Let's talk about Antisemitism, seriously, and let's do the radical thing and ignore facts.
Why? because facts - or rather "facts" - no longer describe reality, such as it is. Facts, nowadays, are merely opinions masked, and the more extreme the opinion, the more “factual” are the facts. So, let's avoid talking about how many Jews were slaughtered on October 7th, how many Palestinians have died in the Gaza strip, How many demonstrations were for or against this or that agenda in this or that campus or how many times Biden blinked when he gave his most Zionist or Antisemitic speech ever on any given day. We have all become a little crazy with an overflow or righteous and wrongous "facts". It's not that facts are not important, but I want to talk about things that are a little deeper, and I am afraid we are usually so bogged down by facts that we never really get to the point. So, with your permission, whether you agree with what I have to say or not, let's forget about the "facts" and "circumstances" for a moment and do the unthinkable: use our very own common sense, to look at things around us, and then think. This, regretfully, also sounds like an intellectual trap: If I'm invoking "common sense" then I'm probably an Antisemite, or a Jewish Fascist, or both.
Okay, let's just try to stick to a very loose agreement. I'll try to keep it civilized and balanced, and you'll try to keep on reading even if you find out we disagree. Deal?
So, against the backdrop of the current Gaza war, we may (or may not) see Antisemitism rearing its ugly head in the US. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. How can we tell? We have facts. But these, as we already said, mean little these days. So instead of saying a little or a lot, Gaza-related or not, let's just agree that there is Antisemitism in the US. Rising? Diminishing? Hundreds of incidents? Less than a dozen? It doesn't really matter, does it? Even a little is too much; at least that's what I think. One idiot, writing "dirty Jew" on social media, is too much and must be dealt with. Numbers are irrelevant.
Now, it's easy to see that this "forget-about-the-facts" workstyle will not get us far with the fight against Antisemitism. One idiot, one Antisemitic incident, will not move the government into action, will not make the law-enforcement community see the danger, will not make university presidents crack down on hate. We need to make an impact, otherwise, nobody will listen. Goddamnit! Even when numbers are horrifying, they don't listen! People need to see how horrible and destructive the Palestinian / Iranian / Nazi / Racist / Jihadi /Antisemitic agenda is. This is why we need to raise public awareness of every demonstration, every bigot, every "from the river to the sea"; otherwise, nobody will understand the danger, and nobody will do a thing to curb it.
And here is where we will probably start disagreeing. If you're Jewish, that is. I believe that here lays our gravest and most dangerous mistake. "Here" being the belief that the others will save us, that the non-Jewish majority of the US will turn against Antisemitism, not just now, when the Middle East is burning but in general. This belief, I think, is unfounded. The government? The Police? The FBI? The universities? The New-York Times or BBC? They will not save us. They will not even favor us. Let me repeat this:
NON-JEWS ARE NOT GOING TO STOP ANTISEMITSM. EVER.
I guess none of you is shocked by this statement. First, they never had. Second, Antisemitism, to non-Jews, falls squarely under the definition of a "you-problem". It's only natural. They will never care about it as much as we do. We actually keep saying it: "They never bothered bombing the death-camps! The Europeans have always been Antisemites! Antisemitism is an inherent part of Islam! Antisemitism is the oldest kind of hate in the world!". And there's more. So, if not all of us, then at least a lot of us don't trust gentiles and are quite pessimistic about their possible role in our salvation.
Except in one matter.
When it comes to fighting Antisemitism, facing it down in real life, we delegate all real-world efforts to non-Jews. We are completely unwilling to put some skin in the game and actually fight Antisemitism ourselves. Suddenly, gentiles - those we constantly fear and smear - are our only hope. We send them to arrest our enemies, we demand they fund our fight and that they make sure that Antisemites are shut up and shunned. To a certain extent it makes sense. The US, is a democratic, civilized, country and we expect it to serve and protect its citizens, Jews included. But it won't, not the way we want it to. When Antisemitism becomes a national threat, then non-Jews will care as much as we do, and not a moment sooner.
