Anti-Semitism has a long history, and I recommend Leon Poliakov’s classic work on its history. First, and for centuries, there was Christian anti-Semitism, which began with Constantine’s conversion and the Christian domination of what remained of the Roman Empire. With their “they killed Jesus” rhetoric and their relegation to despised professions—moneylenders, usurers, and notably what were called the “Jews of the Pope,” who did what the popes did not want to do directly for their own profit. Then came the pogroms (in France, remember the thousands of deaths, particularly during the departures for the Crusades under Saint Louis and others); in Orthodox countries, the equivalent was just as effective. Myths such as “they drink the blood of Christian children at Passover,” etc. Of course, we must also make room for the Inquisitions and the Holocaust—and everything that led to the massacre of millions of Jews by virtually every Western country. There was also the left-wing version—less effective in terms of massacres—but just as much based on myths: the Rothschilds dominating the world alongside the great Jewish families. This was a persistent myth, since in the 1980s, polls in Poland showed that the majority of Poles still believed that Jews dominated Poland and the world, even though there were virtually none left. Note that throughout this entire history, Muslims played a very minor role: there were few, if any, pogroms, and in principle just an additional tax—but no ghettos either. Just look at New Fez, founded by Jews expelled from Spain in 1492!
Since the creation of Israel, things have changed and taken a turn that is both more insidious and far more effective, as it serves as Israel’s spearhead, enabling it to exist and win every war it has waged since 1947.
Let’s look at some figures taken from the classic work *The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy* by Mearsheimer & Walt (https://leblogdebenari.com/en/2026/09/25/israel-the-51st-state-of-the-union/) . In my previous article, we saw just how disproportionate U.S. aid has been—totaling 154 billion, particularly in military grants—allowing the Israelis to literally help themselves to U.S. military stockpiles, including the most recent and sophisticated weapons that are not provided to anyone else. A recent map shows how much each state in the federation pays to Israel. The transfer of $2 billion worth of 1-metric-ton bombs—which will be used before the Israeli elections to bomb Iran—is a telling example.
And it would take too long to list here all the tax benefits and tax-exempt personal donations that have made Israel—by far—the country most supported in the world by a foreign nation, and this for ages (since Kennedy, every president with one exception—Jimmy Carter, who had a different moral perspective on the issue). The question is: why? What does the U.S. gain by being so generous? Do they have more oil or rare minerals? None of that—unlike the Arab countries, Israel possesses none of these resources. This unconditional support over decades is all the more baffling given that the Americans have paid a heavy price, with the loss of hundreds of soldiers in attacks by Hezbollah and anti-Israeli factions in Lebanon and elsewhere.
In fact, for a long time, serious foreign ministers (let’s leave Trump out of this, since that adjective isn’t often used) have argued that this was absurd. There’s more to be gained from being friends with the billions of Arabs and Muslims in terms of oil, politics, exports, and so on. You don’t have to be a math whiz to understand that. In fact, the U.S. hesitated until the very last moment to join the countries voting for Israel’s creation in 1947 and to recognize it afterward. The justification for the “yes” vote was, of course, the Cold War, competition with the “Great Satan”—communism—and the fear that it would dominate the Middle East. But once the communist threat had disappeared, the benefit became less obvious, and that’s where the Jewish—or rather, Israeli—lobby comes in. Since then, Israel has served as an aircraft carrier and an outpost for the West in the East, with the goal of dominating the region in the service of the West and, above all, the U.S. Its lobby in the U.S. is therefore a matter of life and death, because without U.S. support, its attacks against all the countries surrounding it require a constant influx of military equipment and financial support to maintain a budget in which “defense” is by far the largest item.
