Why does everyone hate the Jews?

 

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi may have shown his true colors. In several incriminating videos which have gone viral Morsi’s apparently anti-Semitic slurs have come to light. In one, a television interview from three years ago, he calls Zionists “these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.” In the same year, at a rally in the Nile Delta denouncing the Israeli blockade of Gaza, he declares: “We must never forget, brothers, to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews.” He’s not yet finished inciting hatred. Egyptian children, he said, “must feed on hatred; hatred must continue. The hatred must go on for God and as a form of worshiping him.” Lest we dismiss these blasts from the past as mere youthful indiscretions, just three months ago, a pious Morsi, worshipping at a Mosque, can be seen mouthing the word “Amen” as the preacher urges Allah to “destroy the Jews and their supporters.”

Morsi claims, as politicians have a habit of doing, that his remarks were taken out of context. He claims that his remarks were aimed at Israel’s policies, not Jews. There’s a fine line between Israeli policies that discriminate against Palestinians, on the one hand, and Jews, on the other. Morsi claims that he didn’t cross that line.

But while policies may be like bloodsuckers, such slurs seem more appropriately ascribed to persons. It’s Zionists, after all, not Zionist policies that he calls bloodsuckers; it’s Jews that he calls upon Egyptians to hate and to destroy.

I was recently traveling in Turkey with a Muslim friend talking about strategies for cultivating religious liberty and tolerance in Muslim-majority countries. In particular, we talked about whether or not there was sufficient theological common ground for Muslims and Christians to work together for religious liberty in Turkey. We waxed eloquently on Christian charity and Muslim compassion. I then asked what we might do for Turkey’s Jews. Once a haven for Jews, the Turkish Jewish population has dwindled dramatically (from over 500,000 during the Ottoman Empire—40% of Istanbul’s population—to about 25,000 today). His countenance fell immediately and he said, without irony, “Everyone hates the Jews.”

“Everyone hates the Jews.”

Since the blood of Abraham runs through the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus the Christ, where does that sentiment come from? How could followers of Allah, the All-Merciful and Jesus, who demands love of neighbor as oneself, hate the Jews (or anyone, for that matter)? How could it be that the one thing that unites Muslim and Christian alike in Turkey, and them together with Mohammed Morsi and his followers, is hatred for the Jews?

When I ask, “Why does everyone hate the Jews?”, then, I mean something like this—“How could children of Abraham possibly hate one of their brothers?” Or, “How is it possible that professed followers of an all merciful God could hate one of God’s creatures?”

Morsi’s unfortunate but all too familiar remarks offer a clue. Morsi trades on familiar anti-Semitic slurs: Jews as bloodsuckers, descendants of apes and pigs. The first step toward hatred of a group of humans is dehumanization. You don’t willfully hurt, discriminate against, terrorize, or kill innocent human beings. But you can squash bloodsuckers and slaughter pigs. You don’t deny human beings their right to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness, but subhuman animals can have no such rights. Nazi Germany was prepared for genocide by a successful propaganda campaign in which Jews were systematically portrayed as subhumans.

Morsi’s first step towards following the All-Merciful should be to denounce the dehumanization. Jews are, according to Muslims and Christians, created in the divine image, just a notch below angels. As such, they are creatures of infinite worth, worthy of deep and abiding respect (even if one disagrees with their treatment of Palestinians). As creatures of infinite worth they deserve respect for both their selves and for their rights.

Calling them bloodsuckers, apes or pigs, then, is disobedience to Allah, a kind of blasphemy in which one believes one knows the nature of God’s creatures better than God himself.

In the Hadith, there is a story told of the Prophet who shows his deep respect for an unknown Jew.

Sahl bin Hunaif and Qais bin Sad were sitting in the city of Al-Qadisiya. A funeral procession passed in front of them and they stood up. They were told that funeral procession was of one of the inhabitants of the land i.e. of a non-believer, under the protection of Muslims. They said, “A funeral procession passed in front of the Prophet and he stood up. When he was told that it was the coffin of a Jew, he said, ‘Is it not a living being (soul)?’”  

The Prophet showed his respect by standing up for a Jew (and a dead one, at that). It’s time for Morsi to stand up for Jews.