I have been watching Star Trek's modern series' since 1988 and have NEVER heard anyone sugest the Cardassians and Bejorans are allegories for the Israeli Arab conflict nor that the Cardassians are supposed to be Jews. So I reject that. I have of course heard that the Ferengi are depicted as the classic Jewish stereotype of the grasping Jewish merchants. And they do fit some of that criteria. But the Ferengi are NOT Jews. They are an alien species. So I have never seen them that way and I doubt most people who don't truck in that old stereotype have ever given it a single thought. The last thing Gene Roddenbury and his successors were is anti-semitic.
I have definitely seen both allegories mentioned many times. Obviously, people see different things in these kinds of shows, but I think particularly the Ferengi are so obvious that it's unmissable. I honestly find them impossible to watch, it's so uncomfortable.
I don't know what the intention was behind them. I doubt the producers sat around and thought "Let's figure out how to defame the Jews." I'm analyzing what they eventually produced, which I think is pretty awful.
I do want to note that this hasn't prevented me from loving TNG and regarding it as one of my favorite shows. But I skip the Ferengi episodes.
In that episode When Kirk and Spock are captured by the Ekosian “Nazis,” they are rescued by members of the Zeon underground. One of the key figures is Isak, who explains that the Zeons came to Ekos in peace — to share knowledge and help the planet develop. Instead, they became the scapegoats for the new Nazi-style regime, which blamed the Zeons for all the planet’s problems.
Isak says:
“We lived in peace with the Ekosians for years. We came to teach, to help them advance. Then John Gill came… and now they hunt us down.”
The Zeons are portrayed as:
• Pacifists by tradition, reluctant to use violence even when facing extermination.
• Highly educated and moral, with a deep commitment to peace and development.
• Driven underground, forming a secret resistance network, much like Jewish partisans and underground groups in Europe during the Holocaust.
• Wearing simple clothing, without military uniforms — contrasting the highly militarized Ekosians.
• Using secret meeting places, moving cautiously, and trying to survive systematic persecution.
When Kirk urges them to help fight back, Isak initially resists, reflecting a deep internal struggle between their commitment to peace and the necessity of self-defense — mirroring the real historical dilemmas faced by Jewish communities under Nazi rule.
The names of the resistance leaders were Isaac, abram and David
The answer to the portrayal of Jews in the world of television as weak, lost, clumsy or greedy and evil as opposed to the truth which would be to portray Jews as a people committed to God, justice, science, literature,
freedom and civil liberties is
Sergeant Donny Donowitz, also known as "The Bear Jew", played by Eli Roth in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Sargent Donowitz makes people quite uncomfortable. People don’t like to feel uncomfortable Too bad! We are caught between being portrayed as the Nebbish or the Bear. I choose the Bear. The Bear
is standing against the vandals, the hooligans and the barbarians. God Bless the IDF,
If you're gonna mention Kyle, you have to mention the episode where his little brother is having a bris, and the other kids think they are cutting it off. Then the rabbi tells them a bris makes it bigger and they all want one.
I’ve lost touch with recent Star Trek (I don’t stream), but given the effort TNG put into rehabilitating the Klingons, the Ferengi always seemed offensive. I believe most, if not all, of the regular Ferengi characters in DS9 were played by Jews too.
The conflict between the Centauri and the Narn in Babylon 5, although similar to the Cardassians and Bajorans in TNG/DS9, was handled with greater moral ambiguity, I felt and seemed less obviously an allegory for specific real-world conflicts.
I’ve only managed to sit through one full episode of The Big Bang Theory and that was because I was stuck on a plane with a bad headache and the need for something to distract me from the pain until landing.
Well, it’s not surprising that there are parallels between DS9 and Babylon 5, considering that DS9 was stolen from Babylon 5. Paramount had the Babylon 5 script, and then suddenly, DS9 was announced. Babylon 5's creators didn't have the resources to fight it.
I’m also not surprised that Babylon 5 was more nuanced. Even putting aside the offensive allegory, the whole Cardassian/Bajoran narrative is very heavy handed.
The first three seasons of BBT are genuinely brilliant. It's very much downhill from there, however.
I'm a Star Trek fan and have never felt that either the Cardassians or the Ferengi were "Jewish races"—but then again, I'm Sephardic, and we do have other stereotypes attached to us. As Doug mentioned earlier, I also haven't heard anyone draw parallels between the Cardassians-Bajoran conflict and the Israel-Palestine situation.
The essay argues that the Cardassians are one of Star Trek's most fascinating and human-like races, resonating particularly with fans from non-Western, less democratic countries. Unlike other Star Trek species that are often portrayed as one-dimensional, the Cardassians are depicted as a complex society with internal dissent, revolutionaries, and nuanced personal relationships.
Key Comparison with Middle Eastern and Third-World Dictatorships:
The author strongly disagrees with common comparisons of the Cardassian Union to fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. Instead, he views Cardassia as a direct reflection of modern-day military dictatorships found in parts of the (Arabe) Middle East, Africa, Asia, and formerly in South America.
