How many people have responded the same in both cases? I haven’t seen any. (I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of either situation – the laws are there for a reason – but it seems highly unlikely that in either case there was a malicious intent.)

The partisan nature of the responses to both episodes is proof that morality isn’t the driver, but smugness. It isn’t righteous indignation, it is self-righteous indignation. It isn’t virtuous, it is virtue signaling. It is a message to the world – my political enemy is beneath contempt while  I am morally superior. He does despicable things that my side would never do (and if it does, it is completely different.)

The self-righteous indignation allows me to hate my opponent without the opprobrium normally associated with the emotion of hate.

It occurs to me that this same psyche is the norm for anti-Zionists. They claim to be righteous; they claim to be moral, they claim that their outrage is a reflection of their pristine values. But when it comes to Israel, the posturing is not merely to feel morally superior – it is to actively attack “Israelis” (meaning, today’s eternal Jews) while wearing the mantle of morality.

It is politically acceptable antisemitism.

The proof is clear to those who care to open their eyes. The people who claim to be defending Palestinian rights do nothing to help Palestinian attain those rights. These moral posers don’t support peace; they justify the most heinous terror attacks against Jews, they don’t say a word about Palestinians being attacked or discriminated against in other Arab countries, they were silent when Palestinians were expelled from Kuwait and Iraq and Libya. Palestinian lives matter – but only when Jews can be blamed. Otherwise, they are just cannon fodder to be placed in limbo until the final battle to destroy the Jewish state. 

Antisemitism has always had a measure of self-righteousness – attacking Jews was the most principled thing anyone could do. Martin Luther told  his followers to burn synagogues and Jewish schools, calling it “sharp mercy.” Hitler framed Jews as a cancerous danger to Germany that must be excised – and that philosophy became part of mainstream German medical ethics. 

Morally sanctioned hate has an almost irresistible attraction. Imagine the psychic rewards of being not only allowed to but encouraged to express and act upon your worst instincts, assured that it is for the greater good! 

Jews become the focal point of hate for everything the self-righteous find reprehensible.  Climate change? US police brutality? Ocean pollution? Domestic abuse of women? Your favorite antisemite not getting the job he wanted? Anything and everything can and has been blamed on the Jews and Israel – and always couched in moral terms.

The more vicious your attacks, the more you are elevated within your circle. That’s how Leila Khaled and Rasmea Odeh become heroes in the West.  <

Today, when more people act smugly virtuous than ever before, Jews are again the target. As they have been for centuries.