Why Jews Are Viewed as Aggressors

It's a curious thing about the Jews. Whenever we get attacked, we get blamed for having provoked the attack and being aggressors rather than victims. This strange phenomenon did not begin with Israel's current war against Hamas. It has as unending series of precedents. It was true in the pogroms that followed the black death where the Jews were accused of poisoning the wells of Europe. It was true of the Tah v'Tat massacres of 1648-49 in which hundreds of thousands of Jews were slaughtered by Bogdan Chmielnicki's Cossacks. Till today, many Ukrainian and Polish historians hold the Jews accountable for inciting the most savage slaughter of Jews outside the holocaust, maintaining that Jewish administrators of estates engaged in persecution of the peasants in their midst, even though there is not a shred of evidence to support the slanderous allegation. And it was especially true of the holocaust where Hitler repeatedly portrayed the Jews as parasitic connivers out to embroil all of Europe in war. His most famous quote on the subject was in a speech to the Reichstag on January 30th, 1939: "Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevising of the earth and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!" So the Jews provoked the holocaust, just as Israel provoked the launching of 600 rockets against its kindergartens, hospitals, and family homes by Hamas.

Why is it so easy to blame the Jews as aggressors even when it is clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are the innocent victims? Unfortunately, the allegation traces itself all the way back to the New Testament's claim of Jewish deicide in the death of Jesus. The Romans, a brute nation, are portrayed as benevolently trying to save Jesus while the Jews are portrayed as bloodthirsty killers who want a docile and peace-loving prophet dead. And don't think that because the Arabs are Muslims that they are not affected by this slander. The New York Times reported on its front page just this past Saturday (January 9) that Sheik Eid Abdel Hamid Youssef, a government-appointed preacher in a 1000-year-old Cairo mosque, inveighed against the Jews: "God has inflicted the Muslim nation with a people whom God has become angry at and whom he cursed so he made monkeys and pigs out of them. They killed prophets and messengers and sowed corruption on Earth. They are the most evil on Earth."

Yes, original Jewish culpability begins with the greatest lie ever told, that the Jews were responsible for killing G-d incarnate, which is why Jesus himself tells the Jews, "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning," (John 8:44) The Roman proconsul Pontius Pilate emerges as a peace-loving humanitarian who is goaded by the Jews into killing Jesus:

"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him!" "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said... All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" (Matt: 27: 22-25)

Nowadays we tend to have a somewhat rosy view of the Romans. In an ancient world populated with barbaric hordes, Rome was the light. We owe the Romans the decorum of the Senate and the beauty of surviving ancient monuments. The truth, of course, is that the Romans were a warlike people who lived and ruled entirely by the sword. The real Rome was not the splendor of the Coliseum but the barbaric gladiatorial combat that took place within it. The Romans had a civilized outer veneer, but scratch the surface and you had an empire whose principal engine consisted of brutal soldiers imposing the Roman will on weaker adversaries and slaughtering them en masse if they rebelled once conquered. As Hyam Maccoby says, it would be hard to find two nations more unlike each other in the ancient world than the Romans and the Jews. The Romans celebrated conquest and military prowess; the Jews championed justice and their prophets preached an eventual era of eternal peace. Urban life for Romans was centered on the cruelties of the arena with its gory spectacles, while the Jews looked towards the Temple of God in Jerusalem.

As for Pontius Pilate, he was the cruelest proconsul ever sent by Rome to Judea and crucified tens of thousands of innocent Jews for the most minor infractions. King Herod Agrippa I wrote a letter to the Emperor Caligula about Pilate's "acts of violence.... provocations, corruption... continual murder of persons untried and uncondemned, and his never ending, endless and unbelievable cruelties."

Philo wrote of Pilate's "violence, robberies... continuous executions without even the form of a trial, endless and intolerable cruelties." Josephus, in Antiquities, shows that Pilate's excessive murders and brutality were so severe that they eventually got him recalled to Rome in the year 36.

Even Jesus himself uses Pilate as an example of barbaric cruelty which will be visited upon his disciples unless they repent:

"There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And [Jesus] answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:1-3)

As for the claim that the Jews, rather than the Romans, hated Jesus, Matthew writes that just five days before his crucifixion the Jews gave Jesus a very enthusiastic welcome to Jerusalem.

"A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road... and shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (21:8-9).

Is it really believable that the Jews would turn against Jesus so quickly, from lionizing him to demanding his immediate execution, in under a week?

How and why the later editors of the gospels got away with ingratiating themselves with the Romans by portraying the Jews as sadistic god-killers while the Romans came out as benevolent humanitarians is a mystery to which I am devoting an entire book slated for publication later this year. But it set the stage for the tiny State of Israel till today being portrayed, against all the evidence, as an inhuman aggressor while its adversaries are always weak and innocent victims.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the founder of This World: The Values Network. He has just published 'The Kosher Sutra: Eight Sacred Secrets for Rediscovering Desire and Reigning Passion for Life.'

