The New Anti-Semitism

We all know that anti-Semitism is increasing in remarkable leaps and bounds. The Jews call it the new anti-Semitism. What makes it new, ironically, is that there is a reviving of the allusions to Jews requiring Gentile children's blood in order to mix in with their matzo and other ceremonial things. This is an unbelievable, medieval, old wives' tale being resurrected. What makes the anti-Semitism new is that it is no longer confined to the gutter elements of society, but finds expression at university level, trade union movements, peace groups, and even ecological, green groups.

These are all in agreement that Israel is the enemy of mankind. It is new both in who are the proponents of it and the great numbers that are voicing it.

The spread of this new anti-Semitism is like a blight covering the earth. Nations and groups who have normally been sympathetic to Israel are becoming openly hostile, bitter and defiant. They are speaking in ways we would not have thought possible five or ten years ago. It shows how radically the whole social climate can be changed.

As students of recent modern history, we should not be shocked. We know what came over the land of the great giants of Western liberal civilization-Germany. That nation went down like the proverbial deck of cards with the advent of the phenomenon of Nazism. In other words, the world's mood and disposition can change overnight. I am beginning to sense that it is in the process of that change.

Therefore, we need to brace ourselves, as it were, and expect to find expression of anti-Semitism in places that would seem unlikely.

Take, for example, the episode of Mel Gibson (the producer of the film The Passion of Christ) being stopped for speeding/drinking in California. He accosted the cop and asked him if he were a Jew, and, in fact, he was. Gibson is quoted as saying to him that the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Gibson then went on to be publicly humiliated over his outburst. He was not expressing something new; anti-Semitisim was always latent in his soul. It only found expression through the release of alcohol.

More and more we should be expecting such outbursts, and people will soon find that they are no longer embarrassed to hear anti-Semitic remarks being made. It will become more frequent in conversation. At university levels, at places in society where we would have thought they were beyond any propensity toward anti-Semitism, it is becoming prevalent. In other words, the atmosphere is being set for the soon-coming Time of Jacob's Trouble.