On October 7, 2023, Hamas committed the deadliest massacre of Jews against Israel since the Holocaust. One would have thought that such a historical shock would provoke, in Western societies, a clear reflex of empathy towards the victims. The opposite has often happened. Rapidly, well beyond the initial moderation, an anti-Semitic word was released with an intensity that many had not anticipated.

Perhaps the most worrying thing is that, even after fighting in Gaza had subsided, the surge had not abated. It was therefore not just about the emotion of the moment. It revealed something deeper, more rooted, more lasting. The real question is no longer whether October 7 triggered a temporary outbreak, but whether it merely revealed a pathology already embedded in the Western social body.

I. October 7 as a revelation, not as an origin

The first mistake would be to believe that October 7 produced the anti-Semitism we have since observed. In reality, he did not create it. He exposed it. For years now, anti-Semitic acts have been on the rise in both Europe and North America. October 7 only lifted the veil.

What struck in the days and weeks that followed was the speed of moral reversal. In part of the public debate, victims have ceased to be perceived as victims and almost immediately become secondary culprits. As if mass murder could be relativized, contextualized, absorbed into a broader narrative........

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