Comments

[SpoonieLuv]

Forgive me, Rabbi, but it seems to do little good to look at the current crisis through a theological lens. I do not deny that Jewish history is full of tragedy and victimization at the hands of cruel people, but this tragic history cannot justify Israel's current use of white phosphorous against Gaza's civilian population.
Furthermore, I must disagree with your premise that "we [Jews] get blamed for having provoked the attack and being aggressors rather than victims" applies in this instance. True, while Jewish persecution during the plague was justified with accusations that Jews had poisoned the wells of European towns, criticism of Israel's current offensive is not based on conjecture. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza existed long before two weeks ago, thanks to Israel's blockade of the strip. This, in turn, led many in Gaza to become discontent with their quality of life and thus angry at those who blockaded their cities.
Theology is at the heart of this crisis. Religion gives each side an imperative to destroy the other (for if God is on their side, who can be against them?). Both sides need to move beyond religion and into the realm of engagement with one another.

[voyager0]

For decades it was forbidden to criticize Israel for fear of being labelled anti-semitic. Israel won the support of much of the world until it committed ethnic cleansing towards the indigenous Palestinian peoples. What is happening is that the curtain has finally been removed and the true face of occupation and colonialism are being revealed. The world criticized the U.S. when it invaded and occupied Iraq. Why should Israel be treated any differently when it commits acts of brutal aggression against a people? To accuse those of us, including many Jews, who oppose Israel's actions in Gaza of being anti-semites, is disingenuous, to say the least.

[gakabani]

Thank you! Amen!

[xxnounxx]

And by the way dear rabbi..no one is pointing the finger at the jewish religion,it is the closest of all religions in practice and beleifs as islam..its the zionists its israel who have deffamed the jewish name,and made everyone see jewish people in a bad picture,just like a few muslim terrorists have made the world become islamophobics.

[victorsays]

The Truth is on the side of the oppressed. In this case, the oppressed is the Palestinian. The Palestianian are weak and oppressed in their own land. Who goes through humiliation checkpoints in their own land, enforced by Israel.

In this Israel is the oppressor. I don't care how Jews bring up the Holocaust to justify their aggression.

[xxnounxx]

My dear they are using the holocaust as bussiness now,i think its an insult to the 6 million that perished,and the palestinians had nothing to do with it.
the rabbi forgot to mention the best times the jews lived freely and with respect was under the muslims for 700 yrs in andalucia..the omayyad dynasty.

[gakabani]

Good response, what about the Crusades. DId you know that the Islamic army that fought the invaders was composed of Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Jews?

Did you know that the right hand of Saladin al-Ayub was Jewish?

[folgersvoice]

No one is blaming the Jews, they are blaming Israel. Your attempt to directly equate jews as The State of Israel is unjust and unethical. You cannot keep using the antisemitism outcry any and every time any one criticizes Israel's powerful military actions that lead to significant innocent civilian (children and women) lives.

A proper globally recognized country with a powerful military might (Israel) is carelessly attacking densely populated civilian areas and claiming ignorance when they bomb schools and shelters. This is NOT about jews its about Israel. How would you view if a professional Boxer punches and knocks out 10 women in the hopes of killing one amateur fighter?

Please find another argument other than the world is blaming the Jews because it is inaccurate and distortion of facts

Awaken American

[gakabani]

Thank you! Amen!

[blood1]

In this current invasion and also in Lebannon, you can make the case for aggressive action. The problem is that the Israeli military does not know when to stop. Maybe that is a psychological response to WWII, but when the military response is so excessive, it causes "public outrage".

The Bush Doctrine to attack when you "suspect" aggression, was deemed acceptable only because of the 9/11 attack. In any normal situation, no one would have approved of that standard.

A measured response would probably be more acceptable....but the political climate in which we currently live, makes any war-like attack, the call of agressor is judged against other situations that appear similar. When Georgia was invaded by Russia, the claim that "Georgia caused it" may sound correct, but were they provoked? Most agree that they were. So, when Gaza fired upon Isreal, were they provoked...as they have been isolated and controlled by Israel for the past 18+ months.

If Israel can satisfactorily answer and support those answers to the world, then your "agressor" stance could be better understood...but the reported carnage of almost 100:1 deaths is a hard to debate as a measured response.

[ouroborous]

This is a cogent attack on anti-Semitism, but does nothing to address the Israeli-Gaza conflict.

I doubt any sophisticated pundit is claiming that Israel is in the wrong here because "the Jews killed Jesus," but rather because the Israeli state's response (which is different, I would note, from "the Jews" response -- it is often overlooked that there have been significant protests against the Israeli response *from within the Jewish community*) is so disproportionate to the crimes committed by Hamas.

[bethinCary]

You paint quite a monolithic view of Judaism..
Back when the Prince of Peace was put to death there were many sects, as you are surely aware of..
Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes..jsut to name a few.
Jesus Himself was Jewish (Mary was Essene)..
But not all of the Jewish sects thought Jesus was the "Prince of Peace" and there was division about this very thing back then...and unfortunately for Jesus-who knew of His imminent death anyhow-the consensus at that particular moment in time of those who believed and those who did not were not believers that He was.
Perhaps it's not a lesson on culpability...maybe it's a lesson in putting actions behind Gods' words-not those of man.
Perhaps it is a lesson...to learn to listen to God when called upon..to believe in something other than oneself.
Perhaps it is a lesson...to listen to those of humanity- like Jesus-and who had powers bestowed upon Him of healing and miracles, prophecy, and Resurrection-who tried to tell all that there was a "beyond" other than earth..
and that "beyond" and what it represented for each of us here on earth-was determinate upon our actions here on earth and subsequent to each obeying the laws of "Love they Neighbor" and the 10 Commandments especially.