Is IDS* Rising Among Libertarians? A Rejoinder to Petersen’s Libertarian Hitler

Note: IDS refers to the Israel Derangement Syndrome.

Abstract:

Petersen (2025) is a very provocatively entitled essay: “Hitler is back in style. Is my own libertarian movement responsible?” He starts off my denigrating libertarians for all sort of things: for publicly musing that Hitler was not quite a fine fellow, but almost for anti-Semitism; for support of Hamas; for Israel Derangement Syndrome. Unfortunately, and unhappily, I am compelled to agree with him; but only partially. At times he blames the entire libertarian movement and virtually all those who accept this political economic philosophy.

Hitler is back in style. Is my own libertarian movement responsible?

The present paper is my attempt to get him off the extreme end of the tree branch upon which he has perched himself. I offer evidence that he is only partially correct. There are many libertarians, not a few organizations devoted to the principles thereof, which are warm supporters of Israel, including the present author.

Key words: Libertarianism; Hitler; Israel; anti-Semitism; genocide

JEL Category: Z0

 

I am very grateful to Petersen (2025) for doing his best to repair a gigantic flaw in the libertarian movement with regard to Israel and anti-Semitism. His is a sincere cri-de-coeur to render our precious freedom philosophy whole again. It is remarkable that his in many ways excellent essay was not published in a libertarian journal, such as the Journal of Libertarian Studies, the Cato Journal, Markets and Morality, the Independent Review, or the Journal of Private Enterprise, or in a libertarian magazine such as Reason magazine. It is sad to say this, because several libertarian journals, for example the very first one herein mentioned, simply would refuse to publish any pro-Israel analysis such as his. This only indicates the severity of the problem Petersen addresses. Instead of its natural libertarian home, he had to publish in Tablet Magazine, while to be sure compatible with this political economic philosophy, but is hardly noted for its libertarianism.

I am also thankful to Mr. Petersen for his positive treatment of my own publications on this subject,^[1] and for his opposition to my excommunication from all too many libertarian institutions.^[2] At one time, libertarians excoriated leftists for cancelling persons on the basis of pronoun usage, spelling, punctuation, political disagreements, and all sorts of other practices. Sad to say, the libertarian movement has now been beset by this very same iniquitous practice.

Let me discuss the connection between Judaic traditions and people and libertarianism.

Before we mention areas in which I depart from Petersen, let me discuss the connection between Judaic traditions and people and libertarianism. This underscores the appropriateness of his publication in Tablet Magazine.

Jews comprise some 2% of the population of the United States.^[3] And, yet the leadership of the libertarian movement consists almost entirely of members born into families of that religion. I point out, in alphabetical order, the following: Milton Friedman, Israel Kirzner, Ludwig von Mises, Robert Nozick, Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard. Indeed, it is difficult to think of any libertarian leader who is not of Jewish heritage. The only other persons who come to mind in this regard are Ron Paul and Javier Milei.^[4] So the connection between the two, the religion and the secular philosophy is important, thorough and perhaps even unique. It would be a shame for this bond to be severed. Unfortunately, as Petersen so eloquently points out, this, indeed, is in the process of occurring to a significant degree.

I now wish to note where this splendid publication of Petersen’s and the present author’s diverge. This should occasion no surprise. One of the traditional jokes of this community is that if you ask ten libertarians a question, you will get eleven answers, or more.

It is safe to say that they all suffer from Israel Derangement Syndrome (IDS).

Our first departure concerns this description: “The ideological descent of the liberty movement into moral psychosis over Israel…” This is not correct. A more accurate statement would be amended as follows: “The ideological descent of part of the liberty movement into moral psychosis over Israel…” Yes, several libertarian organizations have indeed severed all connections with me (being the Mises Institute, the Ron Paul Institute, the Libertarian Institute, the Future of Freedom Foundation, and anti-war.com) despite a several decades-long worth of happy and productive associations. All of this is on the basis of my support of the only civilized country in the Middle East. It is safe to say that they all suffer from Israel Derangement Syndrome (IDS).

