In the footsteps of Foucault

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geois regime of the west) to renounce his enthusiasm for ‘political spirituality.’ Since then, countless people have emulated his steadfast refusal to measure himself ideologically against something as banal as reality. Instead, they follow the changing fashions of pseudo-revolutionary attitudes. Even if sometimes it remains just an attitude, the matter is anything but harmless, as can be seen from the cheers that followed Hamas’s terrorist attack on 7 October 2023….

A few weeks before the Hamas massacre, I was asked what was the easiest way to fuel antisemitism. Today I would have to answer: by massacring as many Jews as possible. Nothing has fuelled hatred of Jews more than the worst attack on Jews since the Shoah, and because the attack was carried out against Jews, the rapists and murderers can only be called ‘resistance fighters’ motivated by a ‘holy Hatred’ against foreign Jewish rule in Palestine. ‘Heilige Hass’ (holy hatred) is, by the way, a motif that literally comes from Julius Streicher’s Nazi magazine Der Stürmer and which has been taken over in anti-colonial discourse. There are forms of ignorance that are entirely culpable. One of these is when Israel haters, who see themselves as left-wing, simply refuse to acknowledge the political foundations of Hamas….

Forty-five years after Foucault abandoned his intellectual and moral standards to support ‘political spirituality,’ the most sensitive youth in the West are forming an alliance with one of the most brutal terrorist representatives of ‘political spirituality.’ There are some new things that the anti-Zionists put forward between Berkeley and Berlin—such as the rigorous rejection of the Enlightenment legacy, which is denounced in self-loathing as a weapon of white supremacy; but the core of their accusation is ancient….

It is not without reason that these days many people sometimes complain that the political debate is no longer about knowledge, but rather only about demonstrating a loyal commitment to one side or the other. However, I must note: antisemitism did not come into the world through Jewish misbehaviour, and it will not disappear from it through Jewish good behaviour. Of course, Hamas cannot achieve its openly declared goal of wiping out Israel [at least not alone]; but on the day of the massacre it had already achieved things that millions and millions wanted. It is therefore necessary to offer protection and security to Jews who are threatened everywhere, through personal courage, social initiatives and government laws. And, especially if you feel politically connected to the left like I do, to support the state of Israel and its right to self-defence.

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