ON JEW-BAITING
IT’S NOT “PRO-PALESTINIAN.” IT’S NOT ACTIVISM. IT’S NOT POLITICAL DIALOGUE. IT’S SADISM. AND IT IS THE MEME OF THE YEAR FOR 2025.
I’m not sure when the term “Jew-baiting” was invented, but a quick web search suggests it is at least 150 years old. That, of course, is the coining of the term. The actual act of Jew-baiting is millennia old.
Here is a definition I found:
“Jew-baiting refers to the deliberate provocation, harassment, or persecution of Jewish people through hateful rhetoric, slander, or incitement to hostility or violence. The term draws an analogy to ‘baiting’ in activities like bear-baiting or bull-baiting — that is, goading or tormenting a target for the sadistic amusement or ideological agenda of the aggressors.”
By this definition, “Jew-baiting” is pretty much identical to the more generic “antisemitism.”
For me, the term has a narrower, more nuanced connotation. I see “Jew-baiting” as something the perpetrator engages in as a game with a smirk on their face, knowing that it costs them nothing, but causes a constant drip of anxiety and pain to Jews.
“Baiting” is not an act that is necessarily perpetrated with great malice, but is more a form of sick entertainment, like picking wings off flies not because you have a deep ideological hostility to flies but simply because you can. It’s a perverse curiosity about perpetrating a comparatively (to you) inconsequential action just to see what (massively disproportionate) response it engenders. Pop culture example: “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,” in the lyrics of Johnny Cash.
“Jew-baiting” is a massive return on a small investment. A callous fascination to see how an offhanded act that carries almost no physical or emotional cost to the perp can undermine the sense of security of an entire cultural community in Canada or wherever.
Put mildly, as a sadistic utensil in the toolkit of anti-Israel trolls, Jew-baiting is a cheap, effective, unbeatable bargain. Like the Ginsu knife that comes with a whole raft of assorted falderal to sweeten the bargain, there’s the self-satisfaction of sticking it to the Jews and the revenge fantasy that comes from doing unto Jews a sort of cruelty the perp is convinced Jews are doing unto others (like the perp is some sort of divine adjudicator) … But wait! There’s more! By the time the act is completed and the perp is back in front of their video game console, the Jewish community has convened committees, the local police are invovled and the baiter has moved on to ponder their next little act of social micro-destruction. It’s a win-win for society’s greatest losers.
Without using the term “Jew-baiting,” in 1944, Jean-Paul Sartre summarized it pretty awesomely in a quote that remains one of my iconic faves in terms of explaining the psyche of those who egg on Jews — or, in a massive contemporary misnomer, self-define as “pro-Palestinian” activists. Savor this nugget:
“Never believe that antisemites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The antisemites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
For a great many North American activists, their devotion to Palestinian people extends no further than baiting Jews. The people who scream “Free Palestine” as they drive past the weekly vigil for Israeli hostages in Vancouver are not, of course, freeing Palestine. They are doing the only thing they ever do ostensibly on behalf of Palestinians: bait the Jews.
But shouting “Free Palestine” (while advancing division and rewarding terrorism and hatred that pushes peace and Palestinian freedom further away) is the least of Jew-baiting offences these days.
Perhaps the most egregious example in human history of weaponizing a people’s historical trauma against them is the genocide libel currently being leveled against the Jewish state.
To recap: The word genocide had to be invented to describe the 20th-century experiences of the Jewish people. Now, it is used by people who have no concept of the definition of the term to rub salt in the wounds of the people whose own family history ensures that they very much do understand the term.
Worst of all, there are actual genocides happening in the world today — but the very people who pretend to care about dead Palestinians by alleging that Israel is perpetrating a genocide don’t demonstrate a whit of concern about these real genocides. No, this is not about genocides. It is not even about Palestinians. It is about sticking it to the Jews. It is Jew-baiting at its most extreme. They see Jewish intergenerational trauma, yank off the scabs and pour vinegar on them. How does that free Palestine? It doesn’t, of course. But, like picking wings off flies, it reflects a sick perversion in the perpetrators. And those perpetrators make up a huge swath — maybe the majority — of so-called “pro-Palestinian” activists today.
Consider, too, the almost universal vandalism against posters of Israeli hostages and murder victims. Hitler mustaches drawn on murder victims of October 7. Pushpins stuck in the eyes on photos of Jewish toddlers. I’m going to hazard a guess that the vast majority of posters put up have been ripped down or otherwise vandalized. Why?
I have heard an explanation — and it’s a pretty good one — that the very existence of October 7 victims, whether murdered, raped or held hostage in Gaza, are an affront to the ridiculous narrative of universal Israeli evil and universal Palestinian sainthood.
Honestly, though, I think we’re giving a little too much credit here. I think it is, again, just Jew-baiting. Are Jews in Vancouver or Minneapolis or Marseilles pained by the murder and kidnapping of Israelis? Clearly — or they wouldn’t spend the time it takes to put up posters to remind the world of the horrific tragedy. So Jew-baiters tear them down not out of any strategic or ideological motivation, but just to stick it to the Jews one more time. Just to rub a little more salt in the wounds.
There may be a whole ton of reasons why Jew-baiting is such a phenomenon. But, really, what difference does it make why they do it? I suppose if we could explain what is effectively a pathology, these people might see the error of their ways. But I’m pretty sure they know exactly what they’re doing. They’re deliberately poking Jews with pins and standing back to laugh at the reactions.
Their “reasons,” such as they are, are something I might deal with in a future post. My point here is simply that the activists who wrap themselves in self-righteous mantels of humanitarianism are engaged in arguably the most inhumane rhetoric the human imagination can contrive — and this is coming from self-imagined humanitarian activists for peace, coexistence and all things good.
Who cares, really, why they do. We need to recognize that what we call the “dialogue” around Israel and Palestine, and, more specifically, what we call “pro-Palestinian” activism, is usually nothing of the sort. It is neither activism nor dialogue. And, as I reiterate in almost every single post, it isn’t the least bit “pro-Palestinian.”
It is sadism.
It is an assault on human decency.
We could spend a lot more time parsing the examples, tactics and motivations of Jew-baiters. But trying to make rational sense of irrational acts by irrational people is valuable time flushed down the toilet.
Jew-baiting is a lazy, vicious, cruel way to cause harm to Jews without engaging in any constructive work that advances dialogue or the well-being of Palestinians. It’s just the same old familiar sadism that, for some sick reason, our civilization reserves for the treatment of this one particular people.
That’s what this is about. Let’s not over complicate things.
Pat, I just sent this on to three of my oldest friends to try to give them the deeper understanding of why accusations of genocide and the pulling down of the posters is so painful. No one puts it as well or as clearly as you do. I certainly haven’t been able to in more than a year of discussion.
In the summer of 2023, shortly before Oct. 7, a friend (who is an agent for "diverse" influencers) asked me why there isn't a Jewish pride movement the way other groups have such open pride. Like Black pride, Latino pride, or LGBTQ pride. I told her that historically that wasn't an option, staying invisible is how we stayed alive, or pay the price for being seen. I realize hiding is a privilege of sorts that can only happen if one's skin tone matches that of the dominant population. However, in Europe at least, they could still identify a Jew. So, I said, "We can either be treated as a person, or we can be treated as a Jew." Hence no real Jewish pride movement, until, well, maybe now one is bubbling up.
And where I grew up, in a community with a church on literally over corner, I kept my Jewish identity on the down low, and only spoke of it when necessary or in trusted company. "Jesus killer" and "the Jews are going to hell" were the Jew-baiting statements of choice. And no one thought twice about saying it to your face.