Oct. 7, 2023 marks two poignant dates that symbolize distinct events: On one hand, there is Oct. 7; and on the other is Oct. 8.

Oct. 7 saw Hamas’s declaration of war on Israel, the invasion of its south and the brutal violence unleashed against civilians—an unprecedented display of cruelty amplified through the use of social media.

Oct. 8, however, took on a uniquely Jewish significance. The focus shifted from the event itself to the reactions it provoked. Rather than universal empathy for the victims, what followed was a wave of hatred. If the seventh was marked by extreme violence, the eighth saw this evil rationalized and fitted into ideological frameworks.

As horrifying images circulated, Europe witnessed jubilant celebrations and the rise of openly antisemitic voices justifying the slaughter, while others sought to deny the atrocities witnessed by the world. Never before had such a massacre been met with such public rejoicing and unashamed antisemitism in Western streets.

This mix of celebration, denial and justification paradoxically formed a cohesive ideological front that permeated intellectual, artistic, media and educational spheres. Oct. 8 reminded many Jews that they stood alone, while Islamist totalitarians had enough allies in the West to reignite existential Jewish fears never fully buried.

Holocaust historian Georges Bensoussan reflected on these events likening them to a “second act” of the Holocaust, saying: “Jews reacted with their long memory of persecution and, more poignantly, their recent memory of the Shoah. Oct. 7 was seen as a prelude to a potential catastrophe, awakening existential fears even among the most empathetic observers.”

In a mutating Western world, however, compassionate voices were often drowned out by orchestrated narratives aimed at erasing any possibility of coexistence. Jews were attacked globally in response to the violence in Israel with hatred spreading like wildfire, filling streets with angry mobs and antisemitic chants, and targeting Jewish sites from cemeteries to synagogues.

Under the guise of radical slogans, terrorism’s useful pawns waged war on the free world and were met largely with cowardly silence. To sustain this lack of empathy for Jewish victims, some segments of the left sought to dehumanize Israelis, even comparing them to Nazis.

Such distortions only deepened Jewish trauma and deflected from legitimate discourse on conflict resolution. Terms like “genocide” were misapplied, ignoring legal definitions and historical context, further complicating efforts toward peace.

Ironically, those who claim moral high ground often fuel antisemitism and fixate on demonizing Zionism—an anticolonial movement that enabled the self-determination of an indigenous people in their homeland, ensuring equal rights for all citizens, regardless of race, gender or status.

Oct. 8 symbolizes not only Jewish isolation but also a profound moral failure of the West that is incapable of protecting its minorities or educating against historical and emotional illiteracy fostered through empty slogans, which, as French philosopher Raphael Enthoven aptly put it, “substitutes for thought.”

Source: JNS