Why Is It Always the Jews? A Moroccan Muslim on Antisemitism After Morocco's Loss to France

After Morocco's defeat to France, antisemitic chants and anti-Jewish demonstrations erupted across parts of Europe. A Moroccan Muslim asks why so many crises—including a football match—still end with Jews becoming the world's favorite scapegoat.

By Mustapha Ezzarghani

AI generated image of Morocco's team celebrating at the FIFA World Cup.

The final whistle should have ended the story. Morocco had lost to France after an extraordinary tournament that united millions of Moroccans in pride. Like so many of my fellow countrymen, I believed Morocco might continue making history. The defeat was painful, but it was still only football. Every team loses eventually. Then came the videos.

Across cities in Europe, crowds waved Hamas flags, chanted for the murder of Jews, and revived slogans that belonged in the darkest chapters of the twentieth century, not on the streets of modern democracies. France had scored the goals. The Jews had not. Yet somehow, once again, Jews became the target.

What followed was not football rivalry. It was a familiar eruption of antisemitism, directed once again at Jews who had nothing to do with the match. The demonstrations in several European cities were about far more than football. They became another reminder that antisemitism remains one of Europe's oldest and most persistent forms of hatred—one that can attach itself to almost any political, cultural, or sporting event.

As a Moroccan Muslim, I was not ashamed because Morocco lost. I was ashamed because a football match became another excuse for some people to express hatred toward Jews. The overwhelming majority of Moroccan supporters behaved with dignity. They congratulated France, mourned the defeat, and went home. They represented the Morocco that I know and love. But it does not take millions of people to expose a problem. It only takes enough people to remind us that it exists.

The uncomfortable truth is that this was never really about football. Football was simply the latest excuse. Watching those videos, one question refused to leave my mind: Why is it always the Jews?

Why Antisemitism Keeps Blaming the Jews

History repeats the same pattern with astonishing consistency.

When economies collapse, someone blames the Jews. When governments fail, someone blames the Jews. When pandemics spread, someone blames the Jews. When wars erupt, someone blames the Jews. When conspiracy theories flourish, Jews somehow become the invisible force behind every global event.

Now, apparently, even the outcome of a football match has become another opportunity to direct hatred toward the world's smallest religious minority. At what point do we stop asking what Jews supposedly did and start asking why humanity remains so determined to blame them?

This should concern everyone, not only Jews. A society that instinctively searches for a scapegoat instead of confronting its own failures becomes increasingly vulnerable to extremism. Hatred may begin with one minority, but history shows it rarely ends there.

Antisemitism has never depended on evidence. It has always depended on convenience. Blaming Jews is easier than confronting corruption. Easier than demanding accountability from failed leaders. Easier than acknowledging extremism within our own societies. A scapegoat is always more comfortable than self-examination.

That is why antisemitism has survived for centuries despite constantly contradicting itself. Jews have been accused of being powerless outsiders and all-powerful insiders. They have been blamed for capitalism and communism, for globalization and nationalism, for war and for peace. The accusations evolve with every generation, but the target remains remarkably consistent.

Morocco's Jewish Heritage and a History of Muslim-Jewish Coexistence

As a Moroccan, this troubles me for another reason. Morocco's history offers a different model. Long before coexistence became a political slogan, Muslims and Jews lived together for centuries under Moroccan rule. They served the same kings, spoke the same languages, traded in the same markets, built the same cities, and helped shape the same civilization. Jewish history is not separate from Moroccan history—it is woven into Morocco's national story.

Morocco's synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, traditions, music, and architecture are not foreign relics. They are part of our shared national heritage. To reject that history is to erase part of Morocco itself.

Rejecting antisemitism is therefore not about adopting someone else's values. It is about remaining faithful to our own history and preserving the best traditions of Muslim-Jewish coexistence.

How Antisemitism Escalates from Words to Violence

That is why I refuse to remain silent when Jews become the convenient target for frustrations that have nothing to do with them.

History offers a sobering lesson. The Holocaust did not begin with extermination camps. It began decades earlier with conspiracy theories, dehumanizing rhetoric, political opportunism, and the gradual normalization of blaming Jews for society's problems. Hatred rarely arrives announcing itself. It disguises itself as justice, resistance, patriotism, or righteous anger until societies no longer recognize it for what it is.

As a Moroccan Muslim, I believe my faith obligates me to stand against injustice regardless of who the victim is. Justice that depends on the identity of the victim is not justice; it is tribalism. Morocco's finest traditions teach something different. They teach that Muslims and Jews can share not only neighborhoods but also a common national identity built on mutual respect, shared history, and recognition of one another's humanity.

Why Antisemitism Keeps Returning Generation After Generation

The scenes that followed Morocco's defeat revealed nothing about Jews. They revealed something about us.

Every generation invents new reasons to hate Jews. The accusations change. The slogans change. The politics change. But the target remains the same.

The question the world should be asking is not what Jews did to deserve another wave of hatred. The real question is why humanity continues searching for new excuses to hate the same people, generation after generation.

Until we begin asking why societies keep returning to the same scapegoat instead of confronting their own failures, history will continue repeating itself—not because Jews are responsible for every crisis, but because blaming them has become humanity's oldest shortcut. That is the question we should all be asking.

Why is it always the Jews?

Mustapha Ezzarghani is a Moroccan-American Muslim peace activist, author, and journalist. He is one of the leading voices advancing dialogue and cooperation between Muslim and Jewish communities, advocating for peace, mutual understanding, and stronger ties between Morocco, Israel, and the United States through public speaking, writing, and civic engagement.