



In an antisemitic article published on the Jordanian news website Al-Awal News, Jordanian author and journalist Kafa Al-Zou'bi writes that the current coronavirus epidemic reminds her of Jose Saramago’s novel Blindness. This novel describes a global epidemic of blindness that is not only physical but also moral and is manifest in a complete loss of values and humanity as people fight over material resources in a bitter struggle to survive. Implying that the world is in a similar state, Al-Zou'bi writes that the source of the problem is capitalism, which is barbaric, greedy, and also "Jewish" – because it is Judaism that bears the greatest responsibility for the evil and brutal aspects of capitalism. This religion, she says, is "a cancer that has harmed humanity from the dawn of its civilized history," because it regards non-Jews as inferior creatures who are detested by God and can be killed with impunity.



Kafa Al-Zou'bi (Source: Alawalnews.net)

The following are excerpts from her article.[1]

"Reading reports about the coronavirus today, I get the disturbing feeling that the world is almost [living] a fictional story, [Jose] Saramago's [novel] Blindness. In this story, after everyone on earth falls victim to an epidemic of blindness, all trappings of culture, education and morality instantly collapse… [Public] services stop because everyone is blind… There is no government, no police, no law, no restraining morals and no fear of God. Cities become dark jungles in which people lose themselves in a blind struggle to survive, especially [fighting] for a little food and water... Man reverts to the worst possible savagery…

"Saramago does not treat the blindness [just] as a medical epidemic that befalls humanity, but takes a broader, philosophical view, for the physical blindness causes people to lose sight [of their humanity] in their struggle to survive, and to forsake the cultural and moral traditions that they have theoretically come to espouse… in favor of the material interests of survival. Wars, hunger, murder, rape, violence, disease and plagues – that is the lexicon of the actual reality, which for Saramago reflects human blindness that will eventually lead to complete destruction and cause mankind to revert, at some point in the future, to a beast without intelligence, thought or culture.

"Here a childish, innocent thought occurs to me… What if the funds [currently] wasted on wars were devoted to scientific development for the sake of life rather than death, [and] to strengthening culture, morality and creativity rather than ignorance and stupidity? What if these efforts were invested in [advancing] knowledge that would lead to a reduction in the birth rate, instead of in killing people who are regarded as superfluous to humanity? What if the funds were invested in cultivating enlightened people instead of people immersed in illusions and superstitions that cause them to murder and [amass] power? What if… What if… What keeps all of this from coming true? [What prevents] Man from engaging in reasonable struggles, without the madness of evil and egoism?

"The answer is simple and clear: [The fault lies with] barbaric, greedy capitalism, and let me add the adjective 'Jewish.' It is Judaism in particular that made capitalism so barbaric and established a [religious] source of authority that sanctifies the worst kind of evil, taking it to its most far-reaching extremes. Judaism permits to kill the non-Jewish other, and regards [the non-Jew] as a different kind of creature, detested by God, because the Jews are the one and only chosen people… This is not just [an idea], but comes to the point of [actually] permitting the murder of the other, who is regarded as an inferior creature. A Jew seeing [a non-Jew] lying dead in the road must not bury him, but may let the dogs eat him… In [Saramago’s] Blindness the dogs indeed eat the dead bodies in the streets, albeit without taking an interest in their masters' religious sources of authority.

"I believe Judaism is a cancer that has harmed humanity since the dawn of its civilized history. The catastrophe is that this idea infiltrated other religions that came later, and as a consequence these religions did not sanctify Man's humane aspects as much as his barbaric and evil aspects. Each religion, in turn, promised its adherents that they are the people most favored by God and may therefore kill [others] and persecute them. This is an essentially a Jewish [idea].

"I also think that capitalism could have been less barbaric had it not been anchored in the sources of Jewish philosophy and had it not drowned Man in blindness that will sooner or later lead to his sudden perdition. This will happen if [Man] does not regain his sight and eradicate the epidemic of illusions! In our present reality, that would be a very unlikely miracle.”