Why Antisemitism Never Disappears: History, Hatred, and the Jewish Destiny

In recent times, we have witnessed unrestrained hatred directed toward the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in Israel. At the same time, similar hostility has surged against Jewish communities across Europe and the United States, while countries such as Iran and Turkey openly accuse Israel of spreading global disease.

Paradoxically, in a moment when humanity is suffering collectively and desperately searching for solutions, antisemitism is flaring once again.

Organizations such as the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) have been working intensively to confront this wave of incitement and slander.

Is all of this merely coincidence?

When “Coincidence” Happens Every Time

Imagine a man rolling a die. It lands on six. He rolls again — six. Again — six. This continues for decades. Could we honestly call that coincidence?

Now add one more detail: the man announces in advance that every roll will land on six.

For thousands of years, the Jewish people have sought only peace and quiet among the nations. We have never attempted to conquer the world like Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Christianity, Islam, the Nazi empire, and even Napoleonic France.

We asked for little more than a small strip of land that is barely visible on the world map. We were never a demographic threat, never a military superpower during our long exile. Even today, Israel’s central aspiration is to live in peace.

Why then, time after time, are we accused of seeking global domination? Why does the world so often call for our destruction?

A Room Full of Anti-Semites

To grasp the absurdity, imagine seven men from different eras sitting together to discuss “the Jewish problem”:

• The Persian claims Jews refuse to obey the king’s laws and must therefore be exterminated (Haman, 5th century BCE).

• The Greek accuses Jews of barbaric rituals and grotesque worship (Democritus, 1st century CE).

• The Roman portrays Jews as a lazy, god-hated leprous race (Tacitus).

• The Christian insists Jews are cursed for killing the crucified god and accuses them of ritual murder.

• The Muslim brands Jews impure and claims their exile proves divine rejection.

• The Nazi declares Jews a parasitic race corrupting humanity itself.

• The Modern Terrorist insists Jews must be drowned in the sea, wherever they live.

These ideologies are mutually exclusive. Greeks despised Romans, Christians damned Muslims, and Nazis rejected all religion. They share only one point of agreement: the Jews have no place in the world.

Figure: Shutterstock

A Hatred Without Parallel

No other nation has experienced such continuous, global, and ideologically contradictory hatred across millennia. The die keeps landing on six.

Remarkably, the Torah predicted this reality thousands of years ago: “Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there shall be no place of ease for the sole of your foot” (Devarim 28:65).

“You shall become an object of horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples” (Devarim 28:37).

Why Everything Depends on Israel

Antisemitism takes many forms, but its emotional core remains constant. Deep down, the nations sense that what happens in the world is bound up with Israel.

This explains the recurring accusation that Jews are responsible for global catastrophes. During the Black Death, Jews were accused of poisoning wells. Today, Israel is blamed for pandemics.

Behind the conspiracy theories lies a spiritual intuition distorted into hatred.

The Talmud expresses it starkly: “No calamity comes to the world except on account of Israel” (Yevamot 63a).

When Israel neglects its spiritual mission, the world destabilizes. The nations feel the consequences first, and instinctively direct their rage toward the source they cannot consciously articulate.

Hatred of Israel, Hatred of Torah Jews

The layers of hatred resemble an onion:

• Hatred of Jews in general

• Hatred of Israel as a nation

• At the core: hatred of Torah-observant Jews

Just as global media fixates obsessively on Israel, Israeli media often fixates obsessively on the Haredi community. The implication — whether conscious or not, is the same: they believe everything depends on those who represent Torah and faith.

Ironically, this hostility testifies to the very truth it seeks to deny.

A Sign of Responsibility, Not Shame

The sages described the era before redemption as a time when: “Wisdom will be disgraced, those who fear sin will be despised, and truth will be absent” (Sotah 49b).

Being mocked, attacked, or marginalized is not a sign of failure, but a sign of responsibility. There has never been a generation in which wearing a kippah should inspire more pride than this one.

The prophet Yirmiyahu teaches that there is only one permissible pride: “Let one who boasts boast in this: understanding and knowing Me… for in these I delight” (Yirmiyahu 9:23).

A Holocaust survivor once said that it was Nazi antisemitism that ultimately convinced him of the truth of Judaism.

If the most evil regime in history devoted its existence to destroying the Jewish people, what did that say about the people they feared so deeply? History shows us a painful truth, that the greatest evils target the greatest moral forces.

Choosing Love in the Face of Hate

While hatred multiplies, Torah-observant Jews continue to volunteer, rescue, heal, and give, through organizations such as Hatzalah, ZAKA, Ezer Mizion, Yad Sarah, and countless others.

Hatred answers with hatred. Torah answers with kindness. That is our strength.

After the destruction of the Temple, four sages stood on Mount Zion and saw a fox emerge from the Holy of Holies. Three wept. Rabbi Akiva smiled.

“Why are you smiling?” they asked.

“Why are you crying?” he replied.

“When the prophecy of destruction is fulfilled,” he explained, “I know with certainty that the prophecy of redemption will also be fulfilled.”

They said to him: “Akiva, you have comforted us.”

Hope Beyond the Hatred

The prophets promised not only darkness, but light: “I will place My Torah within them, and write it upon their hearts… and they shall all know Me” (Yirmiyahu 31).

“Nation shall not lift sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore” (Yeshayahu 2).