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Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism

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In the last six years in particular, since Arafat launched a war of terror against Israel's people, I have often wondered what the reasons are for the intense hatred and violent rage, especially by Moslems and the Left, of Israel and her people.
The country where I live, is periodically rocked by nationwide paroxysms of vicious rage and murderous hate of the tiny nation of Israel,encouraged by the ruling party and it's allies, civil society, universities and the media.
This is the world's latest incantation of Jew-hatred, the world's longest and most intense hatred, as Dennis Prager explains in this fascinating and illuminating work.
Prager begins by outlining some of the violent attacks on Jews and Israel in Europe and elsewhere, which has become the disease permeating the world as we begin the 21st century.
Prager mentions the United Nations-sponsored World Conference on Racism, in Durban, South Africa in August 2001, which, while failing to mention human rights abuses and genocide in China, Rwanda or anyplace in the Arab world, turned into a violent fest of hate and rage against Israel.

While anti-Semitism was traditionally associated with rightwing populists, vicious anti-Israelism is becoming the culture and raison d etre of 'progressive' intellectual communities.

Prager illustrates that:

* Thousands of academics around the world, have called for an end to support for Israeli researchers, though not an end to support for researchers from any other nation.

* Israeli scholars in Spring 2003 were forced off the board of an international literary journal.

* And many at universities across the world, including North America, have called for their universities to single out Israel among all nations as the lone country where it is inappropriate for any part of the university's endowment to be invested.

Prager marvels how in a world filled with enormous evils-such as totalitarian states that make their countries into large prison camps (Iran and North Korea); that massacre and enslave millions of citizens (Sudan) , that wage deadly war against their own populations (Zimbabwe and Myanmar) that destroy entire cultures (As China is doing in Tibet), it would seem a puzzle as to why the Jewish State and America are the two most villified countries in the world.
Prager points this out as being a violent rejection of the American and Jewish values of Judeo-Christian civilization, justice, freedom, democracy and humanity as a source of light to the world. He explains the reason why the USA supports Israel as being because of the USA's Judeo-Christian values and her realization that Israel is a tiny island of democracy and human rights in a sea of totalitarianism.

It is against this background that Prager delves into the roots of Jew-hatred to attempt an explanation of this phenomenon.
The basic source of ancient Jewish history, the Bible, depicts two attempts at anihilation of the Jewish people: that of Pharaoh and the Egyptians (Exodus 1:15-22) and that of Haman and the Persians.
On three occasions in the last 350 years, anihilation campaigns have been waged against the Jews, the Chmelnitzky massacres in Eastern Europe in 1648-1649, the Nazi destruction of Europe's Jews between 1939 and 1945 , and the current decades long campaign to anihilate the Jewish State by it's enemies.

Prager holds out four basic reasons for Jew hatred (and it's latest incantaion, Israel-hatred)
* The hatred of Judaism and ethical monotheism
* The chosen people idea as a cause of Jew-hatred
* The moral challenge posed by the Jews for a better world.
* The higher quality of Jewish life as a cause of Jew-hatred

Chapter 5 deals with the topic of Non-Jewish Jews and anti-Semitism. This is particularly interesting to me, because leftwing diaspora Jews who hate Israel, are a major source of anger and disgust for me.
Prager is also vexed by the question of explaining Jews who devote their lives to hurting Jews. He points out that "Among no group in the world are there so many individuals who so single-mindedly attempt to damage the group into which they were born".
He gives as examples the loathsome Noam Chomsky who has dedicated much of his life tro defending those who wish to destroy Israel, and to demonize Israel and her people, frequently comparing Israelis to the Nazis; and Norman Finkelstein who lectures throughout the world , calling Israel a Nazi State and demanding it's destruction.
Indeed many Jewish ultra-Leftists lead the "burn Israel" movement, sponsoring pro-Palestinian hate rallies, leading campaigns for divestment from Israel, and demoinzing Israel and her people in the media and universities.

The author expalins this phenomenon as being that Jewish radicals, like other radicals, lack roots, and hate Jews (such as the Jews of Israel) who do have roots and a national identity.
"The Ubermensch, which is how they see themselves, rises above such parochial indentities."
Also they likely believe that if they side with those who hate Jews, they will not be hated by them.

