Into the Fray: Strange Bedfellows in Hate: From Carlson to the Caucasus

One of the issues causing grave concern for the future of the GOP is the troubling rise of antisemitism within certain sectors of its constituency.

Antisemitism is often referred to as the world’s “oldest hatred,” a term used to describe hostility, discrimination, and prejudice against the Jewish people. This form of hatred is characterized by its persistence through history, adapting to different eras from ancient times through to the present day.

Pernicious and persistent

Persecution of the Jews/Israelites dates back to ancient times—from Pharaoh and the Romans -extending through the Spanish/Portuguese Inquisitions to the murderous pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a horrific climax across much of Europe during the Nazi era, with strong pro-Nazi sentiment pervading most of the Arab world. Indeed, one of the starkest instances of this was the Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, who met with Hitler during the war and engaged in mobilizing support and resources of SS units in the Balkans. Throughout the post-WW-II years, the longstanding Jewish communities across the Middle East suffered harsh persecution (including lethal pogroms) in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Iraq’s infamous Farhud.

In the following decades, antisemitism generally fell into disrepute in much of the West—mainly due to the traumatic memories of the Holocaust, being repressed rather than eradicated. Thus, it still simmered just below the surface, occasionally erupting in attacks on synagogues and Jewish community centers across the US and elsewhere. Of course, in the USSR, large-scale suppression of Jews prevailed up until the early 1990s. Moreover, the enmity towards the fledgling Jewish state, founded in 1948, generated more anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist enmity, spurring ongoing efforts to destroy the UN-approved state, even enlisting Nazi scientists to help realize that goal.

Old ware in new wrapping?

But lately, there has been a new and disturbing surge in antisemitism, which seems to be conferring an aura of respectability on the hatred of Jews. Its roots are both perverse and paradoxical—emerging in the immediate wake of Jews suffering the most appalling atrocity since the Holocaust, with over 1200 murdered and massacred in a single day. However, instead of eliciting a wave of sympathy and identification with the victim of such unprovoked savagery, massive displays of support for the Islamist terrorist organization spread across North America and Western Europe. Thus, American University historian Pamela Nadell

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