As protests grow in Israel against the Netanyahu government’s murderous logic and in Gaza against the martyrdom of the Palestinian people sought by Hamas, Western anti-Zionism reacts initially with silence. In doing so, it demonstrates that this deadly standoff is the only one that fits its ideological interpretation of the conflict. Politics is reduced to a distinction between friend and foe, drawing lines between camps that do not tolerate internal divisions and therefore share only a desire for mutual annihilation. This worldview has a direct impact on our public debate, as evidenced by the treatment of the term “left-wing Zionist” and those who are labeled as such. This week, Julien Chanet draws on French and Belgian sources and questions the reasons why part of the left believes that Zionism can only be its existential enemy, leading it to adopt a binary logic that rules out any prospect of peace: “Why should it be unthinkable that left-wing Zionism, even if not supported in its internal criticism of Zionism, should at least be left alone?”
For those who are vigilant on the subject of antisemitism, there have been many warning signs coming out of Sweden recently. We remember the turbulent Eurovision 2024 contest in Malmö, with its large anti-Israel demonstrations and inflammatory slogans, as well as the fact that Sweden has, willingly or not, given birth to two idols of the most radical anti-Zionism: Andreas Malm and Greta Thunberg. But beyond the anecdotal, what is the general state of antisemitism in Sweden and how is it being addressed by the public authorities? As part of our partnership with the DILCRAH, we are publishing an investigation on this subject by journalist David Stavrou, who has been working on this issue for a long time, highlighting the changes in both the scourge and the political response over the last twenty years.
On the occasion of Easter, we are publishing a text that has nothing to do with the death of the Pope. In fact, it has as little to do with his final moment of glory as this resolutely modern speech on the rise of antisemitism. Correlation is not causation, of course. Be that as it may, and since we are in the realm of pure coincidence, Danny Trom shares a nice one with us. He thought he was going to spend a peaceful week’s vacation with his family in Seville? That was without counting on Holy Week and its penitents looking like Klansmen who appear on every street corner. His interpretative delirium calmed by a Xanax or two, he recounts for K. this traumatic confrontation with the most archaic aspects of Catholicism.
