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My Interview with Judge Altman on Anti-Semitism, Israel, and Judging

"What happened after October 7 in our sacred institutions, at our universities, in our Western media outlets, in our international NGOs and nonprofits, is that we completely forgot the ways that we had learned to tell truth from fiction."

Josh Blackman | 7.27.2026 9:52 AM

Over the past three years, the rise of anti-semitism has come as a surprise to many. It shouldn't have. The groundwork for this resurgence of the oldest hatred has been laid by elite institutions for generations. October 7, 2023, was merely the spark that rekindled the conflagration.

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Judge Roy K. Altman (SDTX) who has made it his mission to teach the world, and the legal profession in particular, about the scourge of antisemitism.

Judge Altman was kind enough to answer some of my questions, which are now published in Civitas Outlook.

Here is an exchange about the false dichotomy between anti-semitism and anti-zionism.

JB: There is a common argument: the protestors are not anti-Semitic, they are anti-Zionist. How would you explain the distinction between these concepts?

RA: There is no distinction. In the 1800s, there was Jew hatred that was all over Europe. It was very prevalent, and it was uncomfortable for much of the ruling class. They said, "The Jews are bad but we don't want violence in our society. We've moved past that, we're much more sophisticated than that."

Wilhelm Marr came up with the idea of giving Jew hatred a different name, so that it would seem more anodyne, less violent, and less hateful than it was. He came up with this idea of anti-Semitism. It was more sophisticated,........

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