This is where the various branches of the Jewish (Israeli) lobby come into play. AIPAC—the American Israel Public Affairs Committee—is one of the organizations working to ensure that no senator or member of Congress who is not sufficiently pro-Israel is elected. With about $100 million a year, it’s possible to determine who will win elections in a country where, since Clinton’s time, campaign contributions to candidates have been unlimited and anything goes in campaign ads to destroy an opponent. There’s no hesitation in accusing them of anything; anything goes when it comes to casting doubt on their character, in particular. This is often successful, since the majority of both Republicans and Democrats are beholden to the stock market and the payments they receive from AIPAC. Except that sometimes there are also setbacks, as in the recent New York City mayoral election or in Democratic primaries like the one in Michigan, where Dr. El Sayed brilliantly defeated his opponent, Hailey Stevens—who had received tens of millions of dollars for anti-El Sayed advertising. It’s quite symbolic: a young doctor of Egyptian origin defeated a Democratic heavyweight simply through his eloquence, his courage, and the strength of his convictions. It’s important to remember that AIPAC funds both sides—Republicans and Democrats alike—but the bottom line is to always vote in favor of Israel, even when it runs counter to American interests.
This case is just one of dozens of examples; it’s important to know that AIPAC—among others, since there are other organizations that do the same thing—pays for lavish trips and other perks for virtually all U.S. elected officials, just as in France, where at least half of the members of parliament have been treated to guided tours of the Holy Land. AIPAC does not stop at determining the composition of the U.S. Congress and Senate—and, of course, the presidential election—by favoring a vote for Trump —Israel’s greatest ally of all time, who moved the embassy to Jerusalem on land confiscated from a Palestinian family, in defiance of international law and the conventions previously signed by the U.S. regarding the territories occupied since 1967. Trump, for his part, is returning the favor by forcing—or “inviting”—other embassies to follow suit and, in particular, to vote with him against any UN resolution against Israel—a fact that is glaringly obvious when one looks at the countries supporting Israel; there has been a quid pro quo and horse-trading with the Trump administration. AIPAC also helps target independent media outlets that do not toe the line, relying in particular on billionaires who own newspapers or by threatening to cut off all advertising and using other persuasive and hard-hitting tactics.
The Israeli (and, incidentally, Jewish) lobby is formidably effective because Western democracies are weak. How else can we explain that both France and Germany support this corrupt regime—responsible for massacres and by far the country most condemned by the UN and all NGOs and international organizations? So they trot out the old argument of anti-Semitism in its new guise: criticizing Israel means being anti-Semitic. Israel is probably the only country in the world that, using this argument, blithely shifts from the role of executioner (which it undeniably is) to that of victim. This is an untenable argument because it portrays those of us who reject massacres and genocide—regardless of who the victim or the perpetrator may be—as being motivated by anti-religious sentiment. When we hear this Prime Minister Bibi—who is being prosecuted by international courts and virtually all global NGOs for genocide—shouting with such vulgar contempt at those who dare to walk out rather than listen to him at the UN: “Come on, you cowards, get out of the room… what we’re doing isn’t genocide but the opposite of genocide.”
I looked up the opposite of genocide, and that word doesn’t exist. Take a look at the attached links; I challenge anyone to dispute that a city—or a country—with 2 million inhabitants was simply razed to the ground, before being starved and set up for the greatest ethnic cleansing of this century.
In conclusion, Israel is reviving an old anti-Semitic narrative for its own benefit to foster the rise of dictatorships around the world; Bibi is friends with every dictator in the world and helps them. It doesn’t matter that this fuels anti-Semitism worldwide—on the contrary, it helps it because they’ll all eventually come to live in Israel. Either way, we win.
https://lnkd.in/p/ey4wznHj
https://lnkd.in/p/eujuRqJ7
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2026/09/29/a-gaza-usines-a-cibles-et-dommages-collateraux-les-methodes-de-l-armee-israelienne-racontees-par-ses-militaires_6785614_3210.html
https://lnkd.in/p/e8HfCA8y
https://lnkd.in/p/ek8Jx8hj
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/9/15/klein_taylor_end_times_fascism
Photo Patrick Tomasso – Unsplash
