Antisemitic Chic

Walter Russell Mead writes about antisemitism: The Hate That Dares Not Speak Its Name

When Hitler wrote, it was still socially OK to be an anti-Semite. In some circles it was mandatory. As a consequence of Hitler’s life’s work, it is now as unfashionable to be an anti-Semite as it is to name your child Adolf.

The truth is that anti-Semitism is alive and well and not even particularly rare;
it’s just that many of today’s anti-Semites like to think of themselves as enlightened, modern people and get all huffy and hissy if anyone accuses them of prejudice in any form. Many who in past times would have been open and honest about their anti-Semitism, now try to hide the truth even from themselves.

But anti-Semitism involves belief in any or all of the following ideas:

Jews are more clannish than other people and act in concert to support a specifically Jewish agenda.


Jews deploy extraordinary wealth with almost superhuman cunning in support of the Jewish agenda.


As a religious and national minority, Jews cannot flourish without attacking the traditional values of their host society. In every country Jews seek to weaken national culture, religion, values and cohesion.


Jews are not a national group or a people in the way that others are; they do not have the same right to establish a nation state that other peoples do.


Where Jewish interests are concerned, the appearance of open debate in our society and many others is a carefully constructed illusion. In reality, Jews work together to block open debate on issues they care about and those who resist the Jewish agenda are marginalized in public discussion.

I would have liked to have seen Mead take this to the next level--as it applies to anti-Zionism

• Israel is separate from other countries and and supports a specifically Israeli agenda. 

• Israel deploys extraordinary influence and tecnology with almost superhuman cunning in support of the Israeli agenda. 

• Israel seeks to weaken world culture, religion, values and cohesion. 

• Israel is not a country in the way that others are; they stole the country from the Palestinian people whose country it has been for centuries.

• Where Israeli interests are concerned, the appearance of open debate in our society and many others is a carefully constructed illusion by the Israel Lobby. In reality, this lobby works to block open debate on issues they care about and those who resist the Israeli agenda lose financial support or find themselves voted out of office.

It really does not take much to take the accepted antisemitic claims made about Jews and simply reapply them to Israel as a whole. It makes we wonder if it is with an inward sigh of relief that many of these 'enlightened' antisemities watch as the most virulent forms of antisemitism today come from the Muslim world--directed at both Jews in general and at Israel in particular.

Hat tip: Instapundit

Technorati Tag: Israel and Antisemitism.