"The hate of the Jews," Safra Catz, CEO of the US technology giant Oracle, pointed out in 2024, "is the most ancient and continuous hate in human history, and you can dress it up any way you want.... It is basically exactly what it has always been -- the Jewish people brought morality to the world thousands of years ago and some people are still mad about it."
Not only did the Jews introduce moral and ethical precepts; they also brought to the world at large that there were prohibitions on behavior in which many of us might wish to indulge. The deep hatred of Jews stems from fanatical followers of other faiths, and perhaps those of no faith at all, but especially those zealots whose religious worldview compels them to conquer and destroy those of competing faiths, or for undesirable tendencies that they see in themselves but prefer to attribute to others.
In short, at least three millennia ago, at Mount Sinai in Egypt, the Hebrew prophet Moses received specific moral-ethical precepts by which the Jewish nation were directed to live. These codes comprised virtues much later identified in the West as the Ten Commandments and became the foundational values and the essential moral guide of Western civilization, its societies, and laws.
All in all, Rabbis counted 613 laws handed down to Moses, the principal command of which is, "G-d is one" -- meaning He is the only G-d. You are not allowed to name or envisage G-d or you would be presuming to put yourself on the same level, and know what cannot be known by mere men. This directive is expanded to "you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength." From this declaration, it follows that the Jewish nation is not to tolerate any other god.
The West's value system emanates directly from Jerusalem, the ancient capital of the Jewish nation. Perhaps one of the appeals of some other religions is that they not only permit but actually sanctify actions that many of us might wish for but are prohibited in the West: sex with young girls, rape of people of other religions, slavery, physical violence against -- or even death for -- people who think differently.
The West is therefore deeply indebted to the Jews and Jerusalem as the source of values, morals, human rights, the Judeo-Christian ethos with its ethical virtues, individual liberty, and the democratic tradition itself -- all of which distinguish what is exceptional in the West.
In this sense, the Jewish people as original recipients and eternal custodians of morality, after the earlier laws of Hammurabi, are endowed with an enduring responsibility to the nations of the world. In Hebrew, this unique obligation is referred to as am segulah, which means Jews "have a special role" and "obligations that other nations do not have."
Consequent to the events at Mount Sinai, the culture of Western nations strongly reflected the religious beliefs of their citizens whose moral and humanist values were originally based on the Torah's Ten Commandments, and are known as the Judeo-Christian tradition.
In the United Kingdom, this conviction led to the publication in 1215 of the Magna Carta – a declaration documenting the liberties to be held by "free men" and also "provided the foundation for individual rights in Anglo-American jurisprudence."
In America, the authority of the Ten Commandments in defining truth, justice coupled to mercy, and morality, became the bedrock of its founding constitutional documents and highlighted Judeo-Christian character. The emphasis on natural law -- "Natural Law theory asserts that God's moral inclinations are intrinsically woven into the design of nature and creation, therefore, we can ascertain God's intentions for humanity by closely examining the universe, its ordering, and its inhabitants" -- reflected in the Ten Commandments, is a core factor in US Constitutional matters.
America's 1776 Declaration of Independence firmly placed its founding upon underlying structures -- the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them" -- and the value and dignity of the individual:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Hence, the theistic principles of natural law formatively inspired America's core constitutional documents as John Adams, the second US President, raised this point when in 1797 he declared, "knowledge, virtue, and religion" are "the only means of preserving our Constitution from its natural enemies."
It is to be expected that Israel, and its military, value the pertinence of Mosaic ethical codes. How the Gaza War has been conducted has earned the IDF the accolade -- from a retired British Army officer, Colonel Richard Kemp -- of "the world's most moral army."
John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, wrote, "Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare. Why Will No One Admit It?"
Even trying to conduct the most moral war in history, and sending humanitarian aid to the Gazans trying to kill them, all of Israel's enemies consider themselves free of such constraints. (Someone asked if the British had ever sent aid to Germany in WWII.)
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked, "the only ones who are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages."
Through the years, the IDF has acted commendably despite unspeakable battle conditions. "Nearly every second house in Gaza is booby trapped," according to IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin. The IDF are rightly called the "most moral army in history." A "perfect" army? No, but one endeavoring, as much as possible, to adhere to super-moral values in the battlefield. The IDF sent literally hundreds of thousands of leaflets, text messages in Arabic, and "knocks on the roof" to warn Gazans to evacuate targeted area and buildings. Meanwhile, Hamas terrorists shoot at their own people trying to flee to safety or seeking humanitarian aid.
Rabbi Leo Dee remarked:
"Just like our ancestors, the mighty Maccabees, armed with a Torah in one hand and an Iron Dome missile interception battery in the other, the Israeli people are defending the only true morality."
For millennia, a great privilege, but also a great burden, was bestowed on the Jews. They have had a divine obligation: to carry the laws from Sinai from generation to generation "A small Jewish nation," commentator Larry Greenfield explains, "[has] become a light unto the nations." Eric Cohen, editor-at-large of The New Atlantis, wrote:
"To be a Jew is to be a defender of a transcendent idea and a unique people, with the odds stacked against it but with history, faith, courage, pride, heroism, and sheer perseverance on its side: a purpose like no other."
As Cohen wrote last year:
"The Jews represent everything the enemies of American civilization seek to destroy: the moral code of the Hebrew Bible, which the anti-Jews seek to replace with woke secularism or radical Islam.... As go the Jews, so goes the West. The radical activists and their academic apologists understand this deep civilizational truth—and so must we."
Protecting our civilization might be the core reason why Jewish people and the State of Israel deserve every possible support from the nations of the West. As perpetual custodians of morality, their fate is a harbinger of our ultimate fate. This early-warning signal might be why Islamists, and other religious fanatics, are determined to eradicate the Jews -- and Christians -- from the face of the earth. "Palestinians are not about creating a state; they're about destroying a state," Netanyahu asserted.
Israel and the Jews are fighting to save Western Civilization -- for us. If we would let them.
Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Dr. Haug holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical Theology and is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute (Anchoring Truths), Jewish News Syndicate, Tribune Juive, Document Danmark, Zwiedzaj Polske, Schlaglicht Israel, and many others.