But these organizations by no means exhaust the libertarian movement. That is the error made by Petersen. There are a whole host of libertarian organizations which, at least so far, do not suffer from this Syndrome nor from anti-Semitism. They include the following, in alphabetical order: Americans for Limited Government, Atlas Network, Cascade Policy Institute,

Cato Institute, Centre for Civil Society, Center for Individual Freedom, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Federalist Society, Foundation for Economic Education, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, Freedom Fest, Free State Project, Heartland Institute, The Independent Institute, Institute for Humane Studies, Institute for Justice, Institute of Public Affairs, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, Koch Foundation, Ladies of Liberty Alliance, Libertarian Party, Libertas Institute, Liberty Fund, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Niskanen Center, Pacific Research Institute, Reason Foundation, Young Americans for Freedom. In addition, there are 50 libertarian state institutes in the US, such as the Pelican Institute in my home state of Louisiana.^[5]

When that one country in the Middle East is mentioned, all of the agreed-upon basic Lockean (1948) homesteading theory flies right out the window for these cancellation organizations. It is as if they have never so much as heard of it, even though many of their scholars have done good work in promoting this type of analysis. How does this apply?

The basic foundational elements of libertarian theory are the nonaggression principle and private property rights based upon homesteading. The Jews were occupying contested lands some 3,500 years ago. The Muslims have been there for only a scant few centuries. Thus, according to this libertarian doctrine, the former are the rightful owners of the terrain under dispute, and the latter, criminal trespassers.^[6]

I also part ways with my learned libertarian friend when he rejects the assertion that “Hitler wasn’t as bad as they say.” Please do not stop reading at this point. Hear me out. I am not a Nazi supporter. When the left wants to castigate Trump, they hurled at him the worst possible invective they could think of: “Hitler.” But this quintessentially evil man was not the worst mass murderer in human history. According to most historians, he “only” killed 11 million people: 6 million Jews and 5 million others, such as gays, Romany, blacks and other non-Aryans. However, and this is a huge however, Stalin gets “credit” for 20 million and Mao hits the jackpot with 60 million. The proportional murder rate goes to Pol Pot, who only killed some 2 million, but this was a full one-third of his population. So, Hitler indeed “as they say,” wasn’t that bad. He only takes the bronze medal in this particular sweepstakes.^[7]

Next, Petersen congratulates himself about not naming names. He says this of a libertarian Nazi admirer^[8]: “a libertarian podcaster I admired.” He even justifies this refusal: “I didn’t name him then. I won’t now. Naming him would be like naming a mosquito in a swamp. The real story was the rising waterline.” This gives the false impression that virtually all libertarians have succumbed to IDS.

Whereupon our author makes a 180-degree turn and names “Christopher Cantwell.” Petersen mentions “A man once associated with the Free State Project and libertarian forums became the ‘Crying Nazi,’ arrested and weeping after Charlottesville, Virginia.” But this is rather unfair. Which “man?” What was his name? What was the “association”? Did this “man” once donate as much as $10 to the FSP? This is hardly a valid indictment of that eminent libertarian initiative located in New Hampshire.

Our author gets it right when he declaims: “But as economic critiques of the state gave way to identitarianism, racial determinism, and civilizational despair, some so-called libertarians and right-wingers replaced reason and individualism with fatalism and fascist aesthetics. These days, Hitler is officially back in style—not in seedy backrooms, but out in the open…” (emphasis added by present author to the word “some”). This is true: this malady unhappily applies to some libertarians. Petersen offers not one shred of evidence that this intellectual and moral viciousness applies to much of, let alone virtually all of, the libertarian movement.

According to Petersen: “(Ron) Paul disavowed the statements,^[9] said he didn’t write them, and condemned them. But the damage was done—especially among younger, urban libertarians who saw it as an early crack between the idealistic ‘liberty’ movement and the darker paleo-right currents around Lew Rockwell and Murray Rothbard’s old strategy of courting the populist right.”

Petersen properly criticizes Tucker Carlson and Jesse Ventura, now naming a few names. But are they really libertarians?

I maintain (Block, 2011) that Dr. Paul is not now and never was an anti-Semite. However, when I asked him to overrule my banishment from the Ron Paul Institute, all Dr. Paul would say is that he does not get involved in that sort of thing.

