by Brett Manero
“History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme,” according to Mark Twain. He is correct. I am not much of a fan of the saying, “History repeats itself,” because the same events do not literally repeat themselves. There is, however, a certain poetry to human history, in areas both good and bad.
One of the worst of these is antisemitism, or the hatred or general dislike of the Jewish people. There are some who deny that antisemitism even exists, but they either horrifically ignorant or completely dishonest. The Jewish people have been disliked and persecuted by countless different peoples and nations: by the Egyptians who held them as slaves in c. 1500 BC, by the Edomites who were envious of them and rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC (read the Book of the Prophet Obadiah), the Romans who occupied Judea in the first century AD, and even in more recent times. One can read about the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, the horrific Dreyfus Affair in France in the late nineteenth century, and of course, the systematic murder of some six million Jews by the Nazis in the 1930’s and 1940’s. And yes, doubters, it was some six million.
Some years ago, I was joining some associates for breakfast on a summer Saturday morning. I will not mention their names, but I will mention the horrible things one of them claimed. I was enjoying my conversation with this man even though the topic itself was depressing. We were discussing the slaughter of Christians by the sadistic terrorist group, ISIS, in 2015 and 2016. If I recall, I compared this slaughter to the Holocaust against the Jews by Nazi Germany. This man suddenly interjected, claiming that it was not six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, but only six thousand. What was his proof? Some unknown “book” that existed for a few years after the end of the Second World War that supposedly recorded the deaths of only six thousand Jews. This book, conveniently, went “missing,” after which the “myth” of six million murdered was created.
I sat in dumbfounded silence, not quite sure of what to say to this man who was either pathetically ignorant or horribly malicious towards the Jewish people. If that were to occur today, I like to think that I would have strongly, even harshly, argued back with him. I like to think that I would have accused him of terrible ignorance and even antisemitism. Hindsight is indeed 20/20.
This man was hardly alone in his sad claims. In the past few years, antisemitism seems to have become the norm for many, including prominent conservative commentators who seem to blame “the Zionists” for just about anything. The recent American arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was even blamed on “the Zionists” by one commentator.
Just before Christmas, during the sacred Hannukah celebrations, an attack on Jews took place at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Several innocent Jews – simply celebrating Hannukah – were murdered. Jews in Europe have reported increasing harassment, and they are not limited to Europe: even in the United States, where religious freedom is a hallmark of American tradition, Jews have experienced increasing harassment.
Hatred of Jews is ugly, it is repulsive, it is insane. No group of people is perfect – every nation on earth has its problems, and that includes the Jewish people. But no one group deserves to be continuously blamed for the plethora of problems around the world.
Hopefully 2026 will see a much-needed decrease in antisemitic thinking, but we have yet to see.
They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever. Amen (St. Paul, Romans 9:4-5).