Most of Europe’s far-right political parties—the Freedom Party of Austria, the National Front in France, and so forth—have histories of anti-Semitism, sometimes quite vicious. But recently they have been distancing themselves from anti-Semitism (and neo-Nazism), driving the worst offenders from their parties and expressing support for Israel. Charles Hawley believes that this represents more an attempt to gain respectability than a change of heart:

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing [the leaders of these parties] is that of clearly separating themselves from the swamp of racism further out on the right-wing continuum. Among classic neo-Nazi parties—such as the National Democratic party of Germany or Golden Dawn in Greece—one can still find the kind of racial anti-Semitism, virulent xenophobia, and extremist nationalism that fueled Adolf Hitler’s murderous ideology. . . . Right-wing populist parties, by contrast, can be found in the narrow strip of anti-Muslim, irredentist, and xenophobic ground in-between the neo-Nazi extreme right and mainstream center-right parties, themselves no great friends of immigration. . . .

Public-opinion polls hint at a possible explanation for the far right’s attempt to moderate its image. Even as anti-Semitism in Europe appears to be on the rise and anti-Zionism has once again become de rigueur, the Continent’s 20th-century history dictates that overt bile directed at Europe’s Jewish population does not go over well with the vast majority of voters. And increasingly, right-wing populist parties have a lot to lose. The Swedish Democrats in August became the country’s largest political party, with support spiking to a record high of 25.2 percent, according to a YouGov poll. France’s National Front has likewise seen a surge in support recently, as frustration with President François Hollande remains high and the ongoing influx of refugees dominates headlines.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.