Petersen properly criticizes Tucker Carlson and Jesse Ventura, now naming a few names. But are they really libertarians? That much is far from clear.

This writer heavily denigrates conspiracy theories; most, but not all, are just plain wrong. But libertarians have no monopoly with regard to such explanations. It is thus a bit unfair to condemn our movement on this basis. Just because we love liberty does not mean that we, too, cannot be taken in by fallacies upon occasion.

I appreciate this author’s dismissal of Dave Smith. I could not have criticized him any better than if I had a month of Sundays to do so.^[10] Smith is truly a “clapping seal.” I also relish Petersen’s critique of my “fellow anarcho-capitalist Hans-Hermann Hoppe.” The latter has perhaps done more than any other philosopher to ground libertarianism on the basis of argument (Hoppe, 1988, 1993, 1995). Yet he has several times refused my challenge to him to debate about Israel. Instead, he resorts to mere name calling, referring to me as an “unhinged blood-thirsty monster” (Hoppe, 2024).^[11]

However, I must once again depart from this brilliant author when he writes: “Libertarians who once ‘denounced the empire’ now parrot Iranian and Russian propaganda.” We insist, instead, on this version of that almost true statement: “Some Libertarians who once ‘denounced the empire’ now parrot Iranian and Russian propaganda.” And yet again, he overstates the true state of affairs with this statement “When leftists on TikTok were seeing wisdom in Bin Laden’s hatred, libertarians were ‘me, too’-ing.” This should be changed to “When some leftists on TikTok were seeing wisdom in Bin Laden’s hatred, libertarians were ‘me, too’-ing.” Why falsely exaggerate? The problem with libertarians is serious enough without overestimating it.

A word about the antiwar that Petersen several times mentions. The motto of LewRockwell.com is as follows: “ANTI-STATE•ANTI-WAR•PRO-MARKET.” I have no problem with the first and third of these, but the second is incompatible with libertarianism. Ditto for antiwar.com, a splendid in many other ways, libertarian organization.^[12]

Let it be said once and for all, as clear as a bell: Libertarians should not oppose war! To be sure, we oppose offensive war but applaud the defensive variety thereof. Libertarianism is not a suicide pact. Pacifism is compatible with libertarianism but it is by no means derivable from it. As it happens, Israel has never fought an offensive war in its entire existence. Every military event it has undertaken has been defensive; in response to a prior attack on it, or the threat thereof. For this reason, all libertarians who wish to remain true to their principles should support the Jewish state. It is a shame that all too many of those who espouse these principles do not correctly apply them to the Middle East.

No truer words have ever been said than these: “Many of the Israel Derangement Syndrome libertarians and paleo-populists, for instance, despise Javier Milei.

No truer words have ever been said than these: “Many of the Israel Derangement Syndrome libertarians and paleo-populists, for instance, despise Javier Milei, the anarcho-capitalist president of Argentina, not entirely for his policies, but because he defends the West—and the Jewish tradition that helped shape it.” (emphasis added)

First, he says, “many,” implying that not all libertarians suffer from IDS. Second, which some libertarians such as Hoppe bitterly complain about Milei’s inability to turn Argentina immediately into an anarcho-capitalist society, the real reason for their enmity of him is that this hero of libertarianism supports Israel. Take that one consideration away, and the IDS libertarians would warmly embrace Milei, I contend.

Petersen opines: “Every bomb is a war crime, every Western leader a colonialist, every Israeli soldier a Nazi. It’s not foreign policy—it’s theology.” Sorry, it is not theology. Rather, it is mishigas. This, for once, is not an exaggeration. These people on October 8, 2023, before the IDF had taken any defensive action whatsoever, were blaming Israel for the events of the previous day. If that is not close-mindedness, nothing is close-mindedness.

In his concluding remarks, our scribe maintains that: “I am for civilization over barbarism, no apologies.” Are there no cases in which a more or less civilized country invades a barbarian nation? Cannot barbarians, at least sometimes, be the victims and the civilized invaders, the criminals? I think I commit no logical contradiction in supposing this to be the case, at least upon occasion.

