The causes of anti-Semitism predate the birth of Jesus, and have been persistent for over 2,000 years. Almost every country in Western and Eastern Europe, and in the Arab Peninsula, has orchestrated pogroms for thousands of years.
The standard reasons for this have been that Jews are outsiders, control wealth and the means of production, including the media, banking, governments, and cause plagues, and have the political clout to lose wars.
Hitler called the Lenin-Trotsky Soviet Union “Judeo Communism,” and this trope lived until the McCarthy era and the treason trial of the Rosenbergs, who were accused of giving atomic secrets to the Russians.
But today, there are a few new causes of anti-Semitism that do not fit into the standard reasons national Jewish groups use when they raise the anti-Semitism issue to the national level.
Israel’s War Conduct
First, the recent spike in anti-Semitism stems from Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the West Bank in October 2022 and the resulting destruction of Gaza. Videos of the smashed concrete building, leveled homes, and uprooted olive trees have the same impact on American audiences who saw the Vietnam War carnage on national TV. In the 1960s and 1970s, those TV images prompted a huge anti-war sentiment that eventually drove President Johnson and the military from office. Those same forces are valid today in fermenting anti-Israel sentiment. This is anti-Israel sentiment, which is not the same as anti-Semitism. Still, the major Jewish groups—ADL, B’nai B’rith, AIPAC, the Republican Jewish Coalition, AISH, many rabbis, the Jewish media–do not make this critical distinction.
This version of anti-Semitism is anti-Israel, and it manifests itself when pro-Arab demonstrations confront pro-Israel supporters who are mostly Jewish. It is not that they object to the Jews in front of them, but to Israel’s war policies that are being directed from thousands of miles away.
Jews Behaving Badly
Second, another cause of anti-Semitism is the sad fact that many Jews are in the news for illegal, unethical actions that have attracted international attention. This includes the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal and the role of other Jews in the Trump
administration who are lightning rods for being hated. This includes Steven Miller and some of the Jewish podcasters who are avid Trump supporters, such as Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, and Laura Loomer. Basically, Jewish supporters of the MAGA Trump movement work as propagandists for the MAGA movement, and aside from their blind support of Israel’s one-state solution and defense of the gangster settlers who terrorize Arab farmers in the West Bank, they don’t reflect any Jewish values.
The Mossad Connection?
Third, the Mossad connection. Jewish groups avoid this topic since it often leads to nothing good. The British newspaper magnate, Robert Maxwell, the father of Ghiselle Maxwell (Epstein’s partner and girlfriend), was linked to the Mossad. His mysterious death only added to the intrigue. Now, stories about the Mossad’s link to Epstein, while unproven to date, could be the most significant contributor to a new source of anti-Israel sentiment, as opposed to anti-Semitic feelings directed towards Jews as a group. If this connection between Mossad and Epstein is verified, it will open a whole new chapter in anti-Israel sentiment.
Fanning the Flames of Hysteria
The hysterical response to the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York has been unfounded. Nothing in New York has changed, and it will be months before we see how any of Mamdani’s policies develop, let alone how those policies affect the Jewish community. This election has captivated the attention of the major Jewish organizations, but they have not addressed the sources of anti-Semitism listed above.
Instead, they have focused on the usual anti-Muslim, ad hominem attacks on Mamdani as one who opposes Israel, promotes the Palestinian national cause, and is anti-Netanyahu. These are the standard attack themes, but many Israelis oppose Netanyahu and disapprove of his conduct of the war in Gaza and the West Bank. If an election were held tomorrow, Netanyahu would be voted out of office.
Major Jewish groups that fundraise based on anti-Semitism should create a new category of anti-Semitism that is first, linked to Israeli policies, and second, the criminal, disgraceful, abhorrent behavior of American Jews.
The disgraceful behavior of Jews in a community is not new. The Shanda stigma enforces Jewish community standards and breeds cohesion among those who want to be part of a community that performs good deeds and brings people together.
The Shanda list includes Jews who are divisive, criminal, predatory, and are an embarrassment. Yes, these people exist. They are also a source of anti-Semitism that is less visible than the Proud Boys, social media sensationalists, and Christian nationalists. It’s time for Jewish groups to expand their search for the causes of anti-Semitism.
Maybe they should adopt the old saying from the cartoon character Snoopy: “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”
