On the situation of the Jews after October 7

On October 7, 2023, the radical Islamist terrorist militia Hamas carried out devastating attacks in Israel. But the next day, public opinion was not dominated by sympathy for the victims and their families. Instead, the attacks were legitimized as acts of resistance in progressive circles from Berlin to Paris to New York, and in some cases even cheered. Where does this hatred come from, which considers itself morally superior?

Eva Illouz described these tendencies as “intellectual obfuscation strategies” in an article published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung in October 2023. Under the headline “We, the left? Not anymore,” she accused the left of betraying its own ideas of freedom, equality, and human dignity. Since then, the French-Israeli sociologist has analyzed the ideological view of intellectuals on Israel in various publications and pointed out their collective lack of empathy towards Jewish people and Israelis. On September 15, her essay “Der 8. Oktober” (October 8) was published by Suhrkamp Verlag.

In conversation with Rachel Salamander, Eva Illouz explains her criticism of (left-wing) intellectuals and talks about the consequences their handling of October 7 had for Jewish people. The event concludes the thematic focus “Where to now? Jewish (survival) life after 1945” and, 80 years later, poses the question from the beginning once again: Where to now?