You Cannot Legislate Hatred Out of the Human Heart

by Ram ben Ze’ev

You Cannot Legislate Hatred Out of the Human Heart

A recent interview published yesterday between Tucker Carlson and Glenn Greenwald begins with a familiar complaint. Both men lament the growing number of laws being enacted in various countries—among them the United States and Australia—that seek to criminalise negative or derogatory speech about Israel or about Jews.

The discussion is not surprising coming from Carlson. His public commentary over the past several years has formed a pattern: deny hatred of Jews while simultaneously indulging the very language and tone that reveals it. It would be far easier to believe his denials if, when he says the word “Jews,” he did not so often stretch and emphasise it in that theatrical way—“the Jooooozzzzzz”—that has long served as a signal to audiences who understand exactly what is being implied. The performance has become familiar enough that it hardly requires further comment.

On the substance of the discussion, however, I find myself agreeing with Carlson and Greenwald—though not for the reasons they themselves offer.

Their argument centres on censorship. Mine does not.

Greenwald describes himself as Jewish but not by religious upbringing. He has noted publicly that he did not have a bar mitzvah and that his moral outlook is not informed by religious doctrine. That may well be how he understands himself. Yet what he does not acknowledge is that modern society itself is deeply shaped by thousands of years of Torah teaching. Even those who reject religious observance are nevertheless formed by the civilisation that grew out of it. The moral language, assumptions about justice, and the very idea of human dignity that underpin modern societies did not arise in a vacuum.

My objection to these new antisemitism laws comes from a different place entirely: they contradict the wisdom of our sages.

Jewish tradition teaches something profoundly practical about the nature of hatred. Evil is not defeated by placing it at the centre of our attention. When hatred becomes the focus of our energy, we unintentionally strengthen it. The sages repeatedly counsel a different response: do not give it power.

Antisemitism thrives on attention. It feeds on outrage, reaction, and the endless cycle of accusation and defence. When every insult becomes a legal matter, every foolish slogan a court case, hatred is not diminished—it is amplified.

More importantly, hatred cannot be legislated out of existence.

You cannot force a man not to hate. You cannot pass a statute that purifies the human heart.

Laws that attempt to do so often achieve the opposite effect. They drive resentment underground, where it grows unseen, festers, and eventually emerges in forms that are far more dangerous.

From my perspective, it is far better when hatred is visible.

If someone wishes to broadcast their hostility—to wear it on a shirt, shout it in a slogan, or reveal it in their words—then at least we know who they are. It is easier to avoid a person who declares his hatred openly than one who hides it behind a mask of forced silence.

This debate is particularly intense now because of the ongoing war being pursued jointly by the United States and Israel against Iran. I have already written at length about that conflict in my article describing it as “The Chosen War,” which I believe was ill-conceived, destructive, and a grave strategic error. There is no need to repeat those arguments here.

But wars inevitably inflame passions. They intensify anger and deepen divisions. It is therefore unsurprising that hostility toward Jews has risen in many places during this conflict.

The temptation for governments is to respond with legislation—to attempt to silence hostility by criminalising speech. Yet speech laws do not remove hatred. They merely push it out of sight. And hatred that is hidden is far more dangerous than hatred that is exposed.

The wisdom of the sages offers a different path. Do not make hatred the centre of your life. Do not allow the anger of others to dictate your focus. Build, teach, live, and continue the work that gives Jewish life its meaning.

Evil diminishes not when it is obsessively confronted, but when it is deprived of the attention it seeks.

The most powerful response is simply this: refuse to let hatred occupy your mind at all.

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Bill White (Ram ben Ze'ev) is CEO of WireNews Limited, Mayside Partners Limited, MEADHANAN Agency, Kestrel Assets Limited, SpudsToGo Limited and Executive Director of Hebrew Synagogue