These regimes are characterized by poor economic conditions, regional power status, oversized military budgets, repressive internal security agencies (like the Obsidian Order), and pervasive surveillance, where even ordinary citizens can act as informants. The Cardassian justice system is portrayed with show trials and predetermined verdicts, serving as a literal example of how political justice functions in such dictatorships: trials are merely for propaganda, and dissenters often disappear.
The author draws personal parallels, noting that torture and interrogation scenes in Star Trek closely mirror real-world practices in his own country, making the portrayal of the Cardassians particularly chilling and relatable in South America.
The problem is not just that these stereotypes become ingrained in non-Jews. Jews assimilate them into their racial memory as well. After millennia of put-downs, not to mention expulsions, expropriations, and massacres, is it any wonder some Jews (and all Jews, sometimes, I would guess) continue to belittle and berate their people? I just had a brainstorm, reading your piece- you exactly describe my youthful impression of why I would never marry a Jewish man, to my enduring regret for the devastation my choice caused me and my child. Time for a detox for all!
Maybe we should remind the world what has happened in successive Arab wars, Entebbe, post- Munich, and the current conflict where all its enemies are in defeat…
I watched all of Deep Space-9, being a Star Trek fan, and I am staunchly pro-Israel and have never thought of the Bajoran/Cardassian conflict as an allegory fo "palestinians"vs Jews. It never occured to me. it's a huge reach and it actually bolsters the antisemitic view that Jews seem antisemitism everywhere. The Ferengi are potentially problematic, but it's just typical hypocritical Liberal anti-capitalism, IMO. BTW, I thinkthe Ferengi are one of the most fun species. I particulalry enjoy the Rules of Acquisition.
I love Star Trek, Star Wars, don’t watch South Park but thought it funny how in an alternate universe the antisemitic kid became an orthodox rabbi, even the movie Avatar has antisemitic overtones. Truth is I am not sure how many people associate some of these characteristics as Jews as opposed to not nice people. It does bring up
The issue though combined with the rise of Marxist ideology which is inherently antisemitic what that does mean.
I would say that I am more concerned with Hollywood making the human traffickers ex Mossad agents or ex Mossad agents being evil
Mercenaries. The hubby said this is subtle ingrained in society and people will imbibe the antisemitism.
Hollywood has characteristically been antisemitic. The first Jews who created the studios were running away from their heritage not embracing it. And just look today the like of ruffalo making millions and yet he is a vile antisemite, same with Cusack. But it’s the proIsrael actors who are losing jobs and needing to be quiet to get any kind of project. If they said anything racist or transphobic their careers would be over.
Same with fashion. Vogue consistently puts the Hadid sisters on their cover. But if they were racist they would be out in their butts
It seems to me, after watching a couple of "documentaries" about early Jewish theatre in NY, that some of the characters were not especially nice or cultured. Those Jews did not display themselves in a very favorable light. I suppose they carried it over to Hollywood (which they did control in the early days).
My mother grew up in the teeming Jewish tenements (slums) of NY, and while she never spoke about it, it was a world of desperate poverty from which many immigrant children sought to escape by any means possible including changing their names and some resorting to crime... TheJewish theatre reflected that social and political reality, I assume.
I'll be honest, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan (no offense to those who are). I saw the recent films and enjoyed them to an extent, but I haven't seen anything that came after that.
I watched it with my son, and we really enjoyed it! As the episodes progressed, I noticed quite a few Jewish-Zionist echoes, and I later realized I wasn't alone. Even the conflicts between the different branches of Mandalorians resemble conflicts between Jews. The quest to return to their ancestral homeland, the stigmatization of others, and strict codes of conduct are all quite obvious similarities. And they're portrayed in a rather positive, heroic way!
I think the best thing for Star Trek now would be to end it, permanently. It sprung from a time and place now many "light years" away and the format just doesn't work with today's hyperserialized twist of the week storytelling.
The Ferengi are an interesting case, they were originally intended to be the primary new villains of The Next Generation but just came off too goofy, so eventually were relegated to comic relief. I think they were originally intended to evoke Gordon Gekko Wall Street "Greed is Good" hardchargers rather than Jews but that certainly became a subtext later in the franchise. I do wonder had someone other than Armin Shimerman played the best-known Ferengi if the writing might have gone in another direction.
I've never seen it suggested that the Cardassians were intended to evoke Israel, given the timing I would think the context might have been more South Africa and Apartheid. Some of the early episodes of Deep Space Nine have a real smarmy ABC Afternoon Special quality to them that reminds me of the Nelson Mandela discourse around that time.
I have been watching Star Trek's modern series' since 1988 and have NEVER heard anyone sugest the Cardassians and Bejorans are allegories for the Israeli Arab conflict nor that the Cardassians are supposed to be Jews. So I reject that. I have of course heard that the Ferengi are depicted as the classic Jewish stereotype of the grasping Jewish merchants. And they do fit some of that criteria. But the Ferengi are NOT Jews. They are an alien species. So I have never seen them that way and I doubt most people who don't truck in that old stereotype have ever given it a single thought. The last thing Gene Roddenbury and his successors were is anti-semitic.
