From Out of Group Therapy: Antisemitism's History and ICE Deporting Naturalized Citizens

 Antisemitism's history came up in the group meeting last week. The person conducting our sessions (which I know I still need to get onto here) said there was antisemitism in the classical world.

Looking at Antisemitism in Antiquity and Early Christian Thought, he appears to have right, and wrong. This is just from reading the thumbnail descriptions of the books referenced. I see a quality of difference between Classical and Christian antisemitism - the latter think of Jews as Christ-killers and the former see the Jews as a different culture and a troublesome people. The Greeks and the Romans had good reasons for finding the Jews to be stiff-necked troublemakers.

 Anyone wondering what the Hellenistic Greeks had to deal with should read the Books Of Maccabees. We should be glad the Jews resisted the Greeks.

 As for the Romans, give a look at Why Did Vespasian and Titus Destroy Jerusalem? 

The Great Revolt and the destruction of the Temple were the key events that shaped the Jewish-Roman relation for centuries. By presenting a real but not particularly significant rebellion as an enormous, powerful, and dangerous foreign threat, Vespasian was able to present himself and his son Titus as military heroes who saved the people of Rome.

Two thousand years have passed since the destruction of Jerusalem. Empires have risen and fallen; humanity has made huge progress. Nevertheless, it is still not unheard of for modern leaders to utilize fear or hatred of Jews to establish their own political legitimacy and acquire wider public support. Perhaps, one day, this sad page in the history of humanity will be left behind.

I still ponder whether there is not a connection between Roman slanders of the Carthaginians and antisemitism's trope of Jews as baby killers.

 I said that ICE deported naturalized citizens. In this, I was wrong: ICE has not detained any U.S. citizen, Department of Homeland Security says.

 However, Trump has them in his crosshairs: Trump’s Justice Department wants to denaturalize citizens. Can he do that? 

According to the June 11 memo, the Justice Department’s civil division will “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence.”

The agency intends to take action against citizens who it believes “pose a potential danger to national security,” or who officials claim have acquired their citizenship through “material misrepresentations.” The division also notes that it could pursue denaturalization in “any other cases” that officials believe are “sufficiently important to pursue.”

“These categories do not limit the Civil Division from pursuing any particular case, nor are they listed in a particular order of importance,” according to the memo.

Immigration attorneys and advocacy groups warn that such sweeping guidelines — fueled by a politically motivated agenda — could end up targeting a broad spectrum of U.S. citizens.

 sch 10:54 AM