Is it broken? What do you think? I don’t think you’d be reading this if you thought otherwise. There’s an ancient Jewish principle, Tikkun Olam, “fixing the World”, an incredible concept considering what the world throws at them! I would suggest that they are contributing to this noble goal in ways that they would not dare to imagine. Let me explain.
I believe there are three competing forces shaping our public discourses in our current culture; Islam, Christianity and secular humanism. Each of these comes in two varieties, a positive one and a negative one. The tragedy of our current age is that, in general, it is the negative variety that tends to dominate. Let’s begin with positive possibilities. Christianity is centred on love, redemptive love that cares for the individual, in this life and the next. Islam, in a positive sense, is known for its acts of charity, moral clarity and family togetherness. With secular humanism, if we focus on the principles that once guided those to the left of centre, who we would call ‘traditional labour voters’, the emphasis used to be on ‘being kind’, social action, care for the disadvantaged and justice. Taking all the above together, surely a society with all three of these very different expressions working together, would be a healthy one. Unfortunately it isn’t.
This brings me to the negative actualities. To varying degrees, all three have one thing in common, negativity towards the Jewish people (often dressed up as contempt for the Nation of Israel). The key driver is hatred, not love. Yes, even the Church has to be included, ‘Christian antisemitism’ is often swept under the carpet, but it is the ‘elephant in the pews’ in most, but not all, cases. Militant Islam, or Islamism, holds sway among Muslims, with open hatred for Israel and all associated with it. They may not be the majority, but they are the loudest and the most active, able to suppress dissenting voices within their own fold. The saddest tale regards those on the ‘left’, where antisemitism seems to have become a ‘badge of honour’ among not just the activists and ‘chattering classes’ but as an unwritten principle in the woke handbook that many seem to reading from. The hatred is a new thing here and entirely regrettable, but seemingly has been absorbed through this weird association with a fundamentalist Islam to which they have nothing in common with … except contempt for the Jews.
We are social animals, which is not always a good thing. Witness the continuing pro-Palestinian marches, where you will find folk from all three groups (yes, even some Christians and misguided Jews) united in a community of common purpose, driven by antisemitism, whether it is acknowledged or not. They are working together for no purpose other than the buzz they get personally, the self-importance for being (in their own words), ‘on the right side of history’. I speak here out of charity as I refuse to contemplate that they literally believe what they so readily chant, a call for the utter destruction of Israel and the cancellation of Jewish people from society. If I am wrong, then the world is even more broken than I first imagined.
The existence of Jewish people has brought together this ‘unholy alliance’. So, how is this Tikkun Olam, how is this fixing the world? Right minded people (yes, folks, you are still in the majority) have noticed how the Gaza war has brought to light much that had been obscured in guilty darkness, regarding the machinations of politicians, the media, NGOs, the United Nations and others, all who have been less than honest in the way they had allowed propaganda to hold sway, following the lead of the Soviet ‘Israel delegitimisation’ campaigns of the 1960s and 1970s. Darkness has been brought into the light. This must be a good thing. But it must not end there. Let’s return to the positive, the place where we started.
Is it still possible for Christians to wake up to the evils of antisemitism that have lurked within for nearly 2,000 years? Can moderate Muslims find a voice and finally proclaim ‘not in my name’? Can socialists (looking at the Labour party here) return to their primary mission of looking after the needs of the ‘working classes’ rather than the indeterminable procession of ‘victims’, with Palestinians at the top of the pile? What is needed for us to be a part of the solution, rather than adding to the problem. I am speaking mainly to Christians here, but I think the general principles work for people of any faith or no faith too.
The main need is for education, something that has given way to sound-bytes, doom-scrolling, influencers and rampant emotionalism. Facts are not etched in stone any more for some, but are amoeba-like possibilities to be viewed through personal filters. It’s as if Moses came down from the mountain, not with the stones of commandments but with a shrug of his shoulders and the words, ‘so what do you all think?’ We need facts but, more importantly, we need correct facts. For Christians I suggest you take the Bible as an unfiltered source, rather than turning to your favourite commentary and, if you want a last word on what God thinks of the Jewish people, read Romans, chapters 9 to 11 and, similarly, read Ezekiel chapter 36 for His views on the land of Israel. For socialists (well, everyone actually) read up on Operation SIG, the covert Soviet disinformation campaign that still has repercussions today. For Muslims, I suggest you do both and also seek out moderate Imams and Muslim-Jewish peace initiatives.
All three expressions need to be exercised through the lens of love, not hate, to build each other up, not to destroy. Currently we are moving on a self-destructive trajectory which, frankly, may be the purpose of those in society who feed off conflict. One thing you must realise though is that, despite what some haters proclaim … these disrupters are not the Jews themselves! To believe otherwise is just to feed into the brokenness of our world. You are better than that!