Anti-Semitism, its origins and prognosis.

RECENT NOISES made by the group of "independent Jewish voices in Australia, the UK and Canada, who claim to have been silenced y the Jewish leadership because of their criticism of Israel's policies and the failure to achieve peace, have brought into sharp relief the curious and perennial phenomenon of Jews attacking Jews. Attacking with the sort of ferocity and viciousness considered unconscionable in polite society. Attacking with the emotional intensity of adolescents, feeling that the expression of angst is their sacred right. Attacking fearlessly, with the pleasant feeling of a child's impunity, knowing that no matter what, the love of the family is unconditional.

Of course, it is Jews, or to be politically correct, Zionists--who stubbornly refuse to be blown up by suicide bombers--who are the main obstacle to peace on our planet. So now we know who the real villains are, thanks to these fearless "independents".

Believing themselves to be moved by the purest of motives, these "pathfinders" posture as the defenders of humanity, muzzled and threatened by a secret conspiracy. They refuse to recognise and acknowledge the real reason for their vitriol and their disregard of the facts of life.

I have to disappoint those knights of the truth: do not kid yourself, guys. It has all happened before and, I would melancholically hasten to add, most probably will happen again. All I have to do is look back, to observe Jewish history, uniquely intertwined with the history of all humanity, but nevertheless separate and often painfully aloof. Its separateness is based on The Book, on the unwillingness to surrender, and the bond of the blood lost by those who refused to be anything else but Jews.

Hence, to all committed independents, non-committed Gentiles, and the simply interested, I say: sit back and enjoy a bumpy time-ride along the sheer cliffs of the drama of raw emotion, unbridled passion, heroic pathos, exhilaration, and the despair of betrayal. It is all there in Jewish history. I will show you a minuscule part of it.

THE SURVIVAL OF MONOTHEISM

FROM THE BEGINNING of recorded history, the anti-Semitism of pagan Greece and Rome was fuelled by the incredulity these mighty empires felt at the temerity of the Jews, who resisted the re-introduction of paganism with ferocity and stubbornness, which was as heroic as it was militarily hopeless. This incredulity of the strong and muscular was enhanced by their outrage that the Jews dared to declare the superiority of their religious beliefs and, in the end, refused to follow the conqueror's ideology. This superiority of belief was staunchly adhered to, despite the inability of the Jews to prove the existence of their invisible God. I'd like to stress this important nuance--superiority of belief, not superiority of people, although there must have been an element of intellectual smugness among the carriers of a grain of truth in a sea of idolatry. I suspect that Christian evangelical proselytising might involve similar feelings among missionaries.