"Immanuel Kant vs. Israel"

Submitted by norine krasnogor (United States), Aug 20, 2010 at 22:47

Although Mr. Hazony's theory is intriguing, I can not agree. He overlooks the fact of modern Israel as the new Jew in the Middle East. He does this by attempting to explain hatred of Israel with a rationale for an historical paradigm shift from nation state to universal state.

While it may be a new paradigm preference, it does not explain, for example, as even he admits, the "free pass" given to the aggressive nation states of Iran and Syria. Importantly, he ignores the very heart of the hatred, i.e. the Jew in The Jewish State.

There may very well be some European guilt for the Holocaust, but the anti-Semitism and fascism that were the engines of the Shoa predated the new paradigm. These same factors are frighteningly alive today, albeit metamorphosed. In every generation there is an Amalek, wearing a different set of clothes.

Any theory addressing anti-Israel sentiment misses the point if the current crises of global anti-Semitism, including radical Islam, are not brought to bear in a significant way.

On August 23d through 25th, 2010, there will be a conference on global anti-Semitism at Yale, with the presentation of over 100 papers. I suggest we look there for some answers.

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