Prager refutes the Marxist view of anti-Semitism that it is caused by Capitalism, pointing out that in Communist societies anti-Semitism has often been at it's worst.
He also easily refutes the myth that anti-Semitism is purely a rightwing phenomenon, pointing to Soviet persecution of Jewry , and the new anti-Semitism of today, which eminates mainly from the Left.
Prager go's on to examine the historical evidence of anti-Semitism with histories of ancient anti-Semitism, Christian anti-Semitism, Islamic anti-Semitism, Secular Enlightenment anti-Semitism, Leftist anti-Semitism, Nazi anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist anti-Semitism.
He continually draws parralels between historic anti-Semitism and today's new anti-Zionist version, for example discussing the mediaeval libel that Jews poisoned wells, and deliberately spread disease , to lies by the Palestinian Authority and Leftist NGO's that the Israelis have poisoned Palestinian water supplies and deliberately infected Palestinian children with the HIV virus.

In the section on Islamic anti-Semitism, he outlines bloody pogroms carried out against Jews in Arab countries, in the 20th century. He also explains the real reason behind Arab hatred of Israel. The idea of Jews as free people in their own state cannot be tolerated, they can only be tolerated as subordinate or degraded. The basis of Arab hatred of Israel is the hatred of Jews refusing to accept an unequal, inferior status, that they lived under for centuries of Arab rule.
He also deals with the Arab-Nazi connection of World War II, and beyond.
In the chapter on Leftist anti-Semitism he observes how the further left one goes the greater the Jew-hatred. The propaganda peddled by far-left ideologues, academics and journalists today is a reproduction of the propaganda manufactured in the old Soviet Union, during the Cold War, when the USSR was persecuting Jews and working for the destruction of Israel.

Letwing anti-Semitism revolves around the denial of Jewish nationhood, and therefore of Israel's right to exist, leading to a hatred of all Jews who affirm Jewish nationhood and particularly of all Jews who live in the Jewish homeland. It also involves a gross Orwellianism whereby Israel is accused of genocide, when the truth is that the Arabs and their allies are the ones pushing for the destruction of Israel and thereby a second holocaust against Jews.

Because anti-Zionism's goal would lead to a second holocaust against five million Jews, it cannot be distinguished from anti-Semitism.
Furthermore there is only one posible reason why people isolate Israel of all the countries of the world to deny it's right to existence. Because Israel is a Jewish State. Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.
Finally Prager deals with the 8 most common lies about Israel, and the truth behind them, examines what the solutions are to Jew-hatred, and his epilogue ends with a warning that anti-Semitism/anti-Israelism is the problem not only of Jews, but of all decent human beings because what begins with the Jews seldom ends with the Jews. Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred is the moral litmus test of nations, regimes and individuals.

Prager and Telushkin offer a useful historical survey of anti-Semitism and skillfully refute the most common explanations for "the oldest hatred." Where I disagree with them is in their own theory of anti-Semitism's orgins. Simply put, the authors assume that, regardless of historical period, geographic location, or ideology, the typical anti-Semitic individual or organization follows the same essential syllogism:

1. Judaism originated the concept of ethical monotheism, that is, the belief in a supreme God who is just and good and demands the same from human beings.
2. I/We are opposed to (or are unable/too lazy to live according to) ethical monotheism.
3. Therefore, we must hate Jews, the original advocates of ethical monotheism.

Very neat. However, as reviewer Ben notes below, it's doubtful that the average "Joe Sixpack" anti-Semite goes through anything remotely resembling that thought process. Nearly all Jew-haters hate Jews simply because they were taught to do so, by people who were in turn taught to hate Jews, and so forth.

Furthermore, Judaism, with the minor exception of some Jews in the Hellenistic age, has never been a prosyletizing religion. True, there is the rabbinic concept of the universal "Noahide" moral laws binding upon all human beings. However, there is scant instance of Jews *actively* urging their non-Jewish neighbours to observe even these laws, let alone all of Judaism. So how would your average non-Jew even know what Judaism stood for?

Furthermore, the authors' prescription for ending anti-Semitism, promoting Judaism's ethical monotheism even more strongly, is a praiseworthy goal but contradicts their own thesis. If ethical monotheism is the cause of anti-Semitism, isn't it possible that advocating it more assertively and publicly would produce even more hatred of Jews?

