Jewish Self-Defense

Benjamin Kerstein introduces his new book and argues that Jews should become comfortable with the use of force.

[FOREWORD FROM DANIEL: Benjamin Kerstein’s new book Self Defense: A Jewish Manifesto, is available at Amazon via Wicked Son Books and the Z3 Project. This exclusive article has been specially adapted for Guerre and Shalom from Benjamin’s book. Please consider purchasing today using the Amazon link provided!

On a separate note, the latest chapter of PAX ARABICA came out yesterday for paid subscribers. Take a listen to this excellent LM Workbook podcast to understand the chapter’s argument, then consider becoming a full Guerre and Shalom paid subscriber to read the book in full.]

In my new book, Self Defense: A Jewish Manifesto, I argue that American Jews must organize themselves for their own self-defense against the rising tide of antisemitism, which will not subside with Israel’s victory in its two-year war against Hamas.

If American Jews do not, then they may have, at best, 25 years left before American Jewish life becomes unlivable.

The idea of self-defense presents many challenges, but perhaps the most daunting is psychological. Put simply, effective self-defense demands the use of force, and most American Jews are deeply uncomfortable with the use of force—even within the bounds of law and Jewish morality.

Why, they ask, can the Jews not simply use “nonviolence”? That is, methods like political activism, pleas to the relevant authorities, billboards and advertising, passive resistance, education for tolerance and against hate, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, and other non-confrontational and pacifist means.

The reason is that nonviolence is wholly inadequate to meet the challenge of antisemitism.

Nonviolence requires that one’s opponents act with good faith, even if they are oppressors. When opponents share a moral reality, nonviolence can work. The resistor can appeal to the oppressor’s conscience, and when the oppressor resorts to violence, it forces him to recognize his immorality and rectify his behavior.

The most famous practitioners of nonviolence were probably Mohandas Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Their success is undeniable. But their tactics worked because they were both appealing to the basic principles of very specific societies—that is, fundamentally Christian societies.

In Gandhi’s case, Britain’s Protestant tradition embraced Jesus’ teachings of mercy and compassion. Gandhi, a non-Christian, used this to awaken the British Empire’s conscience, leading to India’s independence.

King, a Christian cleric, followed this strategy closely, using rich biblical imagery to appeal to the conscience of America. Hence the remarkable speed with which his movement succeeded. Within a decade of the Montgomery bus boycott, the 1964 Civil Rights Act ended black Americans’ legal inferiority.

But Gandhi’s and King’s non-violent tactics would have failed outside their Christian context. Against the Nazis, such tactics would have been suicidal. Appeals to conscience would have been farcical because the Nazis had no conscience.

In the case of antisemitism and antisemites, the appeal to conscience is an appeal to nothingness. Antisemitism constitutes the total rejection of anything that can legitimately be called morality. Thus, it happily proclaims “by any means necessary.” It may wrap itself in the rhetoric of human rights, anti-imperialism, or anti-racism. Antisemites will inevitably appoint themselves a caste of saints. But, in the end, they believe in nothing but their own hatred.

Today’s antisemitism, largely led by the Red-Green Alliance between radical progressives and radical Muslims, is a perfect example.

The radical progressive faction is heir to the nihilist movements of Stalin and Mao, which slaughtered tens of millions of people in the 20th century alone. The Islamic supremacist faction recognizes no morality but its own supremacism and its “right” to impose that supremacism through barbaric violence.

Nonviolent tactics are useless against such a movement. As George Orwell put it, “Despotic governments can stand ‘moral force’ till the cows come home; what they fear is physical force.” Antisemitism is no different.

Antisemitism can be defeated only by imposing physical consequences. Thus, the acquisition of power, which also means the power of violence, is essential to Jewish self-defense.

This does not imply criminal or terrorist tactics. Illegality is unacceptable on both moral and tactical grounds. It means acquiring the power physically to stop antisemites from harming and killing Jews.

This comes at a price, but American Jews must learn to accept this, because the price is worth paying.

It is the only way Jews can preserve their physical and spiritual integrity, and the only way antisemites will learn their lesson. They may continue to defame us, but they will nonetheless fear and respect us.

Israel has repeatedly proven that this approach works. The simple fact that Israel is still there is the irrefutable evidence. Over the past two years, the Jewish state has taught the world a lesson: Despite their enemies’ best efforts, the people of Israel live. And they will fight to continue to live.

Israel could not have taught the world this lesson without its capacity for physical force. It could have turned to hypocritical global tribunals like the International Criminal Court or the UN Security Council. It could have pleaded for intervention or simply endured the situation, hoping for the world’s sympathy and aid. All of it would have come to nothing.

History provides irrefutable evidence of this. Whenever Jews have faced persecution, the world has consistently failed to intervene. It may have expressed sorrow, anguish, and lamentation over the eclipse of humanity after the fact, but what good did this do the victims or the survivors?

“Moral force,” sadly, has rarely had any discernible impact on the world. What the powers of the world fear and respect is physical force. Five thousand years of human history prove this, and the actions of every nation today only confirm it, despite the hypocritical veneer of idealistic shibboleths.

Like Israel, American Jews must reject this hypocrisy. They must, at long last, accept that neither might nor right supersedes the other. Self-defense requires both.

American Jews already have the right on their side. They must now acquire the might to impose it on enemies that recognize no right except might.

This article is adapted from Self Defense: A Jewish Manifesto, available at Amazon via Wicked Son Books and the Z3 Project.