This study intends to analyze a peculiar nature of West European anti-Americanism in recent years. More specifically, it makes clear that in Western Europe anti-Americanism is identified with anti-Semitism, both of which are regarded as "twin brothers...
This study intends to analyze a peculiar nature of West European anti-Americanism in recent years. More specifically, it makes clear that in Western Europe anti-Americanism is identified with anti-Semitism, both of which are regarded as "twin brothers," and examines why such a phenomenon has appeared. Main observations can be summed up as follows.
Anti-Semitism has been a widespread thought in Western Europe with its origin going back to a long time ago. Traditional anti-Semitism was characterized by typical racism and was usually expressed by rightists. In history, the most extreme manifestation of it was the so-called "Holocaust" perpetrated by Nazi Germany. After World War Ⅱ, with remorse over the Holocaust, anti-Semitism was no longer to be officially tolerated in Western Europe. Instead, new anti-Semitism has appeared and been propagated mostly by political leftists. These proponents of new anti-Semitism show anti-Semitic remarks implicitly or at times explicitly, although they claim to be against racial discrimination.
Most proponents of new anti-Semitism have considered the United States as being dominated by the Jews. In their eyes, especially Israel, which was established by the Zionists after World War II, received unconditional support from the "Judaized United States," and with the victory in the third Arab-Israeli War (the Six-Day War), has come to be regarded as another imperialist state with similar nature to the United States. It has become a widespread thought that Israel is an imperialist state controlling the Jew-dominated United States. The superpower is believed to exist in order to serve the interests of Israel, which can be demonstrated by the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Iraqi War.
This notion is supported by a number of recent examples where Israel and the United States are both targeted for the same criticism in the leftist-driven new anti-Semitist discourse. In other words, Israel and the United States are considered as the two sides of a coin, and thus criticizing Israel automatically means criticizing the United States. In that process, anti-Semitism often gives rise to anti-Americanism.
Hostility towards Israel becomes so obvious that it has even described as "anti-Israelism." There are numerous examples of anti-Israelism among the intellectuals as well as the common people in Western Europe, and lately the anti-Israel belief has become a new movement.
This anti-Israelism leads to anti-Americanism, as it perceives Israel and the United States as the same imperialist countries based on the America's biased Middle East policy and its unilateral pursuit of hegemony in the Arab world. More importantly, it puts forward the Jews as the dominant power in the United States, who supposedly seize control of the nation serving the interests of Israel. This notion provides justification for anti-Semitism to emerge again. On top of it, as the reality and people's imagination create synergy, the classic notion of anti-Semitism which hates the Jews as the source of all conflicts in the world has become embedded in anti-Israelism. In conclusion, recent anti-Americanism in Western Europe goes hand in hand with anti-Semitism with anti-Israelism as a catalyst.