A feature of antisemitism from time immemorial has been to ascribe the acts of violent bigots to the objects of their hatred. So, when Jews are targeted with acts of violence, those attacks perversely but predictably inspire even more acts of violence against Jews. And just as the sun rises in the east, the 10/7 massacre has precipitated a wave of attacks on Jews all over the world. That street-level thuggery is either justified or rationalized away by those in possession of the same hatreds but higher offices.
Today, the educated and affluent gleefully tear down images of young Israeli children in the captivity of the people who murdered their friends and families. When the vandals are made to explain themselves, they erect elaborate excuses that portray terrorism as the product of a variety of historical grievances — that is, when they don’t insist that we’ve been sold a bill of goods about the 10/7 massacre. Advocates of supposed social justice apply equally chauvinistic and nonsensical heuristics to the conflict in the Middle East, equating Israelis with American slaveholders and the Gazan people who’ve lived on entirely unoccupied land since 2005 as their “field hands.” They mute the severity of the atrocities Hamas has committed or deny them — or, if they deign to acknowledge our shared reality, they insist that Americans should not come to Israel’s assistance. After all, we have our own problems at home to deal with.
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