A large amount of intellectual energy can be expended on trying to expose the roots of Jew-hatred. For example, there is the argument that former barbarians resent Judaism for injecting a voice of morality into their consciences.
Could be. But the prescription to try to inculcate Jewish ethics into the descendents of Baal- or Bacchus-worshipers isn’t likely to work. There is another much simpler remedy for Jew-hatred, which doesn’t require understanding the root causes, and depends only on one fundamental principle of human behavior.
It is this: humans behave best toward other humans when they respect them, and old-fashioned fear is part of respect.
When does Jew-hatred wax most strongly? When Jews try to be conciliatory. When does it wane? When Jews fight back.
The image of Israel in the West was at its best in 1948, when the Jews threw out the British colonialists and defeated the genocidal Arab armies. It wasn’t bad in 1967, either, when Israel destroyed the Egyptian air force on the ground and rolled back its enemies in six days. It was at its worst after the near-defeat of 1973, and in the period after the Oslo accords when Israel made concession after concession to the Arabs.
Nobody likes a loser, and nobody likes a victim. This is true for fist-fights on the playground as well as the military battlefield. Weakness doesn’t make others want to help you, it makes them pile on.
Nobody cares about explanations, excuses, or appeals to ethics. Oh, they say they do, but in their hearts they don’t. In their hearts they want to be on the winning side. In their hearts they don’t want the scary guys to be angry at them. If someone calls you a dirty Jew, hit him — don’t explain that Jews have good hygiene habits.
If you want to get respect, you need to respond to provocations disproportionately, even with a degree of irrationality. According to Hunter S. Thompson, this is why the Hell’s Angels were such good brawlers. Draw red lines and stick to them, but go overboard once in a while.
And you should never apologize to Jew-haters. Apologize to your wife if you forget her flowers on Shabbat, but don’t apologize to the Turks when their murderous goons get in the way of your soldiers defending themselves. Apologies demonstrate weakness, which makes your enemies bolder.
When dealing with Jew-hatred on a worldwide scale, it is essential for there to be a Jewish state, with an army and the resources to defend itself and Jewish communities throughout the world. To a degree it’s possible for non-Jews to live in a Jewish state, but nothing can be allowed to compromise its reason for being: to nurture and protect the Jewish people.
Here is an unfortunate fact: many of the elites in the West really don’t like the idea of a Jewish state. They think it was a mistake. They don’t like nationalism in general, and especially Jewish nationalism. They think it is unfair to non-Jews that live in it or nearby. And they are afraid of its enemies. So they try to weaken it.
We aren’t going to be able to change their attitudes, so we should concentrate on keeping our state despite them.
I have seen two recent articles that essentially make the same point. Melanie Phillips claims that instead of taking a defensive position about the alleged ‘occupation’ we should be focusing on telling the true narrative of Jewish historical connection with the land of Israel. Leil Leibowitz in a recent ‘Tablet’ piece argues that one should not be apologetic to attacks of BDS but firmly assert the Zionist and Israeli story.
The best defense is a strong offense-
As you say this will not move the enemies one bit but it is the vast largely indifferent middle that we need to persuade, including those young people in the United States who are not as pro- Israel as older Americans.