Antisemitism: History & Myth An important new masterpiece from Robert Spencer. by Mark Tapson
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm-plus/antisemitism-history-myth/
One would have thought that, in the wake of the barbaric massacre of over 1200 Israelis on October 7, 2023 by Hamas savages, not to mention the ongoing hostage crisis, that there would have been a worldwide outpouring of sympathy for the victims and condemnation of the terror organization’s war crimes. If so, one would be horribly wrong. Instead, the world has witnessed a tsunami of support for Hamas and a virulent hatred for the kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered Jews.
What explains this surge of Jew-hatred, manifested in violent demonstrations on the campuses of prestigious universities and in the streets of major Western cities worldwide? What are the roots of this murderous bigotry and how has it been sustained over the course of millennia? Why do demonstrably false blood libels and conspiracy theories – such as fiendish Jews kidnapping Christian children for macabre rituals, or a secret network of Jews running the world – continue to thrive? What is the truth about Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
To answer these questions and more, one cannot do better than to pick up a copy of the latest book from Freedom Center Shillman Fellow and Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer – Antisemitism: History & Myth. Of this book, no less an authority on the subject than Dennis Prager has said, “I do not believe a more important book on anti-Semitism has ever been written.” Considering what we have seen since the October 7 attacks, Prager could have added that a timelier book on antisemitism has never been written, as well.
Spencer, of course, is the accomplished author of something like 30 books ranging from political commentary to history to theology to biography, not to mention his prolific output of daily commentary at FrontPage Mag and PJ Media.
As with all of Spencer’s books, Antisemitism: History & Myth is not only top-notch scholarship but highly readable as well. In our current malicious political climate, it is crucial to get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about every aspect of antisemitism: its roots (and fruits), Christian Jew-hatred through the centuries, the Nazi and Islamic alliance against Jews, conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial, Israel and the so-called Palestinians, and more. And Spencer delivers the truth in full.
To begin, he lays out four principal sources for antisemitism: pre-Christian Jew-hatred, Christianity, national and international socialism, and Islam.
Spencer notes that certain paradigms of Jew hatred were already established in the ancient world. He points out that “one of the fundamental reasons why the Jews have been persecuted throughout history” – and paradoxically one of the reasons for their survival against all odds – is that, as a whole, “they have resisted attempts at incorporation into the larger society.” Their uncompromising monotheism and separate customs and traditions put them at odds with early polytheistic societies. For example, Jews were accused by the Roman authorities of dual loyalty for stubbornly maintaining their distinct identity and not fully assimilating into mainstream society. That is a paradigm which we still see operating even today.
As for Christian antisemitism, the early Jewish and Christian communities, which were initially two factions of the same community, grew apart and became increasingly antagonistic toward each other as some of the most influential Church Fathers, from Augustine of Hippo to St. John Chrysostom to Ambrose of Milan, excoriated the Jews with incendiary rhetoric including the long-running accusation that many Christians still have not rejected: namely, the damning notion that Jews collectively were and are the killers of Jesus Christ.
But with the 16th-century Reformation led by Martin Luther, whose “incandescent hatred of Jews” made the early Church Fathers seem “positively philosemitic,” the Catholic Counter-Reformation “struck a massive blow against Catholic antisemitism by denying its central claim: the Jews collectively bore the guilt for Christ’s death.”
The Catholic Church has a mixed record of living up to Christ’s standards in its treatment of Jews, perhaps most notably during the 20th century Holocaust. It’s worth noting though, that throughout history there have been popes who have pushed back against Jew hatred, including the Vatican II statement which condemned antisemitism as being opposed to Christian principles.
With the advent of modern authoritarianism, from the French Revolution through Marx’s Communist Manifesto to Hitler’s national socialist movement, Jew-hatred gathered terrible momentum. The aim became the eradication of Jews and Jewish influence entirely – reaching its horrific apex in the Final Solution of the Holocaust.
As for Islam and Jew hatred, it will not come as news to any reader of FrontPage Mag and Robert Spencer’s work that “antisemitism is deeply embedded within the Qur’an and Islamic tradition.” Jews are cursed as less than human for their rejection of “the true religion.” The Qur’an unambiguously asserts that they are among the worst enemies of Muslims: “You will find the Jews and the idolaters the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who believe.”
Spencer elaborates on each of these wellsprings of antisemitism with an abundance of historical and theoretical examples and evidence. He then addresses the resurfacing of Jew hatred in the modern world – driven in no small part by the ubiquity of social media – and counters the most destructive and influential charges against the Jews with reasoned argument. The book also settles the Palestinian question and sets straight the hate propagandists for their claim that Israel is an illegitimate “apartheid state.” It not only makes for compelling, enlightening reading, but arms readers with ammunition to shoot down the misconceptions, hateful lies, and conspiracy theories.
In the dedication to this must-read volume, as well as in the conclusion, Spencer quotes the famous words of Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn about the line which separates good and evil running not between people of one ethnicity or another, nor between people of one religion and another, but straight through every human heart. “This is an age of social contagions,” Spencer observes, against which “rational argumentation is only of limited value.” That certainly feeds into this “return of an ancient evil,” as Spencer puts it. But “the truth still shines forth as clearly as ever… for that small number of people who still, as quaint as it is to do so these days, hold the truth dear.”
Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior
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