Nearly 25 minutes of applause for "NAZA" ("collateral damage") were probably unprecedented in the history of film award ceremonies. And the extraordinary length of that applause reflects the depth of the self-antisemitic and antisemitic sickness taking root across the Western world.
If only we had spent centuries explaining and proving that Jewish dietary law strictly prohibits Jews from consuming blood, most blood libels could have been prevented, right? Of course not. It took many centuries before facts, evidence and explanations finally brought the phenomenon to an end.
For several days now, official and unofficial figures have been marshaling facts, data, their experience from military service and other evidence in an effort to refute this blood libel and repair the serious, and decidedly non-collateral, damage it has caused. These efforts are important. But it is equally important to recognize the underlying psychological landscape from which this phenomenon emerges.
The classic historical blood libel was never really a matter of facts, explanations or evidence. It reflected and expressed a permanent state of mind, an identity narrative, a deep-seated consciousness and a stubborn, deeply embedded layer of collective memory. That is why blood libels persisted continuously, always lying dormant until the next periodic outbreak.
In their Christian form, the libels began with the belief that Jews used Christian blood to commemorate their alleged killing of Jesus. Later, the accusation evolved into claims that Jews used Christian blood to bake matzah.
The details never really mattered, nor did the historical research. A long list of kings and popes tried for years to combat this sickness, yet it continued to fester and erupt into the 20th century. So much so that Pope Benedict XVI still felt it necessary, in a book published in the 21st century, to make clear that the Jews were not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus.
The current antisemitic film is another link in the chain of blood libels. Their form may have changed, and like viruses, they have adapted to a new reality. The Jews have been replaced by the State of Israel, which is now blamed for almost every evil in our world.
Antisemitism toward Israel is reflected in the unique demands placed upon it to meet standards that no other country is required to meet. That is why accusations of genocide and demonstrations against Israel began the day after the barbaric and horrifying Oct. 7 massacre, before Israel had undertaken any military action.
It is heartbreaking to read IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin saying that he was "inviting the filmmakers to allow IDF representatives to watch the full film so that we can address each of the claims raised in it in a substantive manner." The initiative itself is correct, but the wording is ingratiating when the issue at hand is a blood libel.
"We were there," numerous reserve officers have protested, "and these are lies." They describe stringent targeting procedures, the role of legal advisers in the decision-making chain and even the number of strikes that were called off solely to avoid collateral damage considered disproportionate. Important as all these efforts are, the battle cannot be won without understanding the deep psychological background underlying the phenomenon.
"NAZA" is an expression of a permanent, enduring psychological condition, a self-antisemitic identity that has accompanied individuals within the Jewish people throughout the generations. It is the condition that Labor Zionist leader Berl Katznelson lamented some 90 years ago when referring to such Jews:
"Is there another people whose sons have reached such a degree of intellectual and emotional distortion that everything their own people do, everything they create and every suffering they endure, is contemptible and hateful in their eyes, while everything their people's enemies do, every act of plunder, every murder and every rape, fills their hearts with admiration and devotion?"
Most of those applauding in the festival hall have for years existed in a constant state of blaming Israel, the updated expression of the new antisemitism. They arrived at the ceremony already carrying the deeply ingrained conviction that Israel had committed, and continues to commit, starvation and genocide.
Israel must erase the apologetic term "hasbara," or public diplomacy, from its vocabulary. It must recognize that a multifront war also include the battle for public consciousness, a theater in which sophisticated weapons must be developed and deployed, even if their use results in collateral damage.
