Jew the Victim

Oppression Olympics

Hi all,

My documentary, Killing America, was shown this past Monday in New York City. FAIR was the gracious host.

After the screening, a man asked the film’s panel if “Jews, in pointing out antisemitism, weren’t essentially asking to be included as victims in the ‘oppression Olympics.’”

This was quite a strange question to ask on the first anniversary of October 7 and when masked up mobs in the streets outside the theater were supporting Hezbollah and calling for intifada and the destruction of Israel. It was also a strange question to ask when Diana Blum, the documentary’s main subject, demonstrated resilience throughout the film and made the unequivocal statement, “Jews refuse to be victims.”

I was not able to make it to the screening. But this odd question made me think of how I would have answered it and here’s my short response:

The true Jew is not a man of today's times. He is not a victim. Survival is what he knows. When one looks at the history of Jews one sees a never-ending chain of pogroms - blood, tears, death, isolation, landlessness - dating thousands of years. Had the Jew chose victimhood, survival this long would simply not be possible. And, in today's society that demands justice for the marginalized, the Jew knows there is no justice, just life and how one lives it. There is nothing remarkable about the Jew's survival for this is the universal human condition. Yet too many of us today do not want to believe it and that is why the Jew is on the outside once again.

My best,

Eli