This is a well-studied phenomenon. The most important work addressing this issue is the book by Theodor Lessing (1930), Jüdischer Selbsthaß, (The Self-Contempt of the Jews). The self-hate phenomenon appears not only among Jews. We also see it among colored people that do impossible tasks to detach from their physical qualities (for example, those who straighten their hair obsessively to eliminate their “afro” or undergo operations to change the color of their skin) Not too many Jews suffer from self-hate, although there are some extreme cases. In 1935, a German Jew, Max Neumann, founded the Verband Nationaldeutscher Juden (the German Nationalist Jewish League), identified with the Nazi ideology. Reasons that lead to self-hate differ among Jews. Some think that by exaggerating their declarations they free themselves from the “weight” of being a Jew, others because they feel embarrassed of being Jewish, others because they long to be accepted by the majority (they are usually used as “good Jews” by those that hate Jews). Self-hate Jews consider that Judaism is not a people but a religion or a culture, and their formation in Jewish historic and religious topics is quite weak. A great man of Israeli socialism, Berl Katzenelson, said (1936): “is there by any chance another people on the face of the Earth whose children are so twisted, emotionally and mentally, that they consider as despicable and hateful everything their country does, while every murder, violation and assault committed by their enemies fill their hearts with admiration and reverence?”. The fact that those who criticize Israel obsessively are Jews or of Jewish descent is totally irrelevant. The fact that such a person criticizes Israel in an obsessive, Manichaean and insulting way, transforms such a person into an
anti-Semite, no matter if he is a Jew or not.