Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Russia-Ukraine War: Fertile Ground for Antisemites”

Whenever there is a conflict or problem in the world, it rapidly becomes “open season” on Israel. Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, social media platforms have massively echoed anti-Israeli voices comparing the war in Eastern Europe to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Such a parallel was recently drawn by UK Labour MP Julie Elliott during a parliamentary debate on the recognition of Palestine. Meanwhile, British Conservative MP Stephen Crabb called that comparison, “historically wrong, factually wrong, and morally wrong.” But antisemites do not need rational logic to justify their accusations.. They take advantage of any opportunity to accuse Israel of wrongdoing.

Former Egyptian football player Mohamed Aboutrika slammed the Federation of International Football (FIFA) after it banned Russia from all soccer competitions, but avoided applying the same punishment to Israel, which he accuses of human rights violations.

Slander against Israel and the Jewish people is nothing new. Any piece of information can be manipulated or distorted to fit someone’s narrative. Israel is portrayed as attacking Gaza for no reason when in fact, we are only defending ourselves. People can say whatever they want, but in truth, we are not Nazis as some claim, we are not against anyone and have never assaulted others just because we felt like it.

But there are no limits for what others can say or write to incriminate Jews for anything bad in the world. Any piece of information can be manipulated or distorted to someone’s agenda or interest against Jews.

The background and history of the conflicts and wars in the Eastern European countries are in no way comparable to the history of the Jews and the State of Israel. The realities are completely different, but Israel’s haters will ignore every reasonable explanation. They will not admit it, but deep inside they think “don’t bother me with the facts.”

Antisemitism is a natural instinct in every human being. It has existed for thousands of years—from the time when Jews received the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai (from the Hebrew word “Sina,” meaning hatred) to rise above the hatred revealed between them and from the nations of the world against the people of Israel.

The hatred against Jews will never disappear until we as a people realize and implement the mission we were given, fulfill the true reason why the people of Israel exist, carry out what humanity expects from us: to transition from unfounded hatred to unfounded love and by doing so become a “light unto the nations.”
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Highlights from a Meeting with David Rosenthal”

David Rosenthal is a respected political analyst, journalist, and columnist in various Israeli and international media outlets. Every so often, he interviews Dr. Michael Laitman on various topics. Below are some of the key points from their latest talk, which took place Wednesday, February 16, 2022. The questions and answers below summarize some of the main topics.

Mr. Rosenthal: How do you see the state of the world at the moment? Where do you think it is headed?

Dr. Laitman: Indeed, we are at a critical phase in the development of humanity. However, for humanity to develop, nature is pressing us in various ways. This is why we see so many conflicts around the world, along with volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other global problems all happening at the same time.

While these crises are here in order to push us to the next level of development, they do not lift us there, but only force us to get out of our comfort zone. This is why it is so important that we take the initiative for our development into our own hands, since when nature does it, it employs very unpleasant ways.

Either way, the 21st century will be a century of great lessons. The question is how quickly, easily, and pleasantly we want to learn those lessons. We can come to a state where everyone is satisfied—from individuals through organizations to societies and governments. It may seem impossible since each entity has its own interests, which often clash, but I believe we will discover how to rise above our differences and find a common unity that makes personal interests feel inconsequential.

I anticipate that humanity will want to find the method for achieving this, and then we will all finally be happy. Although people are still egoists and in constant conflicts, we will gradually come to that state.

Mr. Rosenthal: Do organizations play any role in overcoming the raging ego?

Dr. Laitman: Their importance is that through various organizations and governments that want to impose their will on the public, we are discovering that there can be only one solution: to rise above all of our demands of others and come to some sort of equilibrium where no one demands anything of anyone. My words may not be very clear right now, but humanity is approaching it and will soon discover it.

Mr. Rosenthal: How will climate change influence us? Will it continue to be a problem?

Dr. Laitman: Yes, I have no doubt it will. The problems we are currently facing are only because of us, to make us improve our relationships with one another. This is how we should see it. Therefore, if we make our relationships friendlier and calmer, we will pacify all of nature, including hurricanes and other storms, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and all the disasters plaguing us on land, at sea, and in the air.

