80 years after the Holocaust: The text that explains what we refuse to understand about antisemitism | Meir Uziel

Hatred of the Jewish people has broken out in the world, and I am struck by the uniformity of antisemites in the Western world who participate in it with such fervor. We thought that antisemitism had disappeared—that after the establishment of the State of Israel and the horrors of the Holocaust, there were no antisemites left in the world, at least not in the West. Suddenly, we discovered that nothing had disappeared.

There were those who understood perfectly well as early as the end of World War II that antisemitism remained. One of them was Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the most famous thinkers and creators of the 20th century: a writer, playwright, philosopher, and leftist inclined toward communism, who saw things clearly regarding the hatred of Jews.

He wrote a book titled "Anti-Semite and Jew" (Reflections on the Jewish Question). His partner, Simone de Beauvoir, a writer and one of the greatest figures of feminism, was an even greater supporter of Israel than he was.

Here is a little of what Sartre wrote:

"When a person attributes the hardships of his country and his troubles to the Jews, and seeks to correct the situation by denying their rights, expelling them, or exterminating them, it is said that he has antisemitic views. But the definition 'views' is misleading. It presents antisemitism as if it were one opinion among other opinions. Antisemitism is not an opinion born from checking facts. It is first and foremost a strong emotion."

Sartre, are you telling me this? Unfortunately, there are even Jews who do not understand this and think that antisemitism, especially in its form defined as "anti-Zionism," has reasons. "The antisemite can be a polite person, a devoted family man, a lover of culture, a philanthropist, and even tolerant in other matters. There is no contradiction in this," said Sartre.

"Hatred of Jews is not necessarily a momentary outburst of a crude person; it can exist within a respectable and orderly life. It must be clear that no external matter instilled antisemitism in the antisemite. Antisemitism is a completely free choice of the person himself."

Sartre brought examples. For instance: "A colleague at work told me that Jews infuriate him: 'A Jew was accepted for a master's degree in humanities while I was rejected. You will not convince me that that Jew, whose father came from Krakow or Lviv, understood French poetry better than a real Frenchman like me.' The antisemite chooses hatred because hatred gives him certainty. From the moment the Jew is chosen as the culprit, the world becomes understandable."

And another quote, which complimented the Jews, but woe to the compliment: "The antisemite will easily admit that the Jew is intelligent and diligent. He will willingly admit that he is inferior to the Jew in these respects. This admission is not important in his eyes. He has put these virtues in parentheses. On the contrary, they actually reduce the value of the Jew." Further on, Sartre writes, with a courage that sounds even more relevant today than it was in his time: "In the eyes of the antisemite, reason is Jewish, therefore he can despise it, like all the other virtues of the Jews, with complete peace of mind."

These things were written in 1944, and the book was published in 1946, after the defeat of the Nazis. Apparently, a time when it could be assumed that antisemitism had disappeared. Sartre, and also de Beauvoir, despite many of their ideological and moral errors (Sartre supported Stalin, for example), saw more clearly.

In recent weeks, I have been diving into the writings of de Beauvoir and Sartre because I am producing a literary show from their works, which will take place at "Tzavta" Tel Aviv on Monday, August 24. I am reading more of their works and about their colorful lives. I am curious to learn also about their visit to Israel in 1967. They held meetings in the country for about three weeks, after they also visited Egypt and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, which was under Egyptian control.

The visit yielded a special booklet of the French journal "Les Temps Modernes," which Sartre and de Beauvoir edited. This is an issue of about a thousand pages titled "The Israeli-Arab Conflict." Its uniqueness was in the extraordinary attempt to place the Israeli and Arab arguments side by side, and not to dictate one position. Already there, everything we are arguing about now appears.

One must read Sartre's words on antisemitism today to understand what we still do not want to understand: in order to fight something, or in order to defend against something, one must first of all understand what it is.