Anti-semitism today

And now for the big one. Why does our modern secular, rational, ‘progressive and enlightened’ World still hate Jews so much? It’s a big question and we should consider what reasons people give. Is it religious, like between Muslims and Hindus in Asia? Is it about land, like the British and Argentinian spat over the Falkland Islands? Is it economic, blaming Jews for the financial misfortunes of others? Is it because of their insularity, the way ‘they stick together’, just like every immigrant group in this country? How about the world-wide Zionist “conspiracy” for taking over the World, just like those attributed to the Freemasons, Catholics or countless cult groups?

Think on. Historically, it has in fact been all of these, all have been given as reasons for hating the Jews. Yet it is my belief that it has also been none of them. That’s confused you, so let me explain. Let’s say you’ve been invited out to a party but you have absolutely no desire to go; it’s an old school reunion, and you were the one they all used to pick on! You need an excuse, and fast. You phone them up and tell them that you’ve already planned to go elsewhere. There’s a silence on the phone and you panic. Your conversation continues like this: “Oh yes, and our car’s acting up … and my husband’s feeling a bit peeky … and I can feel a headache coming on … “. Basically, you pile on the excuses as if the sheer quantity of them somehow makes it more acceptable for your absence at the party. Meanwhile your school friend has seen through all of this and is saying to herself, “She doesn’t really want to come to my party, does she?” If you’d just given one reason and left it there it would have been alright, but by giving excuse after excuse you create confusion and doubt in the other’s mind.

Returning to my story and fitting it all together we arrive at the situation that, because so many justifications have been given for hating the Jews, it’s a smokescreen hiding the real situation; the truth is that people in general just don’t like them. Deep down, they don’t really know why and are quite happy to believe any explanation put forward by others, and the more reasons the better – it helps to justify these irrational thoughts.

Yids! Kikes! Hebes! We are truly a people of many names, not all of them nice. So how does this anti-Semitism surface? Are all non-Jews natural anti-Semites? Do all anti-Semites want to kick the lot of us into the sea? Anti-Semitism can surface in many ways and here are a few examples:

� As I take notes from the ‘Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Religion’ in the reference library, I notice that of the 420 pages, only the 2 pages containing the entry ‘Jew’ are slashed with a razor blade!

� ‘Some of my best friends are Jews’ (all time classic), usually followed by something like ‘but we have rules … / it’s more than my job’s worth … / now if it were up to me, but …’,’ then ending with the denouement concerning a golf club or a party or somewhere where the last person they’d like to see there would be a Jew!

� The use of ‘Jew’ in any other way than as a proper noun. As a common noun (“Don’t be such a Jew”, meaning “Don’t drive such a hard bargain”), or verb (“to Jew”, meaning “to cheat”). I suppose we have to stifle a giggle when we discover that a ‘Jewish piano’ is another name for a cash register and then consider that without real ‘Jewish pianos’ the world would be robbed of much of its music, including the ‘Star Spangled Banner’, ‘White Christmas’, ‘Easter Parade’ and ‘Rhapsody in Blue’.

� It can be unconscious, inasmuch as it can be handed down in a ‘traditional’ sense e.g. in popular songs. Did you know that the origin of the affirmation Hip Hip Hooray is an ancient Roman chant used while wiping out Jews in medieval villages? The word Hip was originally Hep, an acronym for Hierosolyma Est Perdita (Jerusalem is destroyed).

� Little ditties like ‘Roses are red, violets are blue-ish, if it wasn’t for Jesus we’d all be Jewish!’ Gentiles may say, “How odd of God to choose the Jews”, but I would answer, “If he hadn’t so presumed, you Gentiles would be doomed!”

� I’ve just discovered that, for no special reason, 50 Jewish graves in a local cemetery have been desecrated. Why don’t you ever hear this happen to Christian graves, or Muslim graves?

But surely not in this day and age? You may say that, but you are making the false assumption that our society has reached some enlightened state. If you believe that it is true then it’s just that all of the old hatreds and fears have just dropped below the surface. The Jewish Community Security Trust in the UK reported that there is a continual rise in Anti-Semitism in Britain. 2010 had 639 incidents, the second highest total since record-keeping began 26 years earlier.

One suspects that the figures for 2014 are set to break all records.

Steve Maltz

(This is an abridged extract from Steve’s book Outcast Nation )

Why does the World still seem to hate the Jews?