The thing is that we, humans, are the center of creation. Therefore, the more we spoil our connections, the more we disrupt nature. When nature shifts off balance, we see an escalation of natural phenomena and they become natural disasters. This is why we say that they are signs that we need to improve our relations. When we improve them, we pacify the center of creation, which in turn pacifies the entire planetary system and the natural disasters stop occurring.

Mr. Rosenthal: On another topic: What about antisemitism? Will there be a time when it subsides?

Dr. Laitman: Antisemitism usually eases after great troubles for the Jewish people. However, we must understand that the reason for antisemitism is that the people of Israel themselves do not do what they must do in the overall system of humanity. If the people of Israel connect among themselves, they will immediately placate the forces that erupt against them.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Antisemitism: The Impolite Side of Britain”

“Go back to the gas chambers” and “filthy Jews” are just some of the increasingly frequent antisemitic attacks on Jewish youth and children in the UK, who are also confronted with Nazi salutes, insulted and spat upon. Meanwhile, adult Orthodox Jews have been brutally beaten in broad daylight in unprovoked attacks. Why is hatred of Jews so virulent and shameless in the prim and proper UK?

A staggering total of 2,255 antisemitic incidents were registered in 2021, the highest total ever in Great Britain and a record-breaking number in recent years anywhere in Europe. The study conducted by the Community Security Trust, a UK anti-Semitism monitoring group, found a 34% increase in antisemitic incidents, up from 1,684 recorded cases of Jew-hatred in 2020.

In recent weeks, security cameras have documented particularly serious cases such as unprovoked beatings of Hasidic Jews. An ultra-Orthodox mother walking down a London street with her two children, one in a stroller, was verbally assaulted by a man who shouted, “We do not want Jews here.” In another case, children outside a Jewish school were victims of antisemitic slurs by a man who threatened them, “You Jews are so bad, I wish I had a gun to shoot you.” Last December, during Hanukkah celebrations, Jewish teenagers traveling by bus in London were attacked by a group of men who insulted and even spat on them.

The younger generation of British Jews is the new target of Jew-haters, not because they are an easy target, but mainly because antisemites cannot imagine a new generation of Jews growing up in Britain.

Such behavior, of course, is not expected in the seemingly polite, calm and even-tempered Britain. I have travelled through the UK several times and can testify that fine manners only deceive us and mask the deep-rooted antisemitism that has been simmering for generations.

Why is this so? The reason is that the more advanced and cultured a society is, the more antisemitic it becomes, and not the other way around, as one might think. In fact, besides being very developed, the British also have a very uncouth, straightforward and stubborn side. In addition to the medieval blood libels that are still present, and using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a pretext, they have all the elements to be truly antisemitic.

It is precisely from their development that they have the clear understanding that Jews have a special role that they do not fulfill. That role is to connect positively “as one people with one heart,” to develop harmonious, unified relationships between themselves to become an example to the rest of the world, to become a light to the nations.

All of humanity feels that everything depends on ego or self-interest and that we, the Jews, have raised the bar of egoism to the highest level. They expect us to balance this ego by transcending our differences and uniting for the benefit of all. If we do not achieve this goal, we hinder the path of goodness and tranquility for all, and antisemitism arises.

The virulent hatred that rears its head in the UK and around the world should serve as an awakening for us to unite and unleash the positive force of nature that will be activated when we become one. Now it is up to us to be a light unto nations, to bring unity, peace and tranquility to the world by paving the way for others. Then we will guarantee a good future for this generation and the generations to come.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Normalization with Gulf States Will Not Bring Normalization with the World”

Recently, Ahmed Al-Jarallah, Editor-in-Chief of the Arab Times, wrote an op-ed that urged Gulf states to normalize relations with Israel, and criticized the Palestinians. Al-Jarallah stated that Gulf states should not support the Palestinians financially or mediate between them and Israel “whenever one of them throws a missile at Israel.” If they attack Israel, he suggested, “let them rebuild what they destroy by their own acts.” In conclusion, Al-Jarallah stated, “All the Gulf states should normalize relations with Israel due to the fact that peace with this most advanced country is the right thing to do.” As for the Palestinians, he vented, “Let the foolish fend for themselves.”