Mr. Petersen wisely states that “Some alliances are not entanglements.” Indeed, there is nothing untoward, nothing incompatible with libertarian theory, with a nation engaging in alliances with others. The criticism on the part of some libertarians is that the US alliance with Israel is entirely a one-way street. The former gives, the latter receives.

On a per capita basis, the IDF is by a long way the single strongest army on the planet, with no exceptions.

Not at all. Israel has the fourth most powerful military in the world (Staff, 2023). On a per capita basis, the IDF is by a long way the single strongest army on the planet, with no exceptions. Who else should the US ally with, vis-a-vis the second and third most mighty, who are to put the best face possible on this relationship, the adversaries of the US? In terms of computer savvy, intelligence, technology, shared secrets, Israel contributes its fair share and more to the alliance.^[13] To be sure, it cannot be denied that at present, financial transfers indeed flow in only one direction. But the US in terms of Israeli contributions obtains more than a dollar’s worth bang for its buck.

Consider this statement by our author: “In the tradition of Ayn Rand, who declared unapologetically, ‘When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are.’”

Petersen continues “that Israel deserves the same unwavering moral defense from liberty-minded men. Rand characterized the Arab states of her time as ‘one of the least developed cultures … typically nomads … [who] resent Israel because it’s the sole beachhead of modern science and civilization on their continent.’ Consider what she meant: a nation built on reason, innovation, individual rights, standing in a sea of regimes built on tribalism, religion-state fusion, and perpetual war. A libertarian who claims neutrality while one side embodies Enlightenment values and the other embodies anti-Enlightenment ideology is choosing a false neutrality.

I find this to be highly problematic. Israel, yes, should be supported, and fervently so. But absolutely not because it is indeed more civilized than its enemies. The conquistadores were more civilized than the native peoples they slaughtered. When war-mongering Japan ran roughshod over China (in 1894, 1937), the former was more economically developed and industrialized than the latter. Ditto, presumably, with regard to the invasions of the Vikings against their neighbors. That type of advanced development hardly justifies these attacks.

Rather, championing the Hebrew state should emanate from a sense of justice. The Arabs are trespassers on land rightfully belonging to the Jews, since the latter were there, occupying the disputed territory, long before the former. As well, Hamas, not the IDF, committed genocide, the definition of which is to purposefully aim to murder a significant number of enemy women and children and civilians in general. Israel goes to great lengths to safeguard Gazan non-combatants, even sacrificing its own soldiers to do so.^[14] Hamas does nothing of the kind. Instead, it uses its own civilians as shields and thus is solely responsible for their deaths. Even the Nazis, a curse upon their name, did not resort to such despicable practices.

Petersen ends upon a very important note: “I will not be silent. And I know I am not alone.” He most certainly is not on his own on this matter, within the libertarian community. I personally am enthusiastically with him on this matter of supporting Eretz Yisroel. In this statement of his, he, happily, comes a long way toward the light from his initial surmise that his own, and my, libertarian movement is responsible for pro-Naziism, anti-Semitism, claims that the IDF is responsible for genocide, as all too many libertarians claim. Yes, genocide has indeed occurred in the Middle East, but by Hamas, not Israel.

 

References:

Babylon Bee “Hitler Brings Peace To Israel” and saved the Jews.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=%2bp7PCndS&id=5F84299F2C1F1CF8589A256E40FF011835272098&thid=OIP.-p7PCndSFNDCjvJFDnUuiwHaEM&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fmedia.babylonbee.com%2farticles%2f68e7e4ad6618068e7e4ad66181.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.fa9ecf0a775214d0c28ef2450e752e8b%3frik%3dmCAnNRgB%252f0BuJQ%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=788&expw=1392&q=%22hitler+saved+the+jews%22+babylon+bee&FORM=IRPRST&ck=08B6EA958353991B275FC161325D61C3&selectedIndex=0&itb=0&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

Block, Walter E. 2011. “Is Ron Paul an Anti-Semite? No.” September 8; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block183.html;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O3Z5GvDLcY

Block, Walter E. 2024. “Open Letter to the Children of Gaza.” February 8; https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/open-letter-to-the-children-of-gaza/

