Western Antisemitism is not a Phenomenon of the Past. It is Alive and Well in the Present.

T. Belman. What surprised me about this article was that a prominent Canadian publisher, published it. The only issue with it that I take, is the view taken of the idea of the Judeo-Christian values. 70% of Americans like Israel, Jewish Israel. The anti-Israel sentiments reside mainly on the secular left of the spectrum and have much to do with anti-establishmentarianism. As such it wages war on Christianity, Judaism, America and Israel. Strangely, this war doesn’t extend to Islam. Quite the contrary.

Yes there are certain values shared by Christianity and Judaism, all of which values originated with Judaism. There are also values held by each that are not shared by the other. Having said that, many Christians share the Jewish value of not turning the other cheek whereas many liberal Jews share the Christian value of meekness. One of the highest values of Christianity is the value of spreading the word, i.e evangelizing. This is an affront to Judaism and Jews and shows disrespect to them. The Jews on the other hand only reluctantly allow conversion to Judaism.

The opening sentence “Antisemitism is at the core of Western culture” is a bit much. Discuss.

By Prof Julien Bauer, NATIONAL POST

Antisemitism is at the core of Western culture. Even when a popular expression is “Judeo-Christian values,” it should not hide the fact that these “values” are lopsided. On one hand we have a God of revenge, on the other a God of mercy, Judas is the archetypal Jew, a traitor, as if all the apostles were not Jewish. The relations between the two creeds, Judaism and Christianity, were symbolized by the Disputations on the validity of both religions, the verdict known in advance: Judaism is wrong, Christianity is right. An analysis of classical European literature, in its French, English and other expressions, shows a regular feature of antisemitism stereotypes, from Shakespeare to Voltaire.

In modern times, what was mainly anti-Judaism — Jews converting to Christianity were welcomed if not feted — became antisemitism. Theological arguments, in a less religious society, were not anymore convincing. The ascending role of secular nationalism gave way to a secular form of anti-Jewish discourse, insisting on the racial identity, without possibility of opting out. Jews are intrinsically bad and should be either checked very closely (milder antisemitism), or exterminated (stronger antisemitism).

A rather equivalent attitude prevailed in Muslim societies. As the Christians, Muslims had to recognize the anteriority of Judaism and to affirm that their monotheism was of a higher level. When not using religious arguments, Muslim countries rely on racism: Jews, even without a theological component, are by definition inferior. How can we understand the interest, if not the obsession, of the West for anything Jewish. The symbol of Jews is less a specific religion, Judaism, but a national one in its Israeli expression. Israel is therefore treated as the archetype of anything bad and evil in the world. No word is strong enough to condemn Israel.

This obsession is so ingrained that many Western decisions are self-defeating. The European Union, for instance, recognizes the vitality of Israel’s economy, research and development, and sign treaties for joint endeavours, a normal way of dealing with national interests. Such is the case for inviting Israel to become a member of OECD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2010, or to become a partner in CERN, the first and only non-European member of European Organization for Nuclear Research in 2014.

But why threaten to impose special labelling for Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank, when not such a treatment is even considered for products from Chinese-occupied Tibet or Turkish-occupied (half of) Cyprus. How can we understand the French proposition, encouraged by many European Union members, to impose a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and declare that Jerusalem, the Holy City of Judaism before there was Christianity or Islam, is Palestinian? Even more striking is the attitude of the Vatican. Christians constitute a dwindling population in the Middle East, except in Israel. They are massacred, their churches burnt down. The Holy See, in response, signs a treaty putting its own churches in Jerusalem under the tender loving care of the Palestinian Authority. It could be the reaction of a Catholic Church frightened by an unpleasant reality, it is also a demonstration of self-defeating anti-Semitism: we hate you, Jews, more than we love ourselves.

Non-Western countries, specifically Asian ones, do not have this kind of background. When religions are neither Christian nor Muslim, such as Confucianism, Bouddhism, Hinduism, they have no reason to be obsessed by Jews. You cannot ignore Judaism if you are a Christian or a Muslim, but you may be totally unaware of it when you are an adept of a non-monotheistic faith. Does that entail that Asian countries are more open to Jews in general, to Israel in particular?

Till 25 years ago, the two major Asian states, China and India, were leading members of the Conference of Non-Aligned States, officially neither with Washington nor with Moscow. The leaders were Nehru, Chou En Lai, Nasser, Tito. The Conference was hostile to Israel but, in the case of China and India, this had no anti-Semitic connection. New Delhi and Beijing considered in their national interests to lambast Israel and befriend Arab states. When they estimated it was in their national interest to establish relations with Israel, even close relations, they did so without any theological or racial issues. They do not pretend to be ontologically superior to Israel and entitled to dictate their views, they maintain relation both with Israel and Arab states for the promotion of their own interests

The results are already tangible. A few years ago, two-thirds of Israeli economic exchanges were with the European Union and the United States. Today the second-largest partner is China and India is coming close. This trend, an upsurge of Asian countries in world economy, is obvious. The country’s economy is booming, and less and less dependent with the West.

An example of the open minded approach of the Asian countries comes from South Korea. This country studied the reason of the exceptionally high number of Israeli scientific Nobel Prizes and the rate that Israel discovers new technologies. They estimated that the intellectual ability encouraged by the study of Talmud was one of the explanations. They decided to introduce Talmudic studies in the schools. It has nothing to do with religion but was considered a tool, albeit of Jewish origin, for the specific goal of enhancing Korea’s place in the field of knowledge. The mere idea of a Western country doing the same is ludicrous.

If we believe in the “Judeo-Christian” discourse, Israel is part and parcel of the West. When we witness the permanence of antisemitism in Western culture, this link is questionable. The West is, most probably without being conscious of it, encouraging Israel, and its high technology sector, to be increasingly linked with Asian countries, accelerating the rise of Asia in the world. In that way, the West’s enduring anti-Semitism, consciously or not, is helping bring about the end of Western political, cultural, economic and perhaps even cultural domination of the world.

Julien Bauer is professor of political science at Université du Québec à Montréal and an Academic Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research.