I have come to the conclusion that anti-Semitism exists because it exists. It is a self-perpetuating meme which knows of no logical explanation. The fact that Jews are perhaps the oldest unified nationality still in existence may account for anti-Semitism's particular universality and persistence. Perhaps if the Sumerians were still around, we'd ask, "Why anti-Sumerianism?"

Nevertheless, I give _Why the Jews?_ four stars for the authors' keen historical research and for the stimulating debate that the book has, and will undoubtedly continue to, stimulate.

Dennis Prager is emerging as one of the single most insightful and important conservative thinkers in the country. His analysis of Jew-hatred is by far and away the best organized, comprehensive, and compelling account I have ever seen. In an age in which religion-based radicalism seeks to kill the Jews all over again, Prager's book couldn't be more timely.

As I followed the Arab-Israel conflict I got more and more confused about how people that didn't know anything about the subject, of all walks of life, became more and more prejudiced against Israel in my country with the help, of course, of the media. Since I knew a little about Israel's history and how it had been the target of many neighboring countries since its very beginning, I decided to do a little research to understand what was happening. Part of the research is this book, which really opened my eyes to a very sad picture. Easy to read, the authors use very simple logic and examples (full of quotes) to disprove common myths about anti-Semitism. It shows how Jews have been killed because they were poor or rich, because they were communists or because they were capitalists. In the end, because they were Jews. It gave a me a first idea of what Judaism is. The book was written at the time of the Soviet Union and shows what was happening then. I intend to read more from the same authors because their style isn't aggressive and is coherent with what they preach, in my opinion. It is a warning to those who think that what happens in the Middle East is a Jew problem.

A non-Jewish professional colleague of mine asked me the question posed in the title, "Why the Jews?" I postulated the same erroneous cliche's of being an easily scapegoated minority, being education-centric, being affluent, being money-lenders, being different, etc. All answers with which I was disastisfied as incorrect, incomplete, or untrue. Rabbi Telishkin and Mr. Prager's book concisely, clearly and skillfully analyzes the root causes of antisemitism (ethical monotheism, moral law, peoplehood) and debunks all the easy or contrived answers. A great book, and a must read for all.

This book seeks to examine the very roots of anti-Semitism, the term used to describe the hatred of the Jews. Many avenues are explored such as why the Jews have been the object of the most enduring and universal hatred directed towards any people group in history. Additionally, the book discusses why the Jewish state of Israel has now become the most despised country in the World today.

The inherent hatred of the Jews within some elements of the Church and Islam are also studied, both from a historical perspective and also pertaining to the present day.

Sections are also devoted to the anti-Semitism of the Nazi era and how it is also present today in relation to those who support or profess Zionism. A particularly interesting section discusses how much modern day anti-Semitism is hidden beneath a more respectable veneer bearing the anti-Zionist label.

One such example given is that on page 172 which quotes from the statement by Shukairy, who was the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation before Yasser Arafat. Shukairy used to openly declare that "the Jews should be driven into the sea". The book proceeds to describe that when such a statement no longer became politically expedient or served the Arab cause, the statement was promptly changed to "the Zionists should be driven into the sea".

Indeed many differing lines of thought are discussed and a variety of issues investigated. This book will certainly make the reader think and contemplate the real roots of this ongoing issue, which is described as being more prevalent now than at any time since the Nazi era.

The book however does not address the spiritual aspect behind anti-Semitism which underlies the Christian Gospel message. Something which many may dispute, but which describes the real roots of this hatred as being demonic and which sets itself against the whole Jewish race, the coming & return of the Jewish/Christian Messiah together with the message of redemption to all mankind. A demonic hatred whose end is described in the book of Revelation within the Bible.

In addition to this book I would respectfully recommend the books entitled "Jesus Was A Jew" by Arnold Fruchtenbaum & "The Anguish Of The Jews; Twenty Three Centuries Of Anti-Semitism" by Edward H. Flannery.

