In recent weeks news headlines have been displaying the latest controversies of Kanye West (Ye) and his antisemitic views. This situation has not only opened Jews up to more antisemitism, but it has highlighted the hypocrisy from both sides of the political aisle.
From a UK perspective looking into the US, it appears that the American political landscape is deeply divided, even to the point where blatant antisemitism becomes a bone of contention.
We see hypocrisy when it seems the Left is more than happy to call out Kanye West for his antisemitism but have failed to speak out when people in their own camp have spread antisemitic views. Likewise, the right is keen to call out Left-wing figures for antisemitism while not doing the same when someone they consider their own is doing the same.
Kanye West has for many years made headlines, oftentimes lambasted by the mainstream media, because he is a supporter of Donald Trump as well as other conservative values, such as his stance on abortion.
Because of this, the media didn’t miss a trick when talking about Kanye West this time. Many media outlets are talking about his connection to former President Donald Trump and are displaying images of the rapper wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat while accusing him of antisemitism. Naturally, this doesn’t help to sell the story to MAGA-supporting Republicans and people who support President Trump. To them, it feels like this is just another dishonest attempt by the media to smear Trump and anyone who supports the MAGA movement.
As Christians, we cannot allow political loyalties to cloud our moral judgements. We must look to the Word of God and stand up for what is right. In that regard, we must speak clearly against antisemitism in all its forms, and that includes the antisemitism of Kanye West. And let’s be clear here. Kanye West is spreading antisemitic conspiracies.
It appears that Kanye West has been drawn into believing the same thing as the Black Hebrew Israelites. This is a cult-like religious group that believes Black people are the real Jews. They teach that the Jewish people today, including those living in Israel, are not the real Jews but that those ‘Jews’ are imposters. Instead, it is Black people who are real Jews. All of this is false.
It is true that there are Black Jews. However, not all Black people are Jews.
This false belief has been repeatedly stated by Kanye, that he’s not antisemitic because he’s Black and Black people are Jews so they can’t be antisemitic. He’s tried to defend this point on two levels. First of all, he said that it was simply that Black people are Jews. Then he shifted his view more recently saying that Black people are Jews because “all people come from Africa”. It’s unclear whether he is talking about the evolutionary theory that humans are thought to have first evolved from Africa, or if he thinks God created Adam and Eve in Africa. However, this claim falls flat either way. It would be like claiming “humans can’t be racist because we all came from Adam and Eve.” It makes no sense because we know racism is real. It is a prejudice against those who are different from us.
One wild claim he made is about his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her ex-boyfriend Pete Davidson.
Kanye explains a story that he read in TMZ recently that was detailing intimate details of Kim and Pete’s private life and something being publicised that was less than flattering. He then claimed, “it’s Jewish Zionists that’s about that life.”
Many have interpreted this to mean that “Jewish Zionists” are the ones telling his wife how to act in private. However, it seems Kanye is actually trying to say that “Jewish Zionists” are the ones wanting to spread vulgar messages about their love life to promote that lifestyle.
It’s antisemitic either way you look at it because it is demonising a group of people as responsible for others’ actions. But the latter perspective lines up with his comments on Jews controlling the media.
Not just “controlling the media” though. Instead, Kanye says that Jews control people, the media and entire countries.
He said there were four Jewish people that “controlled his voice”, and because Jews influenced him, he then claims that any Jewish person who is connected to someone of influence is therefore controlling things.
“That was four Jewish members that controlled my voice because for the fact that 90% of Black people in entertainment, from sports to music to acting are in some way tied into Jewish business people. Meaning, that in some way, just like if Rom is sitting next to Obama or Jared’s sitting next to Trump, there’s a Jewish person right there controlling the country. The Jewish people controlling who gets the best video or not. Controlling what the media says about me,” Kanye says.
He’s then interrupted by the interviewer who rightly points out that it is a “person” not all Jews.
Kanye then lifts up his arms and gestures sarcastically, “It just so happens that they are [Jewish] though. It just so happens that they are.” This view leads in to his conspiracy that Jews all work together and put each other in positions of power over others.
In a separate interview, Kanye makes the distinction between how Jews work (according to him) and how it works out for Black people.
Kanye West said: “You get used to getting screwed by the Jewish media… And let me tell you one thing. It’s like if a black man is caught with something in the car or something, everybody in the car is gonna go to jail with him, right? But if a Black man can play basketball or rap, only he’s gonna get the record deal. So, meaning like, if one Black man does something bad all the other Blacks get caught with him. If one Black man does something good nobody else gets nothing with him. It’s a reverse for the Jewish people, right? If a Jewish person repeatedly f***s me on a deal, it’s just them, it’s just the business man, it’s not the people. It’s not nobody else. But, if a Jewish person does good, all of their people eat with them. That’s one of the flips.”
Kanye is attempting to explain how the treatment towards Black people and Jews is different. And even in his attempt to justify his position, he bundles all Jews in together. It just reveals another prejudiced viewpoint.
This was only a small number of antisemitic things Kanye West has said over the last few weeks. But it is clear he is wrongfully accusing Jews of controlling him and almost everything in the world as an entire group, not just the one or two people he has dealt with personally. This is deeply problematic.
Unfortunately, Kanye West seems unwilling to listen to reason at this time. He believes he’s a genius who has everything figured out. Far from it, the man is in desperate need of Godly counselling and prayer. And while we should love him and want to help him, we cannot say his views are acceptable or just ignore what he is saying as he’s being both deeply offensive to the Jewish community and dangerous because he has already incited antisemitism and hatred.
We have already seen a Neo-Nazi group claiming that “Kanye West is right about Jews”. They posed with posters on top of a bridge while doing Nazi salutes. These people are White Supremacists who hate the Jewish people. And they hate Jews so much that this same group has protested outside Christians United for Israel (CUFI) events we have held in America because they hate the Jewish state of Israel.
Kanye West is someone of influence. His words and actions matter because he will influence those who look up to him. That is why this is so dangerous. And it is a shame that some Christians are willing to ignore his problematic behaviour because they agree with his politics, instead of speaking out against all forms of antisemitism – whether they come from politicians, celebrities and activists on the left or Kanye West.
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