The accusations never stop. Iran’s civilian unrest is an Israeli psychological operation designed to seize Iranian land. American politicians who visit the Western Wall are more loyal to Israel than to America. Hamas is a political organization defending itself against evil Israeli oppressors. The threat of radical Islam in America is Israeli propaganda. The list goes on, an endless stream of insane lies about Israel and the Jewish people.
In response, a dedicated but exhausted collection of Israeli security experts, online influencers, and Jewish organizations work constantly to refute these accusations. But given the massive rise in Israel hatred across America and the world, it doesn’t seem to be helping.
So what should we do? How do we fight back against this tidal wave of lies?
In 1911, antisemites in Europe once again accused Jews of ritually murdering Christian children to use their blood in matzah. As usual, the Jews rushed to defend themselves. Two hundred rabbis swore in print that Jews do not drink the blood of infants. They compiled mountains of evidence and pleaded their case.
Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the visionary Zionist leader who championed Jewish self-defense and founded the Revisionist movement, asked his fellow Jews whether their response was actually working. He wrote:
“Now they have raised a rumpus over ritual murder, and once again we have taken on the role of prisoners on trial: we press our hands to our hearts, with quivering fingers we leaf through old stacks of supporting documents that no one is interested in, and we swear right and left that we do not consume this drink, that never has a drop of it passed our lips, may the Lord smite me on the spot.”
But nobody listened. The antisemitic press didn’t even bother responding to the rabbis’ sworn statements. The accusations kept coming. The blood libel persisted. All those careful defenses, all that evidence, all those heartfelt pleas—they accomplished nothing.
Jabotinsky saw what was happening and was frustrated by the naivete of his fellow Jews. They actually believed that if they could just explain why the accusations were false, the antisemitism would go away. They had it backwards. As Jabotinsky explained: “The reason that we are not liked is not because all kinds of accusations are leveled against us: no, they level accusations against us because they do not like us.” The hatred came first. The accusations were just the excuse.
Moreover, when you defend yourself against an accusation, you accept the premise that you’re on trial. When you respond to a lie, you signal that the lie deserves a response. The more the Jews explained themselves, the more they looked guilty. The more they compiled evidence, the more they validated the idea that evidence was needed. They had walked straight into a trap.
Instead of defending themselves—which was exactly what the antisemites wanted—Jabotinsky had a different suggestion for his fellow Jews: “Isn’t it high time, in response to all of these accusations, rebukes, suspicions, smears, and denunciations, both present and future, to fold our arms over our chests and loudly, clearly, coldly, and calmly put forth the only argument which this public can understand: why don’t you all go to hell?”
He continued: “What kind of people are we that we have to justify ourselves before them? And who are they to demand it of us? What is the point of this whole comedy of putting an entire people on trial when the verdict is known in advance? How does it benefit us to participate voluntarily in this comedy, to brighten up these villainous and humiliating proceedings with our speeches for the defense? Our defense is useless and hopeless, our enemies will not believe it, and apathetic people will pay no attention to it.”
If Jabotinsky is right, if defense is useless and demeaning, what should lovers of Israel say to the world instead?
The Sages teach about the scoffers in King David’s generation. They would gather beneath his windows and taunt him: “When will the Temple be built? When will we go to the House of the Lord?” David knew their intention was to provoke him. Yet he swore that he was nevertheless glad because of their words, as it is said:
Why would mockery make him rejoice? Because David heard something deeper. The very fact that people were talking about the Temple, even in sarcasm, meant the idea had taken hold. If his dream of building the Temple in Jerusalem was truly irrelevant or doomed, they wouldn’t have bothered mocking it. Their taunts revealed that the vision was gaining strength. The conversation itself proved the scoffers were losing.
Mockery is the final refuge of those who sense they are losing.
And what did David do in response to their scorn? He didn’t defend the Temple project. He didn’t explain its importance or prove it was feasible. Instead, he proclaimed God’s glory to those very nations who mocked him:
David’s answer to mockery was not defense, but declaration. Not explanation, but proclamation. David refused to defend himself. He had a message to proclaim, and he wouldn’t let mockers distract him from it.
So here is the answer to our question. We don’t need better defenses or more sophisticated social media influencers. We need to do what David did: stop defending and start declaring. Stop answering their accusations and start proclaiming what the world actually needs to hear.
We are living through a staggering rise in Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred across the world. But beneath the ugliness is a reality the antisemites find disturbing: Israel is growing stronger, militarily, morally, spiritually, and demographically.
The Jewish return to history is accelerating. And the antisemites feel it. Tiny Israel is thriving and growing stronger, while powerful America is $38.4 trillion in debt, its culture has degenerated, and young people are lost and confused. And like the scoffers at David’s window, their hatred is a sign of fear, their last desperate attempt to disrupt a story they can no longer control.
Their noise is not a sign of Jewish weakness. It is a sign of Jewish ascent. The intensity of the opposition reveals how far the Jewish story has already advanced.
The antisemites are a distraction. This world is lost and desperately needs the Torah of Israel. Israel is strong, growing closer to God. We have the key to healing this world and it is our job to share it.
Now is the time for offense. Not only military offense, but spiritual offense. It is time to stop answering accusations and start proclaiming truth. Like David, we should rejoice that the nations cannot stop talking about us, because their obsession reveals that they know we hold what they lack. Jabotinsky had it right: “We are not obliged to give account to anyone, we are not sitting for an exam, and no one is entitled to demand an answer from us for any charge he wishes to direct our way. We were here before them, and we will be leaving after them.”
The question is not how to answer their hatred more effectively. The question is when we will stop answering it at all.