After totally and unequivocally obliterating the age-old excuses for anti-semitism, Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin put forth what they see as the real cause behind hatred against the Jews --in the process reaching a conclusion that this reader found totally brilliant and completely unexpected.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who, deep down inside, never truly accepted worn-out excuses for anti-semitism (i.e. financial exploitation, Jewish Conspiracy, control of Media, etc.)--particularly when, as a Jew him/herself, never being able to benefit from any of these supposed "Jewish traits": not to mention even knowing where to find them.

Simply put: This book served as a real revelation to me and undoubtedly will to others.

The doctor's four, the lawyer's seven.

That joke, cracked by a Jewish buddy, goes some way towards explaining the 'traditional' dislike of Jews in general, which has sometimes tragically spilled over into outright persecution and genocide.

One of the reasons I have always clicked with Jewish contacts, who later became friends, is that they are highly intelligent and goal driven.

Yet this desire to be the best they can be, in business, in education, has often triggered jealousies in others, who resent the successes of the Jews, even though they have been honestly earned.

I agree with Lucien, that the idea that Jew haters have somehow been driven by some theological wranglings regarding the nature of 'the Jews' God' and the requirements of worship, never enters the head of most knee-jerk Jew bashers.

While some of Prager's ideas regarding the early development of anti-Semitism are worthy of attention, I think he perhaps underestimates how much of it has now and for centuries been literally the result of habit and 'passed down' hate mongering.

Everybody knows everybody hates the Jews, so they still do.

Also, the suggestion, however worded, that only anti-Semites see America as being Israel's big brother and protector, is very shaky, as historically alone, the US has always clearly and unequivocally supported Israel, the landmark act being the unprecedented airlift of weapons to bolster a flagging Israel, during the Yom Kippur War (Operation Nickel Grass).

It's a good book, and Prager is a fine writer who does his homework; I'm just not sure that all of his conclusions are bang on.

Shalom.

Prager and Telushkin compile a brief but illuminating history of antisemitism, address and dispense the common explanantions and then offer a unique persepctive.

Antisemitism predated Christianity but accellerated in intensity throughout the early Christain church history, the Reformation (Hitler took many cues from Martin Luther), and more surprisingly the Renaissance, and the rise of socialism and communism. Hitler was so successful because of the universal accesptance of European antisemitsm attracting so many willing accessories in Poland and Russia.

The authors examine economic scapegoating, jealousy, myths of wealth and world domination- but returns to specific beliefs in Judaism that make them suspect in the eyes of two millineums of rulers. The belief in one god, adhearence the their own laws (the Torah), the largely misunderstood concept of the "Chosen: and their unique tie to Israel. Their commitment left them isolated and unconquerable. This infuriated history's despots and continues to do so in the Middle East Today. Myths of the blood libel (drinking the blood of murdered Christian and Arab children)and world domination (Protocols of the Elders of Zion)were repeated and accepted, and continue to be spread as the truth in the Arab world today.

The epilogue equates the current hatred of the Jews with the common hatred of the United States in the world community. They also warn the non Jews that this hatred always extends beyond the Jewish People themselves to their ideals which is largely embodied in the American Principles.

In the introduction, the authors point out the rising tide of antisemitism in European society and media by citing specific examples, the warning of Lawrence Summers about the eruption of the plague on campus, the 2001 UN conference on racism in Durban where Israel was demonized, the hatred emanating from the Arab and Muslim worlds, from Muslims in Europe and from the political Left around the globe.

The aim of this book is to confirm the age-old Jewish understanding of the condition, which the authors consider to be a response to Judaism. The intention is to refute attempts to deny the particularly Jewish reasons for the hatred and its contemporary manifestation of anti-Zionism.

Part One: The Explanation, demonstrates the uniqueness of antisemitism as the hatred of Judaism and ethical monotheism, considers other theories like the Chosen People concept, the higher quality of Jewish life, plus other theories and the frightening phenomenon of the hatred of Judaism by non-Jewish Jews like Marx, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg, Abbie Hoffman, Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky.

The Historical Evidence is assessed in Part Two, from the Hellenic and Roman eras through the Christian, Islamic and Secular (Enlightenment) varieties, Leftist, Nazi and Anti-Zionist Antisemitism. For Christianity, the evidence encompasses the hate-filled words of Church Fathers like John Chrysostom of Antioch and Ambrose of Milan, massacres during the crusades, medieval libels, the Catholic and Protestant versions and the abominable words of Martin Luther. For a full treatment of this, please consult Our Hands Are Stained with Blood by Michael L Brown if you're not too sensitive to the description of atrocities.

