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Jewish exceptionalism is the belief that Jews are historically, culturally, or racially "exceptional" in some way, and thus are exempt from the standards that would normally be applied to any other ethnic or religious group. It exists in two forms: Zionism (assertive exceptionalism[note 1]) and anti-Semitism (derogatory exceptionalism[note 2]). Zionists assert that specific "white" Jewish ethnicities are not only distinct from but superior to other groups and thus have a right to colonise Palestine. Core to this belief is the idea that Jews are God's Chosen People, that the Holocaust was some special crime incomparable to any other which must be viewed in isolation rather than as part of a broader phenomenon of European colonialism and genocide, and that "Israel" acts as an outpost for "superior" Western civilisation in the Middle East. Anti-Semites by contrast hold to the view that Jews are uniquely evil and greedy, spinning tall tales about how Jews secretly control governments and finance and are responsible for society's problems.
The notion that Jews are "exceptional" has been used to justify horrific atrocities such as the final solution to the Jewish question or the ongoing Palestinian genocide, which together have rendered millions of people dead and millions more displaced. Within the Israeli project it is the case that non-Zionist Jews are cast aside due to them not being needed for the broader colonial project. Despite this, popular analysis conflates Judaism and Jews with Zionism and "Israel" leading to anti-Semitism perpetrated against non-Zionist Jews. This idea stems from the monolithisation of Judaism and lends anti-Semitic conspiracy theories credit where there is none.
Examples[edit | edit source]
Some examples of Jewish exceptionalism include but are not limited to:
- the claim that Jews were the only victims of Nazi genocide
- the justification of Israel on the basis that Jews claim to be God's Chosen People, with a divine mission to "return" to the "Holy Land" and serve as a "light unto the nations"
- the justification of Israel on the basis of the existence of ancient Israel proving the existence of a Jewish nation
- the justification of Israel on the basis of historical anti-Semitism
- the proclamation of Jews to be a superior people, such as what Victor Serge claimed in his works on Jewish people
References[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Henceforth defined as the belief that a group is positively exceptional, i.e. notably superior to other (specific or non-specific) groups.
- ↑ Henceforth defined as the belief that a group is negatively exceptional, i.e. notably inferior to other (specific or non-specific) groups. Usually but not always projected outwardly on others, but can also come from inside a group in some cases.