We all know what it means to scapegoat someone. Something has gone wrong, but instead of confronting the complicated causes—or acknowledging our own responsibility—we find someone else to blame. The scapegoat becomes the convenient target upon whom we place our anger, fear, and frustration.

Few peoples know this phenomenon better than the Jews. For centuries, Jews have been blamed for problems they did not cause: plagues, economic crises, political instability, military defeat, even natural disasters. Disturbingly, the phenomenon has not disappeared.

Today, Jews are still scapegoated in multiple and sometimes contradictory ways. In some places, they are blamed for the policies of the State of Israel, even when they had no role in shaping them. In other circles, Jews are portrayed as beneficiaries of systems of racism and oppression; in yet others, antisemitic conspiracy theories depict Jews as secretly controlling governments, universities, the media, or global institutions.

The accusations may come from very different ideological directions, but the mechanism is the same: complex social problems are reduced to a single convenient target. The Jew becomes that target.

But we in Israel are not immune from the same tendency.

We too often look for a group to blame for what is wrong with the country: the settlers, the left, the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)