BWhy do I, a Jew among others, who actually didn’t care about anything else, feel more and more obliged to be Jewish? To react like a Jew, to think like a Jew, and above all to be Jewish.
And why do I feel that I, who belonged to a minority that had its share in the world’s misfortunes almost like any other, have now become a member of the ruling caste, the head of oppression, imperialism and injustice? As if being Jewish has become something sinister, vaguely suspect, possibly abhorrent. How could I have become so evil in such a short time?
What happened? Why do I see behind the hatred of the “elites” all too often the hatred of the “chosen ones”? Why do I feel like a whole lexicon has been created that makes it possible to say something without actually saying it, to be very clear without being explicit?
Why do I meet more and more people who have to say that they are not anti-Semitic, with the subtext “enough of that”? If you are not, I don’t know, anti-Buddhist, you don’t have to announce it at every turn, do you? Why do I see behind this clarification the accusation that Jews are preventing any criticism of Israel by accusing the author of anti-Semitism?
Indifference to other tragedies
And why do I feel that more and more people, even if they are not anti-Semitic, have fewer and fewer problems with anti-Semitism? And why, when we put Netanyahu on trial, I hear too often about the trial of Israel, or even the trial of the Jews, instead of simply putting the far right on trial, however Israeli it may be? And why can’t a Jewish asshole just be an asshole? Why does every Jew who says or does something stupid have to drag his entire people down with him? Why do I feel that for some time now, Jews have been the coolest enemies to hate? Much cooler than the Russians or the Chinese, for example.
And why must I take a position on Israel so quickly when I speak? Why should I have a clear, definitive opinion on this issue? Why do we see among so many non-Israelis, non-Palestinians, non-Jews and non-Muslims this obsessive passion for this conflict and a profound indifference to the other tragedies of the world? Why is it so hard to accept that there are questions without answers and problems without solutions? Why is it so complicated to say, “I don’t understand everything, but I abhor all these deaths of innocent people”?
Why are Israeli women raped in the first place? Why were synagogues protected on October 8, 2023? In a normal world, wouldn’t we have expected a wave of empathy rather than violence? Why was this moment of shock and grief not shared by all? Why did so many people immediately plunge into relativization and contextualization? Do we have to hear “yes, but” every time one or 1,200 Jews are murdered?
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