[Dems_R_Losers]

After the Holocaust, after Auschwitz, that is, after the ultimate stage in the destruction of the Jewish soul—a process which lasted for centuries in Europe—Europe is shattered, many of its elements are dead, but it also has a bad conscience; it knows it is guilty. Since then, Europe has looked for and found in the Palestinian cause the expiation for its guilt. It is from this that the uncritical and Manichean attitude toward the Palestinian cause emerges—it is, primarily, the last heroic (European) adventure. Further, the more the Jews are presented as being the evil party, the bad ones, the less difficult it is to carry the responsibility and the guilt. This is a process of collective psychology. From such a perspective, there essentially is no difference between France, for example, and Spain… It is unbelievable how Europe continues to hate its Jewish soul, even after it has expelled it!

This is so profound, I had to read it several times. I have thought much the same for years but never been able to articulate it. I hope this book has some serious impact.

[TheMole]

The general idea here - that some Europeans ego-trip on the Palestinian cause and demonize Israel because it frees them from guilt about the Jews - has been expressed by some noted French intellectuals, including I believe Jean-Francois Revel and Alain Finkielkraut, neither of whom I would describe as leftist. The phenomenon of Europeans continuing to hate Jews and blame their problems on Jews even after Jews no longer live there has been called "phantom limb" anti-Semitism, using the analogy of an amputee who still feels pain from an amputated part of his body.