‘Hatred of Jews is a spiritual problem,’ Amb Huckabee, Dinesh D’Souza say amid growing trend of antisemitism

During the Second International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem last week, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza identified the root of antisemitism as a spiritual matter. 

The conservative Evangelical Christians were the last two speakers at the conference, and both said the real issue with antisemitism is not political, or even racial, it is a spiritual problem. 

Huckabee spoke first, where he was asked by Alex Traiman, CEO & Jerusalem Bureau Chief of Jewish News Syndicate, to address the confluence of Marxism and antisemitism on the political Left in the United States. 

Huckabee immediately pointed to what he sees as the core problem. 

“Well, let's get real clear that what we're dealing with is Jew hatred,” Huckabee began. “If we use the word antisemitism outside of our own circle - we certainly can use it here - it always leads to a level of ambiguity.” 

“But if we just say, look, this is Jew hatred, why do people hate Jews? The real answer is a spiritual one,” Huckabee continued. “That may be offensive to some people. But when people hate God, they're naturally going to hate people who throughout history, from the time on Mount Moriah right here in this city, have represented the ones that God first spoke to in a very personal and real way and said, you're going to take this message, you're going to create this magnificent land, and through you, the world is going to be blessed.” 

Noting the growing alignment of atheist Marxist philosophy, along with often spiritualized forms of environmentalism and humanism that tend to exist on the political Left, Huckabee continued: 

“But now, if you don't believe there's a God, or you want to believe that you are your own God, or that the environment is your God, you'd rather worship the creation rather than the Creator, if you reject basic spiritual premises because you had rather live in a secular world that denies the very existence of God, then your first target is naturally going to be Jews."

Huckabee also reminded the Christians in the audience that those who hate the Jews often hate Christians as well, for similar reasons. 

“Now what Christians have to understand is the next target is going to be them. And that's why I often try to remind people, like it or not, we are in this together,” Huckabee explained. "And I hope that people will come to understand that the root of Jew hatred is in fact not political, it is not economic, it is spiritual.” 

In a similar manner, author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, was asked by Israeli right-wing pundit and Hebrew University lecturer Gadi Taub to differentiate between antisemitism on the political left and right, or whether they are, in fact, the same phenomenon. 

D’Souza began his response by saying, “I think for me the phenomenon of antisemitism is very tricky because it is conventionally defined as a hatred of the Jews for being Jews.” 

Here are some things you don’t normally hear about anti-Semitism—My conversation in Jerusalem this week with Israel’s leading podcaster Gadi Taub at the International Conference on anti-Semitism@AmichaiChikli @GadiTaub1 @DocumentIsrael pic.twitter.com/JV05CIrO1y

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) January 28, 2026

“I don't know how much that explains of a phenomenon,” D’Souza continued. He then began to give an explanation for antisemitism based on the political factors, with many hating Israel, and by extension the Jews, because they function as representatives of the Western world in a region which is often hostile to that world. 

However, D’Souza then paused, saying, “I think Ambassador Huckabee touched on something that has not been a big theme in this conference. and that is the, I'll call it the transcendental motive of antisemitism, which I think actually deserves a little more explanation.” 

He referred to "Paradise Lost" by English writer John Milton, specifically the scene where Satan first sees Adam and Eve, and becomes filled with envy and hatred. 

Anti-Semitism cannot be explained in purely secular terms, which is why many secular Jews are confused and confounded by it. pic.twitter.com/TN5NBhMJtV

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) January 31, 2026

“This is, in fact, I think an important motive of antisemitism,” D’Souza remarked. “It's maybe the most powerful secular motive that you can give.” 

But he noted that envy by itself is not sufficient. 

“And yet, there's a second thing going on, and that is that Satan is in a campaign against God,” he continued. 

“Adam and Eve have done nothing to Satan but Satan's malice against them is a revenge scheme against the Creator himself,” D’Souza continued. “Apply this logic now to the Jews.” 

Like Huckabee, D’Souza noted that “he Jews have also been God's chosen people. The mechanism by which you can say the moral law is transmitted to the world is through the Jews.” 

“And if you believe that there is a world behind the world, and if you believe that there is a cosmic battle between good and evil that rages in the world, then it is not out of the question that what we are seeing in antisemitism is truly a kind of scheme by none other than the devil himself to torment the Jews as a form of revenge against God,” he explained. “This would also extend to some degree to the Christians for the same reason.”