Naturally, the Israeli media quoted the op-ed extensively. Finally, someone in the Arab world has listened to reason, looked at the facts, and realized that the Palestinians are the aggressors and Israel is acting only in self-defense. I, too, was happy to hear about Al-Jarallah’s words, but I think that if Israel did what it is supposed to do, it would have no enemies at all, not even the Palestinians. After all, we are the people who conceived the motto “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and we are the ones expected to realize it.

An alliance with Israel may be great for the Gulf states, and I am certainly happy when any Arab country wants to make peace with us rather than fight against us. However, for Israel, this is far from enough. No peace that we will make will hold until we make peace with one another. Look, for example, at the peace we have with Egypt and with Jordan. There may be absence of active fighting between us, but there is a lot of hostility toward Israel, especially among the citizens of the two nations. Therefore, in the event of a war, Israel cannot trust these countries not to join its enemies.

We may not realize it, but Israel, the startup nation, was initially a startup society. Our “experiment” was unprecedented, and has never been attempted since. The idea was that people who came from foreign, often hostile nations, could form a nation by extolling the idea of unity itself. If successful, the “formula” would be a role model for humanity.

For centuries, we teetered between success and failure, but in the end, we failed the world: We fell into such diabolic hatred of each other that the world has never since tried to establish a nation based on mutual responsibility and loving others as yourself.

Nevertheless, the world did not forget our obligation. Not only our own scriptures remind us of our mission, but antisemites and historians also recognize it.

Among those antisemites is the most notorious Jew-hater in US history: Henry Ford, founder of the automobile company. In his antisemitic composition, The International Jew – the World’s Foremost Problem, Ford details his grievances against the Jews. Yet, here and there, he throws some very thought-provoking statements: “It may be that when Israel is brought to see that her mission in the world is not to be achieved by means of the Golden Calf,” he writes, “her very cosmopolitanism with regard to the world and her inescapable nationalistic integrity with regard to herself will together prove a great and serviceable factor in bringing about human unity.” Ford also complained that “the total Jewish tendency at the present time is doing much to prevent” Jewish unity.

Regarding being a startup society, Ford advises contemporary sociologists to study the ancient Israeli society. In his words, “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems on paper, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

Similar to Ford, acclaimed historian Paul Johnson wrote in his comprehensive composition A History of the Jews, “At a very early stage in their collective existence [Jews] believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot.”

To this day, the world regards us as indebted. It cannot forge the kind of unity that it needs today—among nations and faiths—and it does not see the example it needs to receive from us. This is why the Palestinians can feel confident that the world will side with them. It blames us for every conflict on the planet, not only with the Palestinians, but also among themselves. And until we make peace with one another and become the pilot society, the social model that the world expects to see, we will remain the world’s pariahs.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Antisemitism – in Service of the Media”

The increasing frequency of antisemitic incidents around the world is mainly due to the media’s deliberate emphasis on such incidents, which incite antisemites to act. If the media does not lower the flames, it will end in a catastrophe. The only way to limit the insidious reports is by Jews standing shoulder to shoulder and showing a united front.

A few days ago, at the behest of the antisemitic organization The Rights Forum, administrators at more than a dozen Dutch universities instructed their staff to list their interactions with Israeli and Jewish organizations, reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).

The request demanded “to receive all information about the period from January 1, 2012 to January 24, 2022, more than ten years. And all of this must be submitted, if possible on paper, within 28 days.” One university employee quipped, “What is the next step? That Jews in universities should all wear a yellow star?” Holland’s Chief Rabbi was not amused at all. “What really concerns me,” he said, “is the number of universities that were so compliant with such an evidently antisemitic request. It reminds us that most mayors cooperated during the occupation to pass on the names of their Jewish citizens to the Germans.”

Reports about antisemitic incidents are flooding the media, and all carry the same message: Antisemitism is rising. It is true that antisemitic incidents have risen, but I do not think that Jew-hatred is rising or falling. Jew-hatred always exists in the heart of every non-Jew; it is a constant. What does change, however, is the extent to which people allow themselves to express it, and this depends on the media. The more the media reports such incidents, and especially, the more it reports them with a “somber” tone that implies escalation of antisemitism, the more it emboldens and galvanizes antisemites.

