It is perfectly normal for the State of Israel to be concerned about antisemitism and to organize an international conference in Jerusalem on the subject, since the Zionist project was born out of a diagnosis of Europe’s insurmountable hostility towards Jews. The mechanism known as the Law of Return is, in this sense, the institutional translation of the reciprocal link that unites this State designed for Jews and the Jews who, throughout the world, are potentially in search of shelter. But the current spokespeople of this State are taking the initiative of inviting forces whose Jews know full well that the switch to anti-antisemitism is purely opportunistic and their sincerity more than doubtful. The form taken by this initiative of the Ministry of the Diaspora sounds, let’s be clear about this, like a betrayal of the diaspora. We can try to relieve ourselves by telling ourselves that this initiative is the result of ignorance of the situation of the Jews, a hypothesis that the abysmal lack of culture of the right and the extreme right wing of the government makes plausible. But make no mistake: what the guest list for this conference reflects is nothing less than a deliberate alignment with the most reactionary and authoritarian forces already in power in certain countries, and firm support for those who aspire to it. The latter hope that the road to Jerusalem will open the doors of power to them, in a context, it must be said, where the radical left in France, Great Britain and elsewhere has now openly pre-empted the antisemitic discourse. This confusion, which K. has repeatedly echoed, does not prevent us from seeing clearly: the guest list for the Jerusalem Conference on Antisemitism, barely concealed under the sprinkling of honorable invitees, outlines the plan to make Jerusalem the capital of the Reaction. Those, fortunately numerous, who are truly concerned about antisemitism can only decline this poisoned invitation. The text of the great German historian of Judaism, Michael Brenner, says loudly and painfully what can no longer be ignored: that the State of Israel, through its official bodies, is organizing its own blindness in the face of the trap in which the Jews are caught, and is demonstrating a drift that puts it at odds with the values that have guided Jewish history and, with it, the Zionist project. We are also publishing the text of David Hirsh, director of the London Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, explaining why he decided to cancel his participation in the conference. With this, the internal division of Israeli society is being reflected in the international arena, and therefore concerns us directly. This is why it is important that a clear word be spoken to counter this disastrous trend.
The Jewish condition, from whatever angle it is viewed, is no mean feat. It is characterized rather by a constitutive restlessness, where the pleasure of momentary consolation is not without a mistrust of that which comes to reassure. So anyone who, forgetting that good questions are not meant to be closed, claims to know what the phrase “Jewish identity” covers would be very clever. The fact remains, and it never ceases to amaze, that some people recognize themselves in this insecure identity. It is this mystery that Romain Moor has chosen to investigate, based on a notion that makes it even more opaque. What is a “crypto-Jew”? When it is not the object of antisemitic fantasy, “crypto-Jew” denotes an obscure trace in family history which, when followed, seems to point irresistibly to hidden Jewish roots. In the four corners of the globe, Moor investigates the quest for identity of those who, on the borders of reality and fiction, make their “Neo-Marrano coming-out”.
