For centuries, sanctions were a primary tool for European governments to manage their relationships with their Jewish population.
The sanctions, sometimes against a subset of Jews or even individual Jews, were not only punitive but also served as signaling and deterrent mechanisms as European governments dealt with the complexities of the “Jewish question” and its broader implication.
At different times, European sanctions targeted different aspects of Jewish life. Sometimes, sanctions were in the form of restrictions, such as limits on where Jews could live, how many children they were allowed to have, which cities they were allowed to enter, and what professions they were allowed to work in.
Other times, it was about taking decisive actions against Jews. For example, in the 17th century, France issued sanctions against Jews through the Office of Beggars and Jews. There were too many beggars in the streets; it was “intolerable.”
Most Jews were not beggars, and in most likelihood, most Jews were themselves bothered by the presence of beggars – Jews and non-Jews alike. Similarly, in 17th-century France, most Jews did not interact much with beggars. Beggars were out of their social circles and did not dress or even look like them.
Jews, however, were fully aware that the Office of Beggars and Jews was targeting Jews, not “Jewish beggars.”
Similar realities exist today with the open-end sanction regime instituted by the Biden administration against Israeli Jews.
At first, American Jews felt reassured that the sanctions – the first Western sanctions tailored to Jews since the Holocaust – were not directed at them but at “violent settlers.” The administration, along with the media, has been instilling the fable that there is large-scale anti-Arab violence by Jewish residents of the West Bank.
No doubt, anti-Arab violence and rhetoric is a serious issue. There is growing anti-Arab violence in France and throughout Europe, as well as in the US; for example, the shooting of three Arab students in Vermont and the stabbing of an Arab woman and her six-year-old child, who died in the attack. The University of California at Berkeley and the Council on American–Islamic Relations claim that anti-Arab violence in the US is deep-rooted. They identified 33 groups that received $206 million worth of funding over five years “to promote prejudice against, or hatred of, Islam and Muslims.”
There is also anti-Arab violence and rhetoric in Israel and the West Bank. Therefore, when President Joe Biden issued an executive order sanctioning four Israeli individuals, who were arrested or investigated by Israeli authorities for suspected crimes ranging from throwing stones to setting stores on fire in West Bank villages, this was met with “understanding.” This was only against four thugs – not against Jews, right?
Since then, the sanctions have expanded to include a border group of Israeli Jews, Israeli charity organizations, civic leaders, protest organizers, and even threats of sanctions against military units and elected officials.
Moreover, through his actions, Biden provided a “kosher certificate” for other countries to sanction the Jewish state and its residents – a dream come true for Israel-bashers. Indeed, the EU, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan picked up the glove and jumped right in. Never before has there been such a broad coalition supporting sanctions against Jews.
However, it is not just Jews who are targeted by the renewal of this ancient European practice of sanctioning Jews. The essence of the American Revolution is under attack.
The American Revolution was a rebellion against old European dogmas, including the well-instilled European notion that when things are good, you thank the monarch; and when things are bad, you blame the Jews. America created a principle that went against the core of Europeanism: “All men are created equal.” This included Jews. Therefore, the American Revolution was a negation of the European use of sanctions against Jews.
“America is an idea,” President Biden often states.
The sanction regime against Jews is a negation of that idea.
Biden uses the marchers in Charlottesville in 2015 to demonstrate a rebuke of the idea of America. Those marchers, as other expressions of traditional antisemitism, can lead to violence against Jews. However, Israel-bashing and inciting the world against the Jews is not only a greater danger to the safety of Jews but also a great threat to the survival of Judaism. As discussed in this column, traditional antisemitism was the threat to Jews and Judaism in the 20th century, while Israel-bashing is the threat to Jews and Judaism in the 21st century.
‘The office of settlers and East Hampton Jews’?
Today, some Jews draw assurance that the sanctions are against Jews who don’t look like them, dress like them, attend the same cocktail parties, or sit on the same boards as they do.
Just like French Jews had nothing to do with the beggars in 17th-century France, most American Jews do not interact with young Israeli protesters blocking roads to promote their cause – whether the roads in Tel Aviv to support a deal with Hamas, which, demonstrators argue, will lead to the hostages’ release, or on the roads leading to Gaza to oppose aid trucks, which, protesters argue, will strengthen Hamas, prolong the war, and delay the return of hostages (the US sanctions were against the latter).
As discussed in the column, just like in previous large-scale assaults on Judaism, the belief that such actions are only aimed at “bad Jews” is historically ignorant, albeit self-pleasing, and addictive.
One prominent American Jew even took to the Senate floor to parrot the accusation made by Haman in the Book of Esther and the Nazis in Germany: Jews are a pariah opposed by the rest of the world. Yet, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D – NY) made an odd caveat: It is the Jewish state that is “a pariah opposed by the rest of the world” – we “good Jews” here in America are fine.
In an act of hypocrisy (or detachment), he then took the podium of the Democratic National Convention and called “to stand up to antisemitism,” which he himself is generating through inciting against the Jews.
American Jews need a wake-up call. The Biden administration’s sanctions need not be managed through the “Office of Settlers and East Hampton Jews” for American Jews to understand what is happening here.
Election-year politics
It is an election year, and naturally, much of this realization is funneled through politics.
Some Democrats downplay the sanctions as “only till November,” reminiscent of US president Barack Obama’s message to then-incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin via then-president Dmitry Medvedev in 2012, heard in an open-mic slip: “After my election, I have more flexibility.”
Trump takes it in the other direction, claiming that Jews who vote for Kamala Harris should “have their heads examined.”
This, while many Democratic Jewish votes are at the crossroads.
Some are eagerly waiting for a reassuring message from Kamala Harris.
Others argue that” Kamala lost the Jews.”
The elections will soon be over, but the assault on Judaism is here to stay for a long time. ■
The writer is the author of Judaism 3.0: Judaism’s Transformation to Zionism and chair of the Judaism 3.0 think tank (Judaism-Zionism.com). For his geopolitical articles: EuropeAndJerusalem.com