By media, I mean all forms of media: social media, TV and radio channels, newspapers, books, journals, magazines, and anything that hits the air and somehow reaches the public. If the media were to stop reporting antisemitic incidents, the frequency of antisemitic incidents would drop instantly. It would not diminish Jew-hatred, but it would diminish its overt, and mainly violent expression.

Regrettably, this will not happen. “Antisemitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together,” said Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, in 1929. The hidden hatred keeps looking for ways to vent itself, and the best place to air hatred is the media.

The only way to curb expressions of hatred is to dissolve it, and the only way to dissolve hatred toward Jews is to dissolve the hatred among Jews.

Wittingly or not, the people of Israel are always at the center of attention. From the very beginning, when we forged a nation out of descendants of outcasts from every nation in the Fertile Crescent, we were designated to be the world’s heroes or pariahs. The unbelievable feat that the early Hebrews had achieved in establishing their nationhood against all odds and above all the hatred they had felt for one another was a precedent no one since has managed to replicate. Even the Jews fell in and out of love with one another until they finally dissolved in a bloody civil war that dissolved their nation and brought upon them Titus, who conquered Jerusalem, destroyed what was left of the Temple, and exiled the starved relics to Rome.

Since then, Jews have been persona non grata wherever they went. If they were tolerated, it was only because the ruler exploited them for political or monetary gains, usually the latter, but it never lasted.

The Jews will be welcome wherever they go only if they first unite among themselves. Unity is not their shield against adversaries; it is the example they must give the world. When they unite, the world welcomes them and says, “It is becoming to cling only to this nation,” as the book Sifrey Devarim writes. When they are divided, what happens is what is happening today, what happened in 1492, and what happened in the 1940s.

We need to understand that the media opens and closes the valve on expressions of antisemitism, but our actions for or against each other determine whether the media opens or closes the valve.

More on this topic in my book The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “A New Book Spells Out Old Truth”

Recently, Daniel Gordis’ latest publication, We Stand Divided: The Rift Between American Jews and Israel, has been translated into Hebrew and published in Israel. Much has happened since it was published, two and a half years ago, but the nadir, as Gordis refers to the rift between American Jews and Israel, has only deepened since. I think that if we are to be honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge that other than organizations whose funding relies on sustaining the ties between Israel and American Jewry, both communities are uninterested in one another. In fact, the most prevalent feelings between the two communities are resentment, condescension, and dislike.

In an interview for the Israeli paper Makor Rishon, Gordis recalled a letter that approximately 100 Reform rabbinical students signed during the “Guardian of the Walls” military campaign (May 10-21, 2021). The letter accused Israel of implementing apartheid against the Palestinians and called on American Jewish communities to hold Israel accountable for the “violent suppression of human rights,” but said nothing of the more than 4,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilian cities or the fact that Hamas’ charter explicitly calls for the annihilation of the State of Israel. To conclude, says Gordis, “In the May war, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt supported Israel more than the rabbinical students who signed the letter.”

Indeed, I see no connection between the two communities. I understand that for observing Jews, the Jewish holidays and Israel bear significance. Also, if Jews in one country have family in the other country, they will feel connected, especially if they often visit one another. There are also Jews in America who believe that Israel can be a safe haven in case they need to make a run for it, as Jews have always done throughout history when they were persecuted. But as communities, I see no connection between the two.

If American Jews are looking for safe havens from antisemitism, they’d be better off buying some land in Central America, Mexico, or Canada, and lead their lives there. There are already such settlements, such as the Orthodox Jewish town Kiryas Tosh in Quebec, Canada, and there are others.

The majority of American Jews have never been to Israel. They don’t want to come here and they feel no connection to the Jewish state. They did not choose to be Jewish, they were born into it, but they have no interest in Israel. If anything, the fact that there are organizations that try to tighten the connections between the two communities only annoys them. This is why many American Jews say about Israel, “It’s a pity you exist at all. If you didn’t exist, people would forget about us. Now they know that there is the people of Israel and hate us.”

Because there is no connection between the two communities, no effort by any organization will succeed. If there were a connection, we wouldn’t need anything else. If we could awaken love among us, Jews, all the Jews from around the world would want to come here. But because we are disunited, no one wants to come here and no one wants connection with us or with Jews at all.