Islamic Antisemitism looks at the history of Muhammad and the Jews, the actions of Islamic leaders from the prophet's death up to the modern period, the modern era with reference to Egypt, Syria and Palestine, the 20th century and Muslim hatred of Israel. Further evidence is available in the book Peace: The Arabian Caricature of Anti-Semitic Imagery by Arieh Stav.

Secular Antisemitism: The Enlightenment, demonstrates how the shape-shifting phenomenon re-emerged through Voltaire, De Mirabaud and D'Holbach; virtually every major figure of the French Enlightenment was hostile to Judaism. In Germany there were people like Johann Fichte and Immanuel Kant, but mercifully England proved to be a partial exception where the milder manifestations never led to violence.

Like all the aforementioned, socialism and Marxism were born with Jew-hatred. Marx's writing is full of it, but it was even more virulent amongst French intellectuals like Charles Fourier, Pierre Leroux, and Proudhon, with a few exceptions. Then followed Soviet antisemitism and that of the Western Left, including Leftist and Far Right churches and bodies like the World Council of Churches.

Nazism was not an outgrowth of racial ideology which was fundamentally irrelevant to Nazi antisemitism. Equating it with racism is just an attempt to dejudaize the phenomenon. It was the other way around; in their war against the Jews the Nazis employed racist arguments. The authors provide plenty of facts to substantiate their case. Nearly every popular ideology in German history contributed to the ideological roots of Nazi antisemitism. Furthermore, Europe has always harbored a widespread and profound strain. This was revealed during the Second World War when the only continental governments that protected their Jewish citizens were Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Bulgaria.

After the Holocaust, open anti-Semitism became taboo so a change of rhetoric took place following the rebirth of Israel in 1948. Anti-Zionism had its origin in the Soviet Union. The authors argue convincingly that Anti-Zionism is antisemitism in theory and practice. Examples are given from the writings of American Leftists, the Italian media, the UK author AN Wilson, the Arab media and the statements of Arab leaders.

In chapter fourteen, eight common lies about Israel are refuted: the accusations that Israel refuses to compromise for peace; stole the land from the Palestinians; is morally obligated to absorb the 1948 refugees and their descendants, that Jerusalem is as holy to Muslims as it is to Jews, Anti-Zionists being distinct from antisemites, that Jews and Christians in the Holy Land were well-treated under Islamic rule, that Israel illegally occupies the West Bank and that Palestinians embraced violence out of desperation.

Part Three considers ways of dealing with the problem, like assimilation, Zionism, making converts and combating specific outbreaks. The authors believe that Jews should resume their original mission of spreading ethical monotheism, helping to bring mankind to a universal God-based morality. In the tradition of the Hebrew Prophets, they ought to promote the concept of goodness tied to faith as God's major concern while also opposing secularists advocating political systems devoid of religious moral values. Antisemitism is a moral failing that can only be prevented by the moral values of non-Jews. It is significant that in the USA it currently issues overwhelmingly from the Left - religious like Jimmy Carter and secular academics like Walt & Mearsheimer - whose deceptions are brilliantly exposed by Abraham Foxman in The Deadliest Lies.

In the Epilogue, the authors warn that antisemitism never remains just a Jewish problem; as it metastasizes it inevitably brings terrible suffering to all societies under its spell. In history, treatment of the Jewish people has always served as a reliable barometer of humanity's moral state. Nowadays those who hate the Jewish nation are most likely to be anti-American too. Authoritarian regimes resent American success and covet the country's power and wealth; this hatred is shared by some Western Leftists and particularly the parasites infesting transnational bodies like the United Nations and the EU bureaucracy. It should now be clear to thinking people that Arab antisemitism forms part of a deep-seated hatred of the West that fuels jihad in many forms.

There are 23 pages of bibliographic notes, a 9 page bibliography of cited works and an index. I fear the hour is late; I urge all Christians who love our Jewish Redeemer to pray without ceasing and to consider supporting organizations like Christians United For Israel, Christian Friends Of Israel and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.