international aid, rather than resettling them (most didn’t really go very far) in nearby Arab countries where they speak the same language, practice the same religion and share the same culture.
Jul 19, 2008 - 2:23 pm 12. John Moore:Ellen K.
It reduces the usefulness of the term anti-Semitism to apply it where it is not appropriate. While understandable, the unending search by Jews for anti-Semitism in every negative expression is as counter-productive as it is illogical. It reminds me of the African American who objected to the use of the term (from Physics) “black hole” because it was “racist.”
Why is Israel treated the way it is? Perhaps you should read its history. The very same left which supported Israel when it was the underdog is the left which now condemns that most powerful and successful nation in the region. The country to official recognize the state of Israel was the anti-Semitic Soviet Union! When Israel was socialist Jews fighting the British “oppressors”, and later creating a socialist utopian nation (Zionism had a large socialist component), many on the Left loved it.
Now Israel is economically successful, technologically creative, militarily predominant, and somewhat religious. Naturally, that makes it “the oppressor” in the minds of the Euro-elites.
Israel is a victim of the Marxist orthodoxy and more modern multiculturalist antipathy towards the powerful and successful that infects especially European thought.
You ask what other nation is treated the same way, and the answer is simple: the USA, and for the same reasons.
Perhaps you need to refine your understanding of the modern intellectual and governing elites of Europe (where most of this anti-Zionism appears) before you attribute the wrong motives to their wrong behavior.
One can certainly find anti-Semites attacking Israel, but they are in the minority… don’t mistake association with identity.
David Levavi
I find your remarks (below) just as offensive as you would find the remarks of an anti-semite, but your remarks would never be treated the same way as an anti-semitic remark. Think about what it means – that you can emit anti-Christian remarks with impunity. But, if I let loose some equivalent negative stereotype about Jews, I would be yet one more example of anti-Semitism, and at least in the US, the remark would be used against me for the rest of my life!
Anti-Semitism begins with supersession[sic] of Judaism by Christianity. The elimination of Jews was necessary for Christianity to legitimate itself.
That is a bigoted, prejudiced gross exaggeration, and as a Christian who feels great admiration for Israel, I am offended.
When it comes to the fate of Jews or Israel, there has never been fairness. That is a tragic historical fact.
Jul 19, 2008 - 7:25 pm 13. John Moore:Ursula
my conclusion: anybody who uses a different yardstick criticizing israel than toward any other country is very obviously an antisemite.
False conclusion. Different standards are frequently applied in the crude and undifferentiated fashion you mention. That Israel is a frequent target of it is not automatically due to anti-Semitism, as Israel has a number of other special characteristics other than being a Jewish homeland.
Jul 19, 2008 - 7:27 pm 14. Rubicon:The author has written an excellent article or speech. Based on the incredible attacks the UN launches against Israel while ignoring Palestinian atrocities, its no wonder many Jews feel many are against them. They are!
Jul 19, 2008 - 7:48 pm 15. david levavi:In most cases, I cannot easily differentiate between anti-Semitism & anti-Zionism. For me, with only subtle differences, they are basically the same.
Many say it is based on the ugly right wing conservative side of politics. I say, the left shows significantly more of it, BUT, they seem successful in hiding it or obscuring it with semantics & media help. Perhaps left & right in German is different than in America?
Trying to justify Iran having nuclear weapons versus Israel, is comical. Israel has had the capability for years & has never threatened to use them against anyone. Israel tries to be a good international citizen. They do NOT handle all Palestinian issues well. Then again, the Palestinians are handling their relationship with Israel abysmally! Iran on the other hand has openly told the world they want to destroy Israel. And they have openly said they would use nuclear weapons on Israel based on the logic one or two bombs would do away with them, while Israel would not have enough bombs or time to do away with Iran. After all, to the crazed leaders there, lost Iranians would simply be more martyrs for their religion of peace. Iran with the bomb is like giving little girls to be taken care of by a child molester. Its obvious what will happen!
John Moore:
…That is a bigoted, prejudiced gross exaggeration, and as a Christian who feels great admiration for Israel, I am offended…
Sorry for misspellings. The wages of overreliance on MS Word. I make no apology for the opinion. If you disagree, present a rational refutation.
Your easy equation of my remarks with ant-Semitism is false. The notion that the Jews popularly and enthusiastically supported the torture and brutal murder of one of their own on a cross is a palpable absurdity and an obscene slander that Christians use to justify the wholesale rape of Jewish religion and culture.
I’m genuinely sorry sorry you are offended. When you are as certain of what your ancestors believed in or were doing two thousand years ago as you are of what my ancestors up to at the time come and tell me all about it.
Jul 19, 2008 - 9:21 pm 16. John Moore:David…
Once again you are stereotyping Christians when you say:
The notion that the Jews popularly and enthusiastically supported the torture and brutal murder of one of their own on a cross is a palpable absurdity and an obscene slander that Christians use to justify the wholesale rape of Jewish religion and culture.
Which Christians? Me? You use the present tense!
You go on to say as you are of what my ancestors up to at the time come and tell me all about it.
And what, pray tell, do you think I think your ancestors were doing. Did they kill Christ? Well, a few Jewish leaders demanded his death, and others supported them. Is that an absurdity? Why? Are you implying that Jews never persecuted their own? As to the brutality of the death, it was normal for the times – shocking today, but not then.
But you leap from that historical fact to the assumption that therefore we blame Jews for the death of Christ. That bespeaks a remarkable ignorance of Christian theology. And when you use that ignorance to blame Christians for “wholesale rape of Jewish religion and culture” you are simply slandering us with a lie.
Christians at times unfairly persecuted Jews. That was wrong, but Jews are hardly unique in that regard.
There has never been a wholesale rape of the religion and culture, by Christians. If you want to find that, look at the Romans a few decades after Christ, or Hitler or Stalin. None of them were Christians. Christians didn’t cause the diaspora.
You are doing EXACTLY what anti-Semites do. You are making gross over-generalizations and using them against another religion.
If I were to use your technique, I could argue that “Jews are terrorists” because of what the Irgun and Stern Gang did during the British rule and just afterwards. After all, two of Israel’s prime ministers were members.
But it would be stereotyping to apply that to all Jews. And it would be wrong, not to mention just plain stupid.
I realize that it is an article of faith that anti-Semitism is in some way special and worse than any other “ism”. And indeed, history shows some remarkably terrible deeds done in its name. But when some Jews look for anti-Semitism in everything, and refuse to acknowledge that other kinds of bigotry are of equivalent evil, they look like whiners.
Jul 19, 2008 - 11:18 pm 17. Andrew Ian Dodge:Christians at times unfairly persecuted Jews.
So you think at least a 1000 years of calling Jews “Christ-killers” from the pulpit might have had a wee affect on hatred towards the Jews? You don’t think this notion, that is still widely help in Europe, had no affect on NAZI extermination plans? Christians, of various ilks, are still persecuting Jews in parts of Europe and beyond. If you think that Christian preachers don’t still peddle this notion you are woefully naive’.
I have been to international political conferences where people from mainstream political parties express their dislike “for Jews & freemasons.” These parties call themselves “Christian Democrats”.
Jul 20, 2008 - 5:36 am 18. OmegaPaladin:Christianity did not require the destruction of Jews to succeed. That should be obvious, given simple demographics. You are also making this a religious argument, when most anti-Semitism is racial and political.
Look up “No Hitler, No Holocaust”
Jul 20, 2008 - 2:25 pm 19. david levavi:John Moore:
You sound like a decent fellow and I applaud your robust sense of righteousness. You have a conscience and insist properly on intellectual and historical honesty. More than can be said for the greater lumpen mass absent critical inclination or skill.
That said one or two minor comments in response:
… Once again you are stereotyping Christians… Which Christians? Me? You use the present tense…
Present tense is how literature is discussed. Ahab chases the whale today as he did when Melville wrote his great novel. But I’m writing quickly and you may be right that I used the wrong tense. Be that as it may, contemporary Christians are indisputably innocent and blameless for past persecutions of Jews .
A proper Jew is guided in such matters by explicit Biblical injunction. “Do not hate the Egyptian, you were a sojourner (guest) in his house.” After centuries of brutal slavery, we are instructed to recognize that the Egyptians were our hosts and that our ancestors were not blameless in their own enslavement.
Forgiveness is not merely a religious ideal to the Jews. It is a pragmatic survival strategy. If Jews obsessed on all the outrages visited upon them in their long history they could not go on.
…a few Jewish leaders demanded his death, and others supported them…
We are currently debating our nation’s involvement in Iraq. Who-said-what-to-whom-when and did the administration really believe Sadaam had WMDs is unclear and the Democrats are making hay of it. Who sank the Lusitania? Who burned the Reichstag? Who burned the library in Alexandria? Were there conspirators unknown behind the assassination of JFK?
There are a thousand such questions. The point I was trying to make in my last post is that Judea during the late Second Temple Period was a roiling cauldron of conflicting sects, some of them murderous. A legitimate Judean challenger to the corrupt Hasmonaen Priest-royals collaborating with the Romans could not but have been popular among the Jews. The image of the Jewish mob calling for Joshua’s blood is a slander.
The Hasmonaens were detested because they had breached the ancient separation of Temple and State. The throne belonged to Judah the Lion through the Royal House of David. The priesthood belonged to the Aharonic Levites.
The Hasmonaens were usurpers, notorious for their ignorance and stumbling in fulfillment of their holy offices. And they were fabulously wealthy when property and the accumulation of wealth were strictly forbidden the Aharonic Priesthood. The High-Priest-Prince with Aharon’s miter on his head and David’s royal shepherd’s staff in his hand was a hated figure. The lowliest Judean challenger was more legitimate and, if at all successful, would have been wildly popular. The image of the Jewish mob crying for his blood doesn’t fly.
That mouthful said, you’re entirely right that I was being offensive. Contemptuous and derisive. Totally over the top. I hope you believe I’m sincere in begging your forgiveness.
Jul 20, 2008 - 5:03 pm 20. Robert Hand:Shalom! I am also a Christian, and I proudly identify myself as a “Christian Zionist”. I devote much of my time and effort battling the 1,700 year-old lie of Replacement Theology. It is very real, and very much the root of both overt and covert antisemitism. Under Constantine, this was introduced as a weapon to elevate the “Church” and it’s adherents above the people and faith of the fathers. Any ruse of so-called superiority eventually, when widely accepted, leads to comtempt and, finally oppression. The truth must be told. G-d’s chosen are His forever, and must be loved and supported in and through love for Him. There are many of us who have no agenda of “evangelism, but simply love those whom G-d loves. Am Yisrael Chai! Praise Him!
Jul 20, 2008 - 6:25 pm 21. John Moore:david levavi
Thank you for your thoughtful response.
While I do not know the history of the period as well as you, I find it unlikely that even an unpopular elite would not have had their share of followers – who would have constituted that mob. That is far from saying “the jews” made up the mob, but rather that some did. Any group, Jews or gentiles, have hotheads and evil people among them.
You need not ask my forgiveness, as all I hoped was that you would understand my argument, and me yours.
That has happened.
Thanks
John
Jul 20, 2008 - 7:49 pm 22. Negro:Polls show most Israeli Jews want to end the occupation of the West Bank.
Using Broder’s logic, this would mean most Israeli Jews are anti-Semitic.
It is a popular dodge on right-wing blogs to call any criticism of Israel the product of anti-Semitism, so it is no surprise to find Pajamas Media lauding this speech.
They do a good service, though, because Broder does offer an unabashed, transparent call to criminalize criticism of Israel — as pointed out by Cedarford.
Anyone with an open mind on the subject will immediately see right through Broder.
Jul 20, 2008 - 9:46 pm 23. Lisa:Negro..
No… Broder’s logic does not mean that most Israeli Jews are anti-Semitic because they want to end the occupation of the West Bank. They are describing a goal for their country, for an attempt at an unlikely peace. The anti-Semite blames Israel and frequently its very existence for all ills within the territories and often the rest of the Middle East.
