In the early 20th century, Jewish quotas at American universities were seen by some as a way to deter anti-Semitism. Were Jews to fill a dis
by Seth Mandel
In the early 20th century, Jewish quotas at American universities were seen by some as a way to deter anti-Semitism. Were Jews to fill a disproportionate number of university spots, the idea went, they would inspire resentment. Plus, the Jews of Eastern Europe were seen by gentile elites as uncultured and unclean; surround your average student with enough of these Jews, it was suggested, and that student can’t help but get sick of them.
I don’t know if anybody who espoused such theories really believed them, but the crux of one of the most infamous periods of Western anti-Semitism was justified by its practitioners as being for the Jews’ own good.
A century later, here we go again.
Throughout the Western world, Jews are effectively being banned from public spaces and told it is for their safety. Once again, citizens of democracies apparently can’t be expected to control themselves at the sight of groups of Jews. Order the Jews to stay home and—voila!—problem solved.
The highest-profile example of this at the moment is the European soccer league’s exclusion of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from that team’s upcoming game in Birmingham, England. But this has been building for some time, and the trend that made this travesty inevitable has yet to be reckoned with.
More than a year ago, I wrote about several examples of this “for their own good” anti-Semitism. We saw the Israeli Olympic teams in Paris confined to their dorms out of concern over the constant threats they faced. There was the ban of an Israeli ultimate frisbee team from the European youth championships in Belgium; the International Ice Hockey Federation’s exclusion of the Israeli team “until the safety and well-being of all participants (including Israeli participants) can be assured”; the removal of the Jewish captain of South Africa’s under-19 national cricket team for the same reasons.
Yet now this trend has exploded.