I have definitely seen both allegories mentioned many times. Obviously, people see different things in these kinds of shows, but I think particularly the Ferengi are so obvious that it's unmissable. I honestly find them impossible to watch, it's so uncomfortable.
I certainly agree the character was created using classic tropes. But since they arent actually supposed to be Jews it doesn't bother me.
I don't know what the intention was behind them. I doubt the producers sat around and thought "Let's figure out how to defame the Jews." I'm analyzing what they eventually produced, which I think is pretty awful.
I do want to note that this hasn't prevented me from loving TNG and regarding it as one of my favorite shows. But I skip the Ferengi episodes.
Fair enough.
Not sure I follow?
Wow, never thought about the ferengi from that perspective. It’s worth
noting that the original series also had the classic Patterns of Force episode in season 2
In that episode When Kirk and Spock are captured by the Ekosian “Nazis,” they are rescued by members of the Zeon underground. One of the key figures is Isak, who explains that the Zeons came to Ekos in peace — to share knowledge and help the planet develop. Instead, they became the scapegoats for the new Nazi-style regime, which blamed the Zeons for all the planet’s problems.
Isak says:
“We lived in peace with the Ekosians for years. We came to teach, to help them advance. Then John Gill came… and now they hunt us down.”
The Zeons are portrayed as:
• Pacifists by tradition, reluctant to use violence even when facing extermination.
• Highly educated and moral, with a deep commitment to peace and development.
• Driven underground, forming a secret resistance network, much like Jewish partisans and underground groups in Europe during the Holocaust.
• Wearing simple clothing, without military uniforms — contrasting the highly militarized Ekosians.
• Using secret meeting places, moving cautiously, and trying to survive systematic persecution.
When Kirk urges them to help fight back, Isak initially resists, reflecting a deep internal struggle between their commitment to peace and the necessity of self-defense — mirroring the real historical dilemmas faced by Jewish communities under Nazi rule.
The names of the resistance leaders were Isaac, abram and David
Wow, thanks for pointing that out. I have only the vaguest memory of that episode. (Haven't watched TOS in decades.)
https://youtu.be/YSBVKyJbM6o?si=iS1y-yoJ5hguBK--
The answer to the portrayal of Jews in the world of television as weak, lost, clumsy or greedy and evil as opposed to the truth which would be to portray Jews as a people committed to God, justice, science, literature,
freedom and civil liberties is
Sergeant Donny Donowitz, also known as "The Bear Jew", played by Eli Roth in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Sargent Donowitz makes people quite uncomfortable. People don’t like to feel uncomfortable Too bad! We are caught between being portrayed as the Nebbish or the Bear. I choose the Bear. The Bear
is standing against the vandals, the hooligans and the barbarians. God Bless the IDF,
God Bless Israel. Scotty,
beam Hamas up the ass!
I wouldn’t think Tarantino used antisemitic tropes at all. Living in Tel Aviv and supporting the IDF
The ferengi were so embarrassing for me that I stopped watching. I felt insulted. But I used to be very thin skinned about antisemitism. Used to.
If you're gonna mention Kyle, you have to mention the episode where his little brother is having a bris, and the other kids think they are cutting it off. Then the rabbi tells them a bris makes it bigger and they all want one.
I’ve lost touch with recent Star Trek (I don’t stream), but given the effort TNG put into rehabilitating the Klingons, the Ferengi always seemed offensive. I believe most, if not all, of the regular Ferengi characters in DS9 were played by Jews too.
The conflict between the Centauri and the Narn in Babylon 5, although similar to the Cardassians and Bajorans in TNG/DS9, was handled with greater moral ambiguity, I felt and seemed less obviously an allegory for specific real-world conflicts.
I’ve only managed to sit through one full episode of The Big Bang Theory and that was because I was stuck on a plane with a bad headache and the need for something to distract me from the pain until landing.
Well, it’s not surprising that there are parallels between DS9 and Babylon 5, considering that DS9 was stolen from Babylon 5. Paramount had the Babylon 5 script, and then suddenly, DS9 was announced. Babylon 5's creators didn't have the resources to fight it.
I’m also not surprised that Babylon 5 was more nuanced. Even putting aside the offensive allegory, the whole Cardassian/Bajoran narrative is very heavy handed.
The first three seasons of BBT are genuinely brilliant. It's very much downhill from there, however.
I'm a Star Trek fan and have never felt that either the Cardassians or the Ferengi were "Jewish races"—but then again, I'm Sephardic, and we do have other stereotypes attached to us. As Doug mentioned earlier, I also haven't heard anyone draw parallels between the Cardassians-Bajoran conflict and the Israel-Palestine situation.
I recommend this short post/essay on the Cardassians, written by an Argentinian author who compares them to the dictatorial regimes in his own country: https://www.reddit.com/r/DaystromInstitute/comments/ikprdx/cardassians_are_star_treks_most_fