David Bernstein on Woke Antisemitism

Antisemitism comes in many forms, among them Christian, Islamist, economic, and conspiratorial antisemitism. Many correctly associate antisemitism with the far right and yet it is increasingly prevalent on the progressive left.

David Bernstein speaks about the ideological shift in western societies, which divides the world in simplistic,  binary fashion between the oppressor and oppressed.

This phenomenon has its roots in academia, where a Neo-Marxist ideology  replaced class with race and ethnicity.  “The long march through institutions” has made phenomenal progress, infiltrating all sectors of western society. 

Jewish people and Israel have not fared well under this rigid ideological regime, which forces Jews to identify as part of the white oppressor regime, even though they were victims of genocide because they were considered not white.  This “woke” ideology, or critical race theory, has caused a flourishing of left wing antisemitism, which traditionally occurred more on the right.

David L. Bernstein is the author of Woke Antisemitism: How Progressive Ideology Harms Jews. David Bernstein was interviewed at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy at the University of Oxford, August 2023.