Self-hating Jew

Self-hating Jew is a term used to allege that a Jewish person holds antisemitic beliefs or engages in antisemitic actions. As a rhetorical device it moves discussion away from a given topic as the accused is pressured to defend themselves against the insult, preventing a further exchange of views. The concept gained widespread currency after Theodor Lessing's 1930 book Der Jüdische Selbsthass ("Jewish Self-hatred"), which tries to explain the prevalence of Jewish intellectuals inciting antisemitism with their extremely hateful view toward Judaism. Jewish self-hate has been described as a neurotic reaction to the impact of antisemitism by Jews accepting, expressing, and even exaggerating the basic assumptions of the anti-Semite. The term became "something of a key term of opprobrium in and beyond Cold War-era debates about Zionism". Similar accusations of being uncomfortable with one's Jewishness were already being made by groups of Jews against each other before Zionism existed as a movement.

According to academic author W. M. L. Finlay, the expression "self-hating Jew" "is often used rhetorically to discount Jews who differ in their lifestyles, interests or political positions from their accusers". He distinguishes between "Jewish antisemitism" and "Jewish self-hatred," arguing that while the literature is full of examples of Jews who espoused antisemitism with statements dangerous and damning to all Jews, "whether this amounts to self-hatred is not easy to assess." The term has a long history in debates over the role of Israel in Jewish identity, where it is used against Jewish critics of Israeli government policy. However, Alvin H. Rosenfeld, another academic author, dismisses what he calls, "the ubiquitous rubric 'criticism of Israel,'" stating that "vigorous discussion of Israeli policy and actions is not in question."

The academic author Sander Gilman has written, "One of the most recent forms of Jewish self-hatred is the virulent opposition to the existence of the State of Israel." He uses the term not against those who oppose Israel's policy, but against Jews who are opposed to Israel's existence. The concept of Jewish self-hatred has been described by Antony Lerman as "an entirely bogus concept", one that "serves no other purpose than to marginalise and demonise political opponents", who says that is used increasingly as a personal attack in discussions about the "new antisemitism".

The sociologist Irving Louis Horowitz reserves the term for Jews who pose a danger to the Jewish community, using "Jewish self-hater" to describe the court Jew "who validates the slander (against Jews) as he attempts to curry the favor of masters and rulers." The historian Bernard Wasserstein prefers the term "Jewish anti-Semitism," which he says was often termed Jewish self-hatred. He asks, "Could a Jew be an anti-Semite?" And responds, many Jews have "internalized elements of anti-Semitic discourse, succumbed to what Theodore Hamerow has called psychological surrender." Wasserstein goes on to say that self-hating Jews, "afflicted by some form of anti-Semitism were not so much haters of themselves as haters of 'other' Jews."