Baddielphobia and the ugly truth about anti-Semitism

David Baddiel could not have asked for better evidence for his thesis that ‘Jews don’t count’ than the online reaction to it.

Channel 4 broadcast his intelligent and touching documentary this week with that very title – Jews Don’t Count – and instantly there was an explosion of Baddielphobia. It was almost as if people were determined to prove his point. There’s a blind spot among progressives when it comes to anti-Jewish hatred, said Baddiel. And – boom – there it was, right away, in hateful comment after hateful comment: the blind spot, clear as anything.

Baddiel first made his case in his sharp polemical book Jews Don’t Count, published last year. He argued, convincingly, that there is a new leftish coalition that fancies itself as being ‘on the right side of history’ but which rarely takes up the cause of Jews.

It’s not the left as we would have traditionally understood it, he says. It’s more cultural than economic, more into identity than class. But not all identities. There’s one identity group it cold-shoulders, whose experiences of racial hatred it tends to overlook. Jews, they’re just not that into you.

Baddiel’s book gives numerous examples of prejudicial speech against Jews that just didn’t cause much stir among supposedly anti-racist progressives. Speech that would have had them glued to their computer keyboards, hollering for the evil speaker’s cancellation, had it been aimed at any other ethnic minority.

None of the rules of identity politics seem to apply to Jews, says Baddiel. Especially the rule that says minorities must be allowed to define and speak about the racism they experience. Jews are excluded from the ‘sacred circle’ of progressive causes, he says.

This is so obviously the case. I have been in media discussions about anti-Semitism where someone of a leftish persuasion will say, ‘And what about Islamophobia?’. Someone mentions anti-Semitism and they instinctively bark: ‘And black people? Do you care about them?’

Whenever I write about anti-Semitism I’m inundated with hateful messages. ‘Zio-cuck’ was a recent one. When I wrote about Wiley’s anti-Jewish outbursts people even made the effort of finding my Instagram so that they could tell me what a racist I am. It’s racist to talk about anti-Jewish racism, you see. I can only imagine the bile Jews receive.

Monday night’s TV version of Baddiel’s book was a great watch. He spoke to Howard Jacobson, David Schwimmer, Sarah Silverman, Miriam Margolyes. They talked about the racist tropes that say Jews run Hollywood and are greedy and deviant. They talked about the racist attacks Jews have been subjected to in recent years. This was important stuff.

And the reaction from the right-side-of-history brigade? From those self-styled anti-racists? They mocked it. They ridiculed it. They branded Baddiel a hypocrite. They said that, if anything, Jews are privileged when it comes to discussions about racism. The racist far right talks about ‘Jewish privilege’, the racist radical left talks about the privileging of Jewish suffering. Two cheeks of the same you know what.

Baddiel-bashing is everywhere right now. You just do not see this with other minority groups. If a black woman made a TV show about anti-black racism, or a young Muslim gave a speech about anti-Muslim bigotry, social media would not be aflame with insults and jibes against those people. But a Jew? Knock yourselves out.

The weird left seems determined to derail every discussion about anti-Semitism. I cannot remember the last time a Jewish person got to speak about anti-Jewish racism without swarms of identitarians trying to shout them down. Margaret Hodge, Rachel Riley, Luciana Berger, and now Baddiel – all are heckled, all are demonised.

It feels almost pathological at this stage. A Jew opens his mouth to talk about racism and instantly the Socialism of Fools manifests, with a thousand tweeters wondering out loud when this privileged, moany idiot is going to shut the hell up.

Derailment has been the name of the game once again following the airing of Baddiel’s doc. The main way they try to derail Baddiel’s commentary on anti-Jewish hate is by reminding him that he used to black-up as footballer Jason Lee on Fantasy Football League 25 years ago.

It doesn’t matter that Baddiel has apologised for doing this, on more than one occasion, including to Lee personally on Jews Don’t Count. It is still tirelessly raked up. It is played as a Baddiel-silencing trump card. ‘Ha, you’re the real racist’, they say.

Clearly Baddiel isn’t racist. Clearly he feels no prejudice towards Lee or black people in general. I’m sure many of his detractors know this. 

No matter, for them the old blacking-up story has one aim and one aim only: to delegitimise Baddiel and derail his commentary on anti-Jewish hate. It’s a poisonous silencing tactic.

So, well done everyone for making Baddiel’s case for him. Your fury at a Jew for saying Jews don’t count pretty much demonstrates that you think Jews don’t count. Anyone who thought that leftish animus towards the Jews would fade away with the decline of the Corbynista movement was clearly mistaken. That ‘blind spot’ Baddiel highlights is growing and getting nastier. It’s time more proper progressives took a stand against this new appearance of the oldest hatred.