Aldous Huxley once observed that the purpose of propaganda is to make one group of people forget the humanity of another. A sustained campaign has worked to demonize and isolate the Jewish state while casting Jews as fascistic, colonialist, and genocidal.
Public opinion surveys indicate that antisemitic belief has reached levels not seen since the Second World War. Violence has followed, including murders of Jews, firebombings of synagogues, shootings at schools, and widespread threats and assaults.
Political leaders across Western democracies have increasingly shifted against Israel. In one recent instance, a provincial opposition leader issued a public apology for being photographed with Israel’s ambassador to Canada.
The hostility has spread beyond the political Left. Antisemitism is now surging across the ideological spectrum, including the Right and the political Centre.
More than 100 Democratic members of the U.S. Congress recently voted to halt $3.3 billion in security assistance to Israel. The measure failed, but it exposed growing opposition within the party.
On the same day, the Republican vice-president appeared on a long-form podcast and claimed a deceased convicted sex offender had ties to Israeli intelligence. He also warned Jewish and Israeli critics of a diplomatic deal with Iran to “go to Hell” and questioned the popularity of Israel’s prime minister.
The vice-president alleged that certain actors were manipulating American public opinion to prolong war through a foreign-funded influence campaign. Such claims echo historic antisemitic tropes used by the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and Nazi propagandists.
In 1943, Joseph Goebbels wrote that Jews wanted war and were directing it. The suggestion that Jews profit from perpetual conflict revives a fabricated narrative with deadly precedent.
Israel bears some responsibility for failing to communicate its character as a diverse, pluralistic democracy with Muslim, Christian, and Jewish citizens. Its messaging to global audiences has been ineffective.
Social media has amplified antisemitic content, while segments of mainstream media have lacked balance in coverage. Academia and public-sector unions have also become environments where hostility toward Jews has grown.
Young people appear especially susceptible to revived antisemitic narratives. The global propaganda effort has convinced citizens and leaders alike to strip Jews of recognition as human beings.
