The Enemy is Ideology

How can highly educated people in the finest universities justify the pogrom of October 7? How can rational individuals in prominent positions ignore history, facts and truth? The answer is ideology.

Ideology is an idea or way of thinking that justifies actions regardless of the course of events.  An ideologue holds fast to a political viewpoint, no matter how vile, if it justifies an initial premise, even if that premise is demonstrably false.

If your ideology is such that you believe that America and Europe have been, and still are, racist constructs and imperial powers that seek domination, then you will use any means possible, including lies and distortion, in your self-righteous quest to undermine them. And if you believe that Israel is their ally or agent in the Middle East, a colonial implant imposing itself on a hapless people, then you can call a pogrom a response to oppression and a death cult like Hamas a liberation movement.

In order to ignore or lie about historical fact, educated people need to have an overarching view of the world, which used to be called ideology. It’s now often referred to as narrative, a term I actually prefer. Ideology at least has an internal consistency and coherent thought process. Communism and fascism are ideologies. They have been proven to be destructive and tyrannical, but at least they had a philosophical base. The term “narrative” suits the current situation better because it evokes the notion of fiction or storytelling rather than philosophy or theory.

The current narrative of western civilization as irredeemably wicked is hypocritical and demonstrably false. European nations were colonizers in the past but no longer are. Societies change. But today’s critics refuse to recognize facts that stare them in the face. Israel is an indigenous people returning to its ancestral homeland after 2,000 years of living at the mercy of other nations that eventually turned on them as scapegoats for whatever went wrong in their societies.

The false narrative claims that Israel is a colonizer. It’s true that many Jews emigrated to Palestine from then-colonial powers, but they did so via Auschwitz. It’s a verifiable fact that the early Zionists returned to their indigenous land not to exploit it or take advantage of any Arabs who lived there, but to develop it, and to live with the Arabs in peace. Indeed, many of the Arabs who call themselves “Palestinians” today came into the land from neighbouring countries at around the same time as the early Zionists did, hoping to benefit from the agricultural developments and increased commerce that the Jews were generating.

To promote the narrative of the evil West and its partner in crime, Israel, you must stand with terrorists and countries that are corrupt and undemocratic, where human rights do not exist and the individual has no right to express an opinion. But to lie and distort for a cause or ideology is intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt.

Democracies are admittedly imperfect, but if they are undermined and uprooted, these pseudo-intellectuals would have to live in illiberal societies that have no tolerance for dissenting opinions. If they were to live under Hamas or the PA or any of the other dysfunctional Arab countries they would likely be imprisoned or executed if they dissented. It is easy to pontificate from afar about injustice elsewhere but they clearly do not know the history of the Middle East or, indeed, world history.

Let us not forget that the current narrative is, for many, a convenient cover for antisemitism, the longest hatred, the unfilterable virus. It has been termed a form of elder abuse: We gave birth to Christianity and Islam, and they turned on us. In any event, we need to treat with contempt the bigots masquerading as human rights activists. If they love the dispossessed, let them search for the true oppressors.

If they love the dispossessed, let them search for the true oppressors.

For a thousand years, Jews were hated for their religion, then the Nazis hated Jews for their ethnicity or bloodlines, and now they are hated for their state. The common theme is hatred in whatever guise.

In a world with 82 Christian-majority nations and 56 Muslim-majority ones, it appears that one Jewish state is one too many. That is antisemitism and it needs to be called out. We cannot call our societies civilized until we rid ourselves of this toxic and destructive force.

I was struck by the fact that diaspora Jews in Israel were understandably lining up at Ben Gurion airport anxious to leave for the safety of home after the October 7 pogrom. But Israelis abroad were lining up to board planes in order to go home to fight for their country.

Therein lies the hope: The Jewish ghetto mentality is dead. It died in the death camps of Europe. Long live the proud Israeli who understands that the answer to lies, hatred, antisemitism and false narratives is to live and to fight for self-preservation and for the truth.

Dr. Paul Socken is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and founder of the Jewish Studies program at the University of Waterloo.