From the perspective of the Israelis, I think that what we need to do is worry about our own unity, and forget about trying to connect with those who do not want connection. The people who live here, in Israel, should connect among themselves and form such a tight bond that the entire world will look at us and strive to follow our example.

The connection between us does not need organizations, who come with their own interests. It also does not need government offices, who impose their own agendas. All we need is people who want to connect above all their differences. In the end, the ancient motto that we have never implemented but have always preached, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is our only rescue. This is what we need, and the best service we can do to the world is to implement it and set a good example to the world.

To conclude, I’d like to bring the words of Nathan Sternhartz, the prime disciple and scribe of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who concisely packaged the whole idea: “‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the great rule of the Torah, to include in unity and peace, which are the heart of the vitality, persistence, and correction of the whole of creation, when people of differing views are included together in love, unity, and peace.”
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Jews of Today’s German Army”

After Nazi-Germany’s attempt to wipe out its (and the world’s) Jewish population, today 118,000 Jews reside in Germany. Eight decades have passed since World War II and there are currently about 300 Jews wearing the German military uniform “ready to die” for their homeland. Some of them even come from families of Holocaust survivors.

How is it possible for Jews to join the German army after the military atrocities committed against Jews by the Nazis? The answers vary.

Some argue that this is the way to heal the wounds of history and others think that this is actually the way to clear prejudices since today there is a new Germany. But each assertion springs from a sense of self-righteousness, from a desire to show everyone that “Jews are not what people always thought they were.” It is a desire to be accepted and understood.

During World War I, about 100,000 German Jewish soldiers fought for their country. Before they were banned from serving in the army when Hitler came to power in 1933, they fought as hard as any Christian German to serve their homeland and did their best to show that they were loyal Germans. But did that help them when the Nazis, with their Aryan supremacy agenda, came to power? Why do they think it will be different today? How can they ignore that there is still rampant antisemitism throughout the country and right-wing extremists within the German military and police as authorities have uncovered in recent years?

Just as no one foresaw that only fifteen years after World War I Jews would be blamed for all of Germany’s troubles and their participation in the war would be presented as an act of betrayal against the country they fought and died in, today no one will salute them.

To understand where the phenomenon of Jewish self-denial comes from, one must understand who a Jew is and what his or her role is. Jews have an element that was imprinted in them in the time of our ancestor Abraham, which culminated with the acceptance of the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai. This spiritual element connects the Jews to the power of nature; it is an element that does not exist in any other nation., Through this spiritual element the Jews can become a channel leading to abundance, light, and spiritual power for the whole world. That is what it is to be “a light to the nations.”

During the period of the Second Temple, the Jewish people were at the height of their glory and united in brotherly love that enlightened all of mankind. But as selfishness, the evil instinct, the negative force, grew and separated them, brotherhood and love were replaced by free hatred that sent the Jews to all corners of the world.

Since the destruction of the Temple, the Jews have failed to fulfill their role in humanity, and as a result of it, they evoke a sense of hatred known as antisemitism. In order to escape the hatred against them, they try to hide their Jewish identity wherever they live or attempt to blend in within the establishment, like those Jews who join the ranks of the German army, for example. In extreme cases, consciously or unconsciously, they become Jew-haters themselves.

In all ways, Jews are trying to free themselves from the role assigned to them by trying to uproot their spiritual origin. But this is impossible. The Jewish “gene” is in their essence. It is a spiritual root that is above nature, and it forces them to be Jews.

The only action the Jews have to perform today is to unite among them. That is the act that made them a nation to begin with; it is also the only act that has ever earned them respect and goodwill from other peoples and nations— it is the simple act of promoting the value of solidarity and cohesion from the Jews to the entire world.
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My new article on Linkedin “Another Perspective on Whoopi Goldberg’s ‘The View’ Comment”

Earlier this week, actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg, who co-hosts the show “The View” said on the show, “The Holocaust isn’t about race,” but about “man’s inhumanity to man.” The backlash soon followed and ABC, which produces the show, suspended Goldberg for two weeks. The Holocaust is definitely about race; the only problem is that the Jews are not a race. If they, and the world, knew what being Jewish means, the fate of the Jews and the fate of the world would have been very different from the current dismal state of both the Jews and the world.