To a certain extent, Jews in the US understand that, which is why we find some Jewish organizations trying to present Antisemitism as a national threat, a part of an all-encompassing hate-wave. This would have been a noble, even effective course of action, if it weren't so dishonest. No Jewish organization ever fought for others as diligently as it fought for Jews. Some fig-leaves are strewn throughout the Jewish non-profit industry, trying to create a semblance of a universal anti-hate agenda, but for the most part, we fight for ourselves. This doesn't make us evil or selfish, but let's not delude ourselves - or try to delude others - that we are doing this for the greater good. By the way, if we ever do, if we ever take it upon ourselves to fight for everybody, then we may truly become a "light unto the nations".
But no. We don't currently want to fight for everybody. We want the gentiles to protect us, and we want them to do it on OUR terms: every incident, big or small, always, anywhere. When they don't comply, we become petulant and sulky ("The Democrats are endorsing Palestinian Militias, The Republicans are funding Nazi Militias and the Media... well the media has always hated us..."), which doesn’t make us look too good. But, as I said before, the one thing we will not do, is engage the enemy ourselves.
I remember sitting across the table from a regional director of one of the most vocal, militant, and well-funded Jewish organizations in the US. I told him that there's a way to fight - or at least try to fight - Antisemitism on campuses. I explained about non-violent resistance and how it can effectively be implemented in the relatively safe and monitored campus environment. It takes a lot of determination, I said, and I know it sounds crazy, but it can actually work. It doesn't cost money, I added, it doesn't take administrative infrastructure, it doesn't take cooperation from the authorities, it doesn't take anything, except the willingness to stand our ground and stare Antisemites in the eye.
By that time, I had presented the idea of non-violent resistance enough times to understand that it is far from intuitive or easy to accept. I had my arguments at the ready, but the conversation never went there. The man was not resentful; he was visibly shocked. "We... we... we..." he adjusted his tie, fingers trembling, "We don't... it's not... We don't actually meet Antisemites in the field... We raise public awareness, we organize seminars, we have media campaigns, but you don't actually think that... No. No." I had to calm the poor man and assure him that I was not asking him to do anything, just Jewish students whose personal wellbeing may not be as important as that of an Antisemitism-Fighter like himself. And this is just a single case. I had dozens like these. Jewish "Leaders" trembling at the thought of fighting Antisemitism not over bagels and coffee in a lecture hall; not from behind the keyboard; not from the TV studio; from the real flesh and blood world, where real Antisemites - mostly armed with flags and dirty mouths - can be found. It was too much. But really, it's not them, it's us. These "Leaders" are merely giving us what we want: to make Antisemitism somebody else's problem.
So, we donate; we call our senators; we don't read the Antisemitic newspapers anymore because they don't deserve us; we remove the Ivy League Diploma from our office's wall, because universities don't stand up to Antisemitism, but we never, ever, meet the threat ourselves. Because we're scared.
We are scared of getting abused, ridiculed, maybe even physically hurt, and that is one hundred percent legitimate. But we are also scared of being uncomfortable, of leaving our cushy offices and nice living rooms. We are scared that once we stop sending others to do our job and actually apply ourselves, the beautiful all-American bubbles we live in will no longer shelter us from real-life Jewishness, the kind that comes with some real-world difficulties. This is also one hundred percent legitimate. It’s just a matter of deciding where we want to stand.
So, in my opinion, Antisemitism, and the fight against it, doesn’t have to do anything with current events, the current administration, the current campuses vibe, or the current anything. It is the question of whether we claim ownership over our problems or keep waiting for others to solve them for us. The gentiles will save us only in a catastrophic scenario that will threat their own wellbeing, not only ours. Until then, no amount of shouting, sulking, funding, boycotting, campaigning or arm-wrestling will get anybody to fight against Antisemitism other than us. If we don't want to act, don't want to pay the prices that come with direct action, that's fine, but let us not expect anything special to happen until we do.
Personally, I believe we can shake off the numbness and face our fears.
I believe we should.
I believe we must.
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