Block, Walter E. and Alan Futerman. 2021. The Classical Liberal Case for Israel. With commentary by Benjamin Netanyahu. Springer Publishing Company; https://rd.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-3953-1;

Block, Walter E. and Alan G. Futerman. 2024. “Rejoinder to Hoppe on Israel Versus Hamas.” https://www.meste.org/mest/MEST_Najava/XXIV_Block_Futerman.pdf

Fabian, Emanuel. 2023. “Authorities name 922 soldiers, 70 police officers killed in Gaza war. Six colonels among the dead, the most senior officers killed in combat in recent memory; 471 IDF troops killed in Gaza ground offensive.” October 8;

https://www.timesofisrael.com/authorities-name-44-soldiers-30-police-officers-killed-in-hamas-attack/

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. 1988. “Utilitarians and Randians vs Reason.” Liberty (November): 53–54.

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. 1993. “The Economics and Ethics of Private Property.” Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. 1995. Economic Science and the Austrian Method. The Ludwig von Mises Institute; http://www.mises.org/esandtam/pes1.asp;

http://www.mises.org/esandtam/pfe3.asp

Hoppe, Hans. 2024. “An Open Letter to Walter E. Block.” January 31; https://www.lewrockwell.com/2024/01/hans-hermann-hoppe/breaking-up-is-hard-to-do-but-sometimes-necessary

Locke, John. 1948. “An Essay Concerning the True Origin, Extent and End of Civil Government.” In E. Barker, ed., Social Contract. Oxford University Press.

Petersen, Austin. 2025. “Hitler Is Back in Style: Is my own libertarian movement responsible?” Tablet, October 22; https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/hitler-back-style-libertarians

Staff, Toi. 2023. “Israel ranks among 10 most powerful countries in annual list; 4th strongest military.” January;

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-among-10-most-powerful-countries-in-the-world-in-annual-list/

TASS. 2023. “Argentina’s president-elect converts to Judaism — agency.” November 28; https://tass.com/world/1712981

The Economist. 2024. “In Catholic Argentina, Javier Milei embraces Judaism.” July 11;

https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/07/11/in-catholic-argentina-javier-milei-embraces-judaism

Times of Israel. 2024. “Argentinian president’s surprising devotion to Judaism and Israel provokes tension.” June 3;

https://www.timesofisrael.com/argentinian-presidents-surprising-devotion-to-judaism-and-israel-provokes-tension/

 

 

 

 

[1] Block and Futerman, 2021; Block, 2024

[2] This includes the Mises Institute, the Ron Paul Institute, the Libertarian Institute, the Future of Freedom Foundation and antiwar.com.

[3] https://theworlddata.com/jewish-population-in-us/

[4] The latter of whom is considering converting to this religion and is a strong supporter of Israel. See on this Times of Israel, 2024; TASS, 2023; The Economist, 2024

[5] These are all located in the US. My guess is that libertarian organizations in the rest of the world outnumber these.

[6] The Jews were forced to purchase lands when this territory was under the control of the Ottomans. The complaint is that Ottoman rule was imperfect. The answer is that the Jews were buying land that should have been owned by them in the first place.

[7] The Babylon Bee satirized that “Hitler”, e.g., Trump, saved the Jews when he was instrumental in the hostage release.

[8] This sounds like an utter logical contradiction, akin to a “square circle.”

[9] “Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the Blacks to pick up their welfare checks.”

[10] I tried to convert him in my debate with Smith regarding Israel. I failed. See https://tomwoods.com/ep-2538-israel-debate-walter-block-vs-dave-smith/; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEY_YSvysb4&t=14s;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajuyCix3rG4

[11] My rejoinder to Hoppe: Block and Futerman, 2024

[12] Except for their IDS, in both cases.

[13] Suppose the “Martians” or any other such extra-terrestrial beings attack the earth and all who live on it. Would the US have any better ally than the Jewish state? It is difficult to name a better one.

[14] There were 471 IDF soldiers who died in confronting Hamas on the ground (Fabian, 2023). Had this been done by air, many more Gazans would have perished, but many of these members of the Israeli military would still be alive. This decision was made purposefully. It is not one I, personally, would have made.