Antisemitism and racism

Hi All,

I got into this typically unproductive discussion the other day, in which someone said to me that antisemitism, while wrong, is just another manifestation of racism and therefore should be "bracketed"  within the general term racism. The implication - the person didn't specifically say this-  is that Jews shouldn't have a "special"  category.  

The thing is Jews are both a religious group  and a nation.   Hence why we accept converts ( but do not proselytize like Islam or Christianity) and are not just an ethnic group, although most of us can trace our DNA to the middle east. It is the covenant that we have that is what really makes us Jews as a religion and as a nation.

In times gone by Jews were attacked specially for our religious aspects :  the inquisition,  forced debates , forced conversion or death, Talmud burning initiated by the church ,  the  Christ killer accusations.   When that failed or didn't hurt enough them simply making something up sufficed and ergo the "blood libel" was invented and of course Jews were killed either in show trials or torn apart by mobs. If you don't know what that means it is the invented lie or libel that Jews , during Jewish holidays , kidnapped and killed Christian children and vampire like used their blood in some kind of satanic ritual. 

 To be balanced this was not just a Catholic church thing . Martin Luther , the instigator of the reformation was a rabid Anti Semite . The Russian church endorsed and helped imperial Russia in the creation of pales of settlements and pogroms. On a secular level the secret imperial police came up with the now notorious "protocols of the elder of Zion". 

 In Islam , Mohammed went from liking Jews to calling for their mass slaughter and in the lands they lived, Jews were subject to dhimmitude and pogroms whenever the mood took; during the 1930s and the war , Arabs flocked to the axis side, with the grand Mufti being a guest of Hitler.  The Farhud pogrom, the beginning of the end for Iraqi Jews, was inspired by the joint  propaganda efforts of this alliance. Some apologists note the fact that Islam "took in"  Jews from Spain in 1492 . So had Venice ,  the Netherlands and England did so later .  In fact these was nothing other than a clever bit of business. Sephardim were and are merchants and business people with contacts over the known world. 

Later on during the 19th and 20th centuries , the hierarchy of races and other social Darwinist theories gained traction. Because these ideas had a veneer of scientific respectability (in short pseudoscience) , they were taken on by the likes of the Nazis. Jews were not even on the lowest rung on humanity (blacks and Slavs were ) , but were on the level of "sub human", somewhere between a human being and an animal, albeit a cunning serpent like creature, often portrayed as shifty, fat, ugly and an overtly big wobbly nose. Then came the concentration camps and the holocaust.

Yet antisemitism still exists. People deny the holocaust and demonize Israel. Others insidiously hint that there wouldn't be antisemitism if Israel didn't exist (although that wouldn't explain antisemitism before 1948!). The attacks come from the far right. The far left and Islamic world.

It is also clear antisemitism isn't just a religious issue . For a start the west is now more or less non religious and Christians are rediscovering their Jewish roots. Even the Vatican has got rid of the Jesus killing accusations. The church of England apologised for English blood libels, there's even a tiny , revived, synagogue in Lincoln next to the cathedral.  Some of the most dedicated supporters of Israel are devout Christians. 

Yet Islam, has seen the opposite. As mentioned before , the ancient Iraqi Jewish community has been destroyed. The vibrant  Jewish communities  from Arab Islamic lands are gone . To my mind Islamic antisemitism, where it exists, is more or less a carbon copy of the older forms of antisemitism, adapted to a particular audience.

In fact today's antisemitism is a traditional blend of religious and secular antisemitism, but the key ingredient is there. What is that?  Well it's what I call damned if you do,  just damned. Or just I hate them, it's all their fault.  The anti Semite hate Jews so much, whatever a Jew does is simply evil,  like this :

1. If Jews are poor or refugees : parasites sucking off the blood of the land.

2. If Jews are rich and successful :  parasites who have manipulated their way to success . Yet more evidence of them controlling the world.

In this sense antisemitism is different to other forms of racism. Usually a racist will see other races as inferior. This is true of the anti Semite, until they have to explain why Jews are successful if we are indeed inferior or evil. Hence the need to ascribe to Jews conspiracy and grudgingly agree Jews are intelligent, but with a  hive like mind. The intelligence of Jews gets twisted into Jews becoming devious collective serpent like creatures who can manipulate everyone to run the  country they live in , if not the world .  

When Jews are killed or are subject to the holocaust , then this is either denied or even more farce like are accused of manipulating all behind-the-scenes. Thus in this view Hitler was a Zionist puppet , with Jews actually being behind the holocaust. We killed Kennedy because he didn't want to give Israel nukes (except the French were the ones who helped with that, oh never mind). We invented neo conservatism to destroy Israel's enemies,  but at the same time invented" social Marxism" to "flood" the west with Islamic immigration. We also did 9/11, control ISIS. We also control Putin and Trump at the same time. In short whatever happens that is bad in the world,  it's all our fault. Period.

I will say in closing that I think antisemitism will last as long as Jews live. In fact , if Martians decided to relocate us all to a new earth like world, I suspect antisemitism would still be alive on planet earth. It may also seem impossible to argue with what my bro calls" loons and foaming at the mouth fanatics". I agree. It's very difficult if not impossible for a fully flushed anti Semite to see sense , such is his twisted mind. Nonetheless antisemitism should and must be fought.  It is not to convince the anti Semites, but to expose them before they gain any new recruits. The internet has allowed for this to happen. The media allows it with their one sided presentation of Israel . But combat it we must. 

After all  us Jews are good are arguing...😎