Antisemitism

I heard the name 'Candace Owens' and decided to look her up. She was on The Daily Wire, but was fired for antisemitism.

It started when Rabbi Barclay wrote several columns calling her an antisemite. Then she invited him to be on her show on The Daily Wire where she asked him to define antisemitism. He began by saying he could not define misogyny, since he was not a woman, only women can define misogyny. Then he said he could not define racism since he was not Black, and only Blacks can define the racism that affects Blacks. Finally, he said only a Jew can define antisemitism, and there is an agreement among Jews, and the term has been defined in print in many places.

Rabbi Barclay gave a brief history of antisemitism. First, he said, Christians hated Jews because they did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. This is, of course, historically verified. He called this religious antisemitism.

Next, he added, was the 'Blood Lie', that Jews drink the blood of Christian infants. Again, the fact that some Christians told this lie is historical record. It is also a fact that Jews, before they eat kosher meat, must cleanse if of all blood, so blood is treyf for Jews, including the blood of Christian infants. And, again, this was a verifiable part of what he called religious antisemitism.

Later, in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, he continued, Christianity no longer drove hatred of Jews, but just the fact that Jews were different. This he called racial antisemitism.

Note that in both cases, the underlying antisemitism was hatred of Jews.

But now, Rabbi Barclay says, antisemitism means criticism of Israel or Zionism. Everyone who dislikes  Israel or Zionism must hate Jews, and so is antisemitic.

I have many problems with Rabbi Barclay's logic, but the effectiveness of his presentation is indisputable: it get Candace Owens fired, which was the one goal of the articles he wrote about her and his appearance on her show.