Jews are not White, as Goldberg pointed out. They have no distinct color because they have no distinct origin from which they came. The first Jews were followers of Abraham, who was born in Haran—a major city in Mesopotamia, which is today within the boundaries of Turkey. Abraham was not a Jew; he was an idol-worshipper, the son of a successful idol-worshipping priest who had an idol shop.

According to Maimonides (Mishneh Torah), the Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah), and other sources, Abraham was worried about the growing enmity among his people. His concern made him ask poignant questions about life and how it is governed, or as Maimonides put it, “Who is the owner of the Capital?” and how he could help his quarreling townsfolk. Eventually, he discovered that only one force governs everything, and that what his people needed to do in order to overcome their division was to unite until they became as united as that one force.

Abraham began to talk about his thoughts and circulate his ideas. The idea of unity and oneness resonated with some people, but most people shunned it, including his King, Nimrod. As a result, Abraham and his followers were driven out of their city and their country and began to wander toward Canaan.

Along the way, Abraham continued to speak of his ideas and more people joined his entourage. These people later became the people of Israel, and their motto was unity to the point of oneness, or as they later described that level of unity: “as one man with one heart.”

After Abraham’s passing, Isaac continued in his father’s footsteps, Jacob followed Isaac, and so did Joseph. Eventually, when Moses managed to unite the divided nation that had splintered after Joseph’s death, they had become a full-fledged nation.

Their feat—building a nation out of complete strangers by sticking to the notion of unity—has remained unparalleled and unmatched to this day. No other nation had been built this way.

Precisely because of their unique background—their eclectic makeup—they were the perfect example of what the world could be like if all the people became as brothers. The Jews became a model nation for better or worse. When they were united, they were proof that people from different tribes, backgrounds, ethnicities, and faiths could unite above their differences. When they were divided, they displayed all the hatred that the nations feel for one another since the Jews are the descendants of those rivaling and quarrelsome nations.

Because of our unique background, we have been given a unique role in the world: to be a model of unity above hatred and differences. Because of our unique role, we were, are, and always will be at the center of the world’s attention. Because we are expected to show unity and be a model nation, we were, are, and always will be judged by a stricter standard than the rest of the world. Until we complete our task successfully and set a permanent model of unity, the world will keep reproving us and claim that we are bullies, warmongers, and thieves, and will accuse us of every wrongdoing that the world can think of.

Therefore, although the Jews are not a race, the Holocaust was certainly against the Jews, very specifically, and not some conflict between groups of Whites. At the same time, if we want to end antisemitism, we should focus not on silencing antisemites, but on silencing the criticism, spite, and hatred that we feel for one another.

The world will not embrace us until we embrace each other. If we remember this, our future is bright. If we forget it once again, then more troubles are ahead for all of us.

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My new article on Linkedin “No Amnesty for Israel Until There’s Amnesty Among Us”

Just recently, Amnesty International fired a quiver of poisonous arrows at Israel. One may ask, what is new? A new report by the international NGO accuses Israel of being an apartheid state not only in terms of its policies in the West Bank and Gaza, but also within its borders. This time, it bluntly questions the very nature of the Jewish State, and even Israel’s right to exist. There is only one antidote to this hateful polemic: Jewish unity.

“In the course of establishing Israel as a Jewish state in 1948, Israel expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages in what amounted to ethnic cleansing,” reads the 278 page report titled Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity. No more no less.

Where are the voices against other totalitarian and dictatorial regimes around the world while Israel is systematically singled out and accused of hideous crimes? Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that the Jewish state is judged by a completely different standard than the rest of the world, and this is called antisemitism. We must question where this antisemitism has its roots in order to tackle it.

In the complicated global reality we live in today, the more frequent and intense the problems are, the more humanity blames this tiny nation of Jews for its problems. Amnesty International and other haters seem to be telling us that If Israel were wiped out, the world’s problems would end.

They cannot even explain to themselves why they persistently and determinedly persecute us, but by this “special treatment” antisemites unconsciously elevate our status as a people with a special role in this world. Summarized in simple terms, their message is that the State of Israel, founded on the Land of Israel, is obligated to exist according to the laws of the nation of Israel – to be “like one man with one heart” and to act according to the rule of “love your neighbor as yourself.” If the nation does not exist in this way, in accordance with these laws, they believe that the Jews have no right to exist on their land, so they must be sent back to the Diaspora until perhaps in a few hundred years they will return and succeed to unite.

