Historical theft: A deliberate new antisemitism that erases Jews

Antisemitism has survived for millennia by adapting to the prevailing ideologies of the time. It has now adapted once again – morphing into historical theft.

By JONATHAN LIEBERMAN FEBRUARY 7, 2025 23:36

Jerusalen, Israel, 04-15-2019: Photographs of missing children victims of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews at the Holocaust History Museum (photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)

In 2021, David Baddiel, a British Jewish comedian, screenwriter, and author, wrote a brilliant, incisive, and incredibly revealing book titled Jews Don’t Count. 

In it, Baddiel argues that Jews are treated differently from all other minorities, perceived as “too white” to warrant the same consideration as other victims of racism. 

He posits that antisemitism is a “second-class racism,” one that is tolerated or even ignored by those who claim to fight against bigotry in all its forms.

When I first read the book – prior to the seismic events of the past sixteen months – I felt it should be required reading for everyone. 

It explains, with remarkable clarity, the modern phenomenon of Jew-hatred, which persists even in supposedly progressive circles. For a more nuanced and historically expansive exploration of the topic, one need only turn to the writings of the late, great Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, 1948-2020. (credit: The Rabbi Sacks Legacy)

Rabbi Sacks wrote extensively about the mutation of antisemitism across history. First, they hated us because of our God. 

Then they hated us because we “killed their God.” Then they hated us because we were different. Then they hated us because we tried to be the same. Next, they reviled us as a subhuman race without a home of our own – culminating in the Holocaust. 

And now, in a perverse historical irony, they hate us because we do have a home of our own, and because we dare to defend it.

The latest mutation: Historical theft

Now, a new mutation of antisemitism has emerged – one that builds on Baddiel’s observation that “Jews don’t count” and which has reached an even more malignant level: historical theft. 

This involves the deliberate alteration of history to erase Jews from their own narrative. It facilitates the grotesque inversion that we are “Johnny-come-latelies,” colonial usurpers attempting to displace an indigenous people.

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This phenomenon is not new. It began decades ago with the Palestinians manufacturing their own “ancient” peoplehood while simultaneously denying ours. 

With the help of the unashamedly anti-Israel, antisemitic, corrupt, and morally bankrupt United Nations, the biblical and historical reality of Jewish existence in the Land of Israel for over 3,000 years has been steadily eroded. 

The world, largely ignorant and disinterested, has been conditioned to accept fiction as fact.

However, last week, this historical theft stooped to a level that even the most cynical, world-weary Jew could scarcely have believed.

The Auschwitz erasure

On Good Morning Britain, the flagship morning TV program of ITV – one of the UK’s largest broadcasting networks – a shocking act of historical revisionism unfolded. 

During a segment on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, attended by King Charles, presenter Ranvir Singh stated: “Six million people were killed in concentration camps during the Second World War, as well as millions of others because they were Polish, disabled, gay, or belonged to another ethnic group.”

Six million people. Not six million Jews.

Understandably, the Jewish community in Britain reacted with outrage. 

Complaints were lodged with Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, prompting ITV to issue a mealy-mouthed apology:

“In yesterday’s news, when we reported on the memorial events in Auschwitz, we said six million people were killed in the Holocaust, but crucially failed to say they were Jewish. That was our mistake, for which we apologize.”

A mistake? The Cambridge Dictionary defines a mistake as “an action or decision that is wrong or produces a result that is not correct or not intended.”

But was it really unintended?

The deliberate erasure of Jewish suffering

I, for one, refuse to believe that any educated person in the Western world can simply “forget” to mention Jews in the context of the Holocaust and Auschwitz. This was no mistake. It was a calculated, deliberate attempt to airbrush Jews out of the most horrendous, heinous crime in history – because acknowledging Jewish victimhood no longer suits the fashionable narrative of Jews as oppressors, Nazis, and genocidal murderers. 

In this twisted ideology, Jews cannot be victims – because we are, supposedly, the oppressors.

This is the latest insidious and dangerous form of antisemitism, perpetrated by the very societies that claim to champion tolerance and human rights. 

After a brief lull in antisemitism following World War II, Western societies have reverted to type, incubating this new malign mutation – historical theft – and disseminating it through social media, mainstream broadcasting, and to any receptive audience willing to listen. And, unfortunately, there are plenty of willing takers.

What can be done?

There is no simple solution to this deeply embedded problem, but the fight must begin with education.

David Baddiel’s book, Jews Don’t Count, should be mandatory reading for anyone who wishes to comment on antisemitism. 

The late Rabbi Lord Sacks’ works should be studied as essential historical and philosophical texts. But beyond books, we need immersive education – visits to Holocaust museums, discussions with survivors, and a relentless commitment to historical truth.

Every journalist, presenter, and producer involved in the Good Morning Britain segment should be required to take a tour of the National Holocaust Museum, or its equivalent in their respective countries. 

They should be forced to confront the reality they so casually erased. I volunteer to be their tour guide.

The broader implications of historical theft

This issue is not merely a Jewish problem – it is a societal one. The distortion of history is a precursor to more significant dangers. 

If historical truth can be manipulated so easily, then any group, at any time, can be vilified, marginalized, or erased.

We have seen this pattern before. It starts with the Jews, but it never ends with the Jews.

Those who engage in this intellectual vandalism – whether in the media, academia, or politics – must be called out and held accountable. 

No longer can we accept weak, insincere apologies after the damage has been done. No longer can we allow our history to be rewritten before our very eyes.

Antisemitism has survived for millennia by adapting to the prevailing ideologies of the time. It has now adapted once again – morphing into historical theft, a denial not only of Jewish suffering but of Jewish existence itself.

If we do not fight back with the full force of truth and education, this erasure will continue unchecked. And history has shown us, time and time again, that when antisemitism is allowed to flourish, the world suffers alongside us.

The question now is: Will we allow this latest mutation to take hold, or will we stand up and reclaim our history before it is stolen from us forever?

The writer is a rabbi and physician who lives in Ramat Poleg, Netanya. He is a co-founder of Techelet-Inspiring Judaism.