Facing Antisemitism: A Christian Call to Listen

This Easter, I will once again read and pray about the death and resurrection of Jesus. I will likely weep at the trials and the triumph, and will certainly thank God for salvation. But truth be told, I’ll also cringe a little as I listen to those texts that speak of “Jews” so negatively. There’s context, of course, and this is in many ways a Jewish story, but that’s seldom prevented antisemitic hatred. 

The first time I remember giving any thought to my Jewishness was when I was a child, playing football in the local park in an east London suburb. A boy I’d not met before asked if I wanted to go back to his house for some cake. Of course! We played entirely innocently until his father came home. He seemed angry. Then, “Is he a Jew?” My new acquaintance didn’t know, and I’m not sure I did, really. “He is, get him out of here!” I should have told the old nasty that I had three Jewish grandparents, but that mum’s mum had been raised Anglican, and could I perhaps stay until tea. 

 I had no bar mitzvah, wasn’t part of the wider Jewish community, had little interest in or knowledge of Israel and Zionism, but was acutely aware of antisemitism because I had no choice. It never quite left the room. There was some at high school, media stereotypes on television, and the local fascist party and their rancid comrades were active. 

 As a young adult, one of my first journalistic assignments was to interview Roald Dahl after the famous author had written an attack on Israel that bled over into pure anti-Semitism. During the interview, he unleashed a spew of Jew-hatred, which now features in an award-winning play starring John Lithgow that has just transferred from the West End to Broadway. 

 So, I’ve never been able to escape what can be a painful ambivalence. In other words, I’m acutely aware that, Christian priest or not, there are still people who detest me simply for my heritage. If you doubt what I say, spend a day reading my emails. 

 The haters always did their thing, but October 7 and the Israeli response smashed whatever reservations there had been. Endless anti-Jewish venom on social media, physical attacks and murders, and security required at all Jewish institutions. Here in Canada, Jewish schools have been repeatedly shot at, synagogues arson-attacked, and Jewish people targeted for violence and even planned abduction. That pattern is repeated internationally. 

 And I guarantee that by now some of you have reacted with comments about genocide and demanded, “What about Gaza?” Which goes to the heart of the problem. The racist victimization of innocent people is repugnant, and condemnation doesn’t require qualification. 

 This isn’t about withholding criticism of Israeli policy, and I’ve been immensely proud of those Anglican bishops who’ve spoken their minds after visiting the West Bank. Without compromising on calls for Palestinian justice, they’ve emphasized the difference between the Jewish diaspora and the Israeli government and spoken of the sin of antisemitism. But not all Christians behave thus, and there are, for example, podcasts hosted by “proud” Christians with millions of followers who thrash around in ignorance and loathing. 

 Some of the new anti-Semites are undisguised; others argue that they’re not anti-Jewish but anti-Zionist. Perhaps. When Stalin purged patriotic Soviet Jews, he condemned them as Zionists. Mussolini, before Israel was even established, spoke of “Zionists” when he introduced his racial laws. The list goes on. 

 As Christians, we have to accept that for centuries Jews were treated appallingly by the church. Frankly, if that hadn’t been the case, it’s unlikely that European Jews would have left their homes for a desert 2000 miles away. Theodore Herzl, founder of modern Zionism, reported on the infamous Dreyfus Trial and said that if a loyal French soldier could be persecuted and incarcerated, what hope was there for assimilation and acceptance? The industrial slaughter of the Holocaust seemed to prove the point. As such, Christian empathy and sensitivity are the least we should now expect. 

There’s no doubt that antisemitism has at times been exploited to silence criticism of Israel, but surely, we can hold two clashing thoughts in our heads simultaneously. When Jewish people tell of feeling intimidated, frightened, and unsure if the countries in which they’ve lived for generations are still safe places for them, don’t dismiss but listen. 

 We have four children, all raised Christian, all products of Catholic schools. Recently, one of them drove into the parking lot of his Toronto home to see “F*** the Jews” scrawled on the wall. It’s becoming far from unusual and cuts to the bone. In tribute to my father, I gave all of our children Hebrew middle names. Let me admit something I’ve never mentioned before in public. I now genuinely ask myself if that was a wise idea, and my heart breaks. It just shouldn’t be that way.