The principle of unity should be implemented first and foremost within the Jewish people in order to set an example to other peoples. Such high expectations on Israel have been expressed by some of our most vociferous critics throughout history. For example, American antisemite Henry Ford admitted in his book The International Jew: “The whole prophetic purpose in regard to the people of Israel seems to be to enlighten the world morally through their agency.”

At the other end of the spectrum are the lovers of Israel, the sages of the nation who knew how to define the meaning and purpose of the Jewish people, such as Rav Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, who explained the role of the Jewish nation in his writings: “Within Israel is a hidden sanctity of elevating the value of life itself through the Divinity that is present in Israel… With utter completeness will it be completed within the house of Israel, and from it, it will radiate to the earth and to the whole world, ‘for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations.'” (Rav Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, Ein Ayah [A Hawk’s Eye])

In other words: If we fail to maintain solidarity and cohesion among ourselves, we will continue experiencing big trouble. But if we base our relationships on love and mutual understanding, we will be a source of goodness that spreads to the whole world, and hostility towards us will vanish.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “World’s Misconception about Jews, and the Jews’ Misconception about Antisemitism”

Not long ago, The Jerusalem Post published an op-ed by Conrad Myrland, CEO of a pro-Israel group in Norway. In the column, Myrland referenced a survey by the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority, which stated that “32% of Norwegians think it is correct or somewhat correct that Israel treats the Palestinians as badly as the Jews were treated during World War II.” To Israelis, this sounds horrific. We, who live here, know how far this view is from the truth. But to many people around the world, not only to Norwegians, it seems perfectly reasonable. I cannot blame them for thinking this. Antisemitism will not pass until we make it pass by carrying out our obligation to bring unity and brotherhood to the world.

Norwegians, like many others around the world, cannot sense, much less sympathize with what the Nazis did to the Jews. Being antisemitic, they exploit every opportunity to slander Israel.

We need to understand that antisemitism is far from over. The misconceptions instilled in Norway’s youth today will create tomorrow’s Nazis, at least in terms of how they will treat Jews.

The struggle against antisemitism does not end. It needs to be tackled every single generation.

However, it is important to realize that tackling antisemitism means far more than forbidding antisemitic displays. Censorship is like aspirin to cancer; it may relieve the pain for a while but it will not cure it. Focusing the struggle only on curbing antisemitic displays is a strategic mistake and a lost cause regardless of the budgets we will pour into it.

The only way that we can mitigate, and even dissolve antisemitism is if we begin to take our obligation to the world seriously. We need to realize that the only reason we exist is to be a model society.

We were created as a nation that is held by unity, and whose nationhood depends on the level of its unity. All other nations have natural affiliation among their members, but the builders of our nation came from different tribes at different times, and the only thing that held them together was the idea that unity and love of others should transcend all divisions and hatred, even among rival nations. This is why we were tasked with being a model nation, to show humanity how to create unity even in the absence of natural, biological affinity.

Accordingly, when we mistreat each other, the world blames us of mistreating others not because we treat others the way the Nazis treated us, but because we are denying it the example we owe it. It may be counterintuitive but when we are kind to one another, the world is kind to us; and when we are cruel to one another, the world is cruel to us.

The numbers speak for themselves: If you look at condemnations that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has issued, it is apparent that the world’s most tyrannical regimes get away with very little criticism, while Israel is constantly reproved. Between 2015-2021, for example, the UNGA issued 121 critical resolutions against Israel compared to 45 such resolutions against all other countries combined. Clearly, Norwegians are not alone in their critical stance on Israel. The world agrees with them.

If we are serious about “combatting” antisemitism, we have to combat the division within us. Unless we begin to strive to unite above the hatred and contempt we feel for one another, no efforts to lessen the world’s hatred toward us will succeed. Israel’s future depends not on its policy toward other nations or its efforts to explain its position to the world. It depends only on how Israelis treat each other, because when we deride each other, the world disdains us. When we support each other, the world approves of us.
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