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Jewish exceptionalism is the belief that Jews are historically, culturally, or racially "exceptional" in some way, and thus are exempt from the standards that would normally be applied to any other ethnic or religious group. It exists in two forms: Zionism and anti-Semitism. Zionists assert that Jews are not only distinct from but superior to other groups and thus have a right to colonise Palestine. Core to this belief is the idea that Jews are God's Chosen People, that the Holocaust was some special crime incomparable to any other which must be viewed in isolation rather than as part of a broader phenomenon of European colonialism and genocide, and that "Israel" acts as an outpost for "superior" Western civilisation in the Middle East. Anti-Semites by contrast hold to the view that Jews are uniquely evil, spinning tall tales about how Jews secretly control governments and finance and are responsible for society's problems.
The belief that Jews are "exceptional" has been used to justify horrific atrocities such as the Holocaust or the ongoing Palestinian genocide, which together have rendered millions of people dead and millions more displaced. It has been argued by some that although the principal victims of Zionist Jewish exceptionalism are Palestinians, Jews themselves also suffer as a result of Zionism as the crimes of Zionists (which are perpetrated in their name) negatively affect their perception globally, lending legitimacy to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and thereby leading to anti-Jewish violence. Opponents of this belief point out that Zionism benefits Jews far more than it costs them and that it would be ridiculous to assert (for example) that White South Africans were "victims" of their colonial endeavour. Furthermore, they maintain that to emphasise the suffering of the group for whom "Israel" is ostensibly for rather than the far greater suffering of the group being murdered and displaced in their name serves as a "slap in the face" to the Palestinians.
Examples
Some examples of Jewish exceptionalism include but are not limited to:
- the claim that Jews were the only victims of Nazi genocide
- the justification of Israel on the basis that Jews claim to be God's Chosen People, with a divine mission to "return" to the "Holy Land" and serve as a "light unto the nations"
- the justification of Israel on the basis of the existence of ancient Israel proving the existence of a Jewish nation
- the justification of Israel on the basis of historical anti-Semitism
- the proclamation of Jews to be a superior people, such as what Victor Serge claimed in his works on Jewish people