Let’s compare the difference.. an Israeli Jew will say, “We should get out of the West Bank, the settlers are not worth the blood of our soldiers.” Another Israeli Jew might say, “We should get out of the West Bank but I’m afraid that it will turn into Gaza.” A third Israeli Jew might say, “Remove the settlers but the soldiers should stay to stop the violence.” A fourth Israeli Jew might say, “We should stay in Judea and Samaria because that is Jewish land.”
On the other hand, an anti-Semite might say, “That guy killed all those Jews because of the occupation; it’s only natural.” Or another anti-Semite might say, “All of those rockets are being fired from Gaza because of the continued occupation of the West Bank; the Palestinians have no choice.” Or perhaps, “Why should the Palestinians be punished for the Holocaust?” Or even more commonly, “Israel is the worst human rights abuser in the world” and “Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is just like what the Nazi’s did to Jews.”
It’s a popular dodge by those on the left to claim that the right is equating any criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism but that is intellectually dishonest.
Jul 21, 2008 - 5:51 am 24. GM Roper:I don’t know David Levavi, but I know John Moore well. That was a fascinating and quite readable exchange. Both of you are due congratulations.
Jul 21, 2008 - 7:03 am 25. John Moore:Andrew Ian Dodge…
Please don’t mistake “Christian Democrats” for Christians. That is a European political designation, and few of them are religious at all.
And of course, there are some anti-Jewish Christians, because anti-Semitism is a reaction to “different”, with Jews a favorite target. And some people don’t like “different,” a fact demagogues have used through the ages.
But today, I would argue that Christians are also being actively discriminated against through much of Europe and Canada. At least one Christian in Canada has been put on trial for preaching his beliefs in Church. Christians are being persecuted in Muslim countries and in parts of Africa (Christian slaves are sold in Khartoum to this day – but all we hear about is Darfur, a different Sudanese genocide). Christians were persecuted under the Nazis and are still persecuted in the remaining Communist regimes.
I recognize that all of this pales compared to the Holocaust, although a lot of Catholic priests also died for their religion in the concentration camps. But, at least in most circles, Anti-Semitism is recognized as evil. Anti-Christianity, on the other hand, is rarely attacked or even seen for what it is.
All that being said, let me be clear. As a Christian, an American and a citizen of earth, I am grateful for the contributions of Jewish culture and Jews through the ages. I admire the Israelis for their democracy in a region of tyrants, their bravery and their military excellence, their technological brilliance, and their democratic propensity to constantly debate the rightness of their own actions.
GM Hi homey! Good to see you here.
Jul 21, 2008 - 9:10 am 26. Jabba The Tutt:The comments have gotten way, way off track. I’d just like to expand on VB’s comments on Henryk Broder. The man is sharp, sharp, sharp. He’s very witty, great at thinking on his feet and one of the few truth-telling realists, who make it in the far left, German media scene. His book title, translated here as Hurray, We Give Up should be directly translated Hurray, We Capitulate. It was about how German society is giving in, retreating, giving up to creeping Islamization of Germany.
The German media, German government and the elite have done everything they can to prettify the ugly immigration situation in Germany, which is still continuing to encourage more immigration. The Leftwing Culture in Germany has ignored and is ignoring the ugly anti-Semitism within its ranks. Broder here has to courage to point out Leftist anti-Semitism and even tells the Members of the Bundestag that they have these new type of anti-Semites even within their own ranks.
This would be like Democrats admitting that they have anti-American socialists among their ranks. Broder TELLS the truth. Broder is an opinion changer in Germany.
Jul 21, 2008 - 6:39 pm 27. Grey Fox:During the first three hundred years of Christianity, when the Jews were not helping the Romans hunt down Christians, the Christians and the jews got along fairly well – as a matter of fact, Christian participation in Jewish festivals was a source of concern for Christian leaders and is mentioned in surviving writings.
After Constantine, Jews and Christians actually lived side by side for 700 years in relative peace, at least in the West – out east there was enough tension between Jew and Christian for the Jews to aid the Zoroastrians in massacring the Christians in Jerusalem during the Byzantine-Persian Wars in the 6th century. There is one case of a high-ranking churchman converting to Judaism and becoming a reknowned apologist for the same without apparently suffering anything harsher than words.
It was only during the 11th century, during the church reform movements, that real trouble began. One basic source seems to have been that the knights were told to act as “vassals of Christ” – since avenging one’s lord was part of a vassal’s duty, and they tended to think in terms of family/clan feuds, there was actually some logic to their thinking, and also explains why the attacks tended to center happen during crusades, when such thinking was at its height. It is worth noting that the clergy did try to stop the attacks at times – just because the warrior/ruling class tended to think a certain way didn’t mean that the churchmen always did.
In conclusion, given that Christian anti-semitism only took off a thousand years after Christ and that the previous millenium was relatively amicable, I find the notion that Christianity required the destruction of Judaism untenable.
Jul 22, 2008 - 8:25 pm 28. José Cohen:Bravo!
Jul 23, 2008 - 4:33 am 29. david levavi:Jabba the Tutt:
Hear, hear, O Great Tutt. No daylight between us on that,
Grey Fox:
I’m not up for interfaith sparring today, Sleek One. I don’t know of an historian who would suggest that Constantine was a friend of the Jews if that is what you’re suggesting. If not, my error.
I’ve always looked upon Julius Caesar and Constantine as the bookends of the Roman-Jewish experience. Julius Caesar had genuine affection for John Hyrcanus, high regard for his Judaen soldiery and deep respect for the Jewish faith. Constantine was hostile to Jews and Judaism, especially after the Nicaean Council.
Under Emperor Constantine, the Council of Nicaea formulated what (with addition of the Cappadocian Correction) remains fundamental Christian theology. Christianity became the official State Religion of Rome and so remained save for a brief interruption under Constantine’s nephew, the Emperor Julian, until the final collapse of the Roman Empire. A period of some two hundred years.
Until recently, I didn’t know much about the last years of the Roman Empire. My daughter is a Bible scholar and I came asross an interesting book on her shelves. It’s a smart, sympathetic, often quietly humorous book about the development of Christian theology written by a Jewish professor from Harvard teaching Conflict Resolution (of all things).
The book is called, When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome by Richard E. Rubenstein. It’s a terrific little read about a fascinating subject full of fascinating characters and events and I recommend it highly.
“Fall of the Roman Empire” is so common a phrase, we forget there was a final moment to a thousand years of empire. For all its evils, millions upon millions sheltered in peace under the Roman Eagles. In one tragic instant, it all came to an end. The final scene after the final battle is dreadful and Rubenstein describes it in horrific detail.
The response of the Christian Bishops and their followers in the Levant where Saul of Tarsus once preached and formulated the Mass and founded Christianity to the news that Caesar and the Legions had fallen and the Empire was no more was celebratory. Triumphant sermons were preached and prayers of thanksgiving offered up.
Not much thereafter, the vacuum left by the collapse of the Empire was filled by the followers of the Prophet. In the Levant, Christianity’s cradle and the hotbed of religious and theological debate and teaching where Christianity’s most lasting ideas were developed, the call to prayer was heard five times a day. In Alexandria, in Antioch, in Cappadocia, the sons of those who had fiercely debated the nature of the Trinity, indeed, bloodied each other in the streets over it, were prostrating themselves and beating their foreheads black and blue on the ground for Allah and his Holy Prophet.
Christianity today is a bastion of Western Civilization under assault from without and within, as Rome was in the latter days of the Empire. The barbarians without are the usual savages opposed to civilization, among them Islamists from the formerly Christian Levant. From within our society is being hollowed out by leftist rot.
Positions and identities appear to have ironically shifted since the final days of Rome. The Christians of those sunset years bear odd resemblance to the Left today.
The left, largely urban, habitually and reflexively distrusts the government. It is hostile to American arms and a robust national defense. It distrusts the traditionalist religiosity of the ruling elites.
Constantine like Julian and, for all their professions to the contrary, the emperors until the collapse were Helios (Sun-God) worshippers. As were the Imperial Legions. (Pat Buchanan may fantasize himself a Christian centurion but Christian centurions, if such existed, were rare.)
The Christians in the cities of the Levant, automatically, reflexively, closed-mindedly, distrusted Caesar and the Legions. They disdained their protection. So self involved were they with their own (arguably petty) affairs, they took their security for granted.
Every time Caesar attempted to bring down the full weight of Roman arms against the barbarians at the borders, he was thwarted. The Bishops, who were thuggish urban politicians, took the absence of Roman troops in their cities for an opportunity to revenge themselves on their enemies. Local governors were forced to divert legions desperately needed by Caesar on the front to quell Christians rioting in the cities.
I think you are wrong in some of your assertions about Jewish-Christian relations post-Constantine but I don’t feel argumentative, Grey Fox. Give yourself a treat, read Rubinstein’s book and come to your own conclusions.
In any event, we’d best forget our differences of millennia past and concentrate on our overwhelming commonalities today. The Barbarians are at the gate again. Yup, the usual suspects. We’ve all met them before.
On one point be powerfully assured: No Jew looks forward to a muezzin’s call to prayer from the Papal Balcony in St. Peters or the sight of the faithful prostrating themselves on their faces in St. Peter’s Square.
Jul 23, 2008 - 12:46 pm 30. john from cinncinati:wow great reading, the comments also.
Jul 24, 2008 - 1:44 am 31. Lani:I found Mr Broder’s article relevant and easy to identify with.
I don’t think Negro found it easy to identify with – he’s on the defensive. Where in Mr Broder’s article did he say criticism of Israel should be criminalised? To home in on disagreement of the occupation as being anti-Semitic shows how out of touch Negro and those who think like him are. By conflating Zionist issues with Jewish ones, he shows he is exactly the same as the anti-Semites masquerading as anti-Zionists in Mr Broder’s article. Negro please note I am not trying to stifle debate about this. This is a call for you and others like you to be honest.
I believe it’s counter-productive to stifle debate on the issue, from whatever side it comes. As has been mentioned by another poster, progress can be made only by an honest interchange of views.
Jul 28, 2008 - 12:40 pm 32. Skunknyheter | Israel i Sverige:[...] Litauen om antisemitiska angrepp. SvD573 DN239 * Vi vet att den växer upp både från nynazism, Politisk Korrekthet och via muslimers judehat, och att Sverige är ett av länderna där antisemitism blir allt mera [...]
Aug 11, 2008 - 5:17 am 33. helping or hurting? — infotainment rules:[...] ass, convinced that American Jews hold too much power, you may be interested to hear the opinion of a German journalist, Henryk Broder, who addressed the problem recently in a colloquium on anti-Semitism that took place in Germany, [...]
Aug 20, 2008 - 1:44 pm 34. andrew:As a practicing Jew and a supporter of israel I want to thank all of our Christian friends. We have had so few friends over the years most of us are deeply grateful for the friendship and support shown to us by so many Christians.
Please do not be discouraged or offended by the few foolish people who look to the past and not the present to find your worth. And please, let us drop this whole foolishness about Christian antipathy towards Judaism and the Jews. that is all in the past.
Israel and the Jews were very unpopular in the Roman Empire. They were unpopular because their efforts towards political and religious freedom were a threat to the Empire and Jewish ideas of a universal morality (which included limitations on slavery, usery, etc) were also an affront to common behaviors. The early Christians simply wanted to avoid any association with an unpopular group and things got a bit out of hand. It should be remembered that, although classic anti-semitism enabled the holocaust, Hitler himself denounced Christianity and wanted to distingish his ‘new German’ from the influence of Christianity.
I would like to see less argument about the past and more acknowledgement of the positive role that Christians and the Christian faith play in the world and how valuable and appreciated their friendship is to Jews everywhere today and to Israel.
I want to thank all of you.
Sep 29, 2008 - 12:37 pm