Anti-Semitism as a Reaction to the Holocaust

Saturday May 6, 2006

In the past, anti-Semitism was a product of many different religious and social forces. Anti-Semitism in Europe today, though, appears to have a different source: it may be in part a reaction to the Holocaust, the ultimate and monstrous product of past anti-Semitism. How is this possible?

The Winter 2005 Wilson Quarterly discusses the article “In the Name of the Other: Reflections on the Coming Anti-Semitism” by Alain Finkielkraut, in Azure (Fall 2004):

Europe has taken on the identity of Albert Camus’ “penitent-judge,” who, Finkielkraut explains, “takes pride in his penitence and is always on guard against himself.” ... Europeans thus say “never again” to Auschwitz—and to war, power politics, nationalism, and all the other things they think drove them to Auschwitz.

One of the Holocaust’s lessons for Europeans is that one must always side with “the Other,” according to Finkielkraut, and for decades after 1945, Jews retained that status. But with the rise of Palestinian militancy, and in recent years the hard line of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, Palestinians have claimed the victim’s mantle. Now they are the Other, while Israel—warlike, nationalist, and racist, in Europe’s eyes—embodies everything that Europe has rejected.

I have no idea if Finkielkraut’s analysis here is correct, but it does have a ring of plausibility. The Europeans’ reactions to the Holocaust, which included rejecting power politics and ultra-nationalism (and, thus, also the use of any means to defend the continuation of the nation and Volk) is entirely reasonable. Unfortunately, Israel was founded by people who accepted Zionism, a political philosophy which developed out of nineteenth-century European nationalism, precisely the sort of thing which Europeans have been trying to reject.

This would appear to make conflict between modern Europe and Israel almost inevitable. So long as Israel continues to adhere to older European-style nationalism and defense of the nation as a repository of the Jewish “Volk,” it’s unlikely that conflict will be over. Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians reminds Europeans of their own past treatment of Jews — even some Jews in Israel see such a connection.

The translation of “disliking Israel” to anti-Semitism shouldn’t happen (ideally), but perhaps that’s inevitable as well. After all, dislike of America’s policies certainly translates into disliking Americans, even though many Americans themselves dislike America’s policies. Moreover, Israel defines itself as a specifically Jewish state (that’s part of the problem, remember), thus criticism of Israel will even more readily translate into criticism of Jews.

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