The New American Anti-Semitism.

Surely, you recall the hubbub and hullabaloo over book bans. Our intrepid culture warriors, forever on the lookout for incipient right wing Nazis, were up in arms over the simple fact that elementary school libraries had banned certain kinds of books.

What kinds of books? Obviously, kiddie porn was high on the list. It was proscribed from appearing in elementary school libraries and was banned from classroom lessons for five year olds.

It meant that school librarians could not be in the business of teaching small children how to perform oral sex. If that makes you a Nazi, then clearly there is something wrong with the American mind. 

To be fair, if that happy young couple down the street want their five-year-old daughter to learn all there is to know about anal sex, well, the state is not going to interfere.

But now, would you believe it?-- the radical American left has instituted something that is closely akin to book banning. It is not about kiddie porn; it is not about porn for kiddies. It is about books written by Jewish authors. 

You might recall that the Third Reich, when it went through its book burning stage, paid incendiary attention to books written by Jewish authors. It was not about quality or value. It was about the ethnicity of the authors. This saved incipient Nazis the trouble of having to read anything.

So, today’s book bans have taken up the Nazi practice and have written up lists of Jewish authors who deserve to go unpublished or unread or even unpurchased. You might not want to call this flagrant anti-Semitism, but still, it is anti-Semitism.

Reuven Fenton has the story for the New York Post. It begins with a list of Jewish authors, authors who are now to be ignored or canceled:

Jewish author Talia Carner thought she’d seen the worst after hundreds of antisemitic trolls review-bombed her new novel a few months back in retaliation for a pro-Israel video she posted on Instagram in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israel last Oct. 7. 

But Carner was shocked anew earlier this month after discovering her name on a now-viral “Is your fav author a zionist?” Google doc, which attempted to blacklist authors they believed were either supportive of Israel — or had failed to condemn the nation in the wake of its ongoing war in Gaza.

  

The spreadsheet’s level of detail, comprehensiveness and unbridled malice was chilling. 

The rationalization involves Israel, but it is merely a reprise of Nazi practice:

Anti-Israel disruptors appear relentless in their efforts to menace writers who so much as mention Israel uncritically, from shutting down author events to ratings-bombing Jewish-themed books on sites like Amazon and Goodreads.

Prominent pro-Palestinian novelists like Hisham Matar and Maaza Mengiste have joined in on this global effort, boycotting organizations like PEN America for not speaking out against the “genocide” in Gaza.

For many writers, Jews in particular, the experience evokes a modern day Nazi book burning.

Worse yet, publishers are beginning to catch on. They are rejecting projects by Jewish authors and especially books about Israel:

“Half of British publishers ‘won’t take books by Jewish authors,’ ” screamed a March headline in the Daily Telegraph because of the Gaza war fallout.

There is “no point putting proposals up to commissioning editors as they just are not interested,” an unnamed literary agent depressingly confirmed. 

Esteemed Israel-based book agent Deborah Harris recently noted that she skipped the London Book Fair this past March, “the first time I decided not to go. I sent agents, and those who went did so with fear.” Her team did feel supported in the end, “but our sales are really down.”

Or, consider the experience of an Israeli scholar whose work was rejected by the Minneapolis based journal, Cultural Critique.

Israel Hayom has the story:

A troubling incident of academic censorship has come to light after an Israeli academic claimed his manuscript rejected by the journal Cultural Critique published by the University of Minnesota Press solely based on the publication's adherence to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Gai Farchi, an Israeli scholar, penned a letter to the journal's editorial team expressing shock and disappointment at their alleged decision to reject the proposed article "based on the journal's commitment to BDS guidelines," which include, "withdrawing support from Israel's cultural and academic institutions." Farchi responded that he is "currently unaffiliated with any Israeli institution" and argued that the journal rejected his work simply due to his Israeli nationality, allegedly crossing a dangerous line and constituting discrimination. Israel Hayom could not verify the claims made by the scholar.

Obviously, the BDS movement predates Israeli actions in Gaza. Evidently, anti-Semitism has gotten a new lease on life in America. It is a dark day dawning. Especially in the academic world.

Please subscribe to my Substack, for free or preferably for a fee.