An important clue to how well a movement is doing, is that when it starts to be worrisome to the “king” (in the present case that’s Big Energy), there will reliably be an increase in anti-Semitic hate speech and in attacks on Jews.
Here’s why:
After the Roman Empire destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E., the Jewish people fled to many different countries (“the Diaspora”). Because they no longer had their own homeland, they were an easy target for kings to use as a “scapegoat.” That is, when peasants, and later on industrial workers, seemed on the point of revolt against their exploitation by the royalty, the king would spread lies about the Jews and instigate attacks (“pogroms”) on Jewish rural villages and city neighborhoods.
This gave the peasants and workers an outlet for their anger without any threat to the king.
The strategy of scapegoating the Jews was so successful (for the kings) that it has been used repeatedly for many centuries in European countries. (In the same way, the “overseas Chinese” have been used as scapegoats in the empires of Southeast Asia.) When things calmed down, the embers of anti-Semitism were kept burning so they could be fanned into flame any time a king felt threatened by revolt.
Apparently, our young movement to reverse the climate emergency feels threatening to the Big Energy corporations (the modern “king”). They, and the right-wing politicians in their pay, are fanning the embers of anti-Semitism. This has already resulted in mass shootings in Jewish synagogues.
The increase in anti-Semitic hate speech and attacks tells us that the climate movement is beginning to be worrisome to the Big Energy corporations. We are already being effective!
Because of the vulnerable situation of Jews in this setup, it’s important to welcome and include them in the unity-of-all-groups that will become a successful movement. Many Jews are already taking action.