Monday, June 10, 2024
Elder of Ziyon
Let us pray also for the perfidious Jews [perfidis Judaeis]: that Almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts; so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and eternal God, who dost not exclude from Thy mercy even Jewish perfidy [Judaicam perfidiam]: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.Modern defenders of the prayer, which was changed by the Catholic Church in 1955, say that "perfidis Judaeis" does not mean "perfidious Jews" but "faithless" or "incredulous Jews." But the English and French translations of the term I can find from before 1955 invariably use the word "perfidious." And some Catholics want to bring the phrase back in the prayers.
In fact, the phrase "perfidious Jew" was part of the lexicon. I see dozens of examples in my search through older books and newspapers. This antisemitic account from a French periodical described Jews in Romania at the turn of the 20th century:
The Jews in the villages are the prime cause of the poverty, drunkenness, debauchery and demoralization of the Roumanian peasants. The Jew, who is always sober, thrifty, alert and shrewd, makes the peasant drink liquor, teaches him how to spend money, and when in a state of mirth and intoxication, the perfidious Jew induces the peasant to sell him the products of a whole year for a merc pittance. While the Jew is continually growing rich in the rural communes the peasants are being reduced to extreme dearth and penury. In order to save our country and for the sake of common decency the Jew must leave the peasant alone.
An 1881 California newspaper thought it witty to use this headline:
Far right antisemite Nick Fuentes has directly called for the genocide of "perfidious Jews" in America.
I don't think that the accusations of IDF perfidy today are necessarily directly related to the previous use of that specific term. But the term "perfidious Jew" has been one of the tropes of Jews throughout the history of Christianity. Jews are regarded ab initio as being treacherous and untrustworthy, and this myth has permeated the Western world for centuries.
It is hard to ignore how the news media continues to emphasize how IDF claims are inherently unreliable even when they can point to practically no examples where the Israeli authorities tried to mislead them.
This CNN storyCNN story is a perfect example:
Did CNN ever write a headline or even article copy saying "Hamas authorities claim 274 civilians died during the raid without providing evidence"? Why would the IDF climb a ladder to enter a room in the middle of a camp if they didn't already know the hostages were there and the names of the people imprisoning them? And why does CNN ignore Arab NGO reports that appear to confirm appear to confirm the "allegation"?
The "perfidious Jew" trope is part and parcel of Western culture, and consciously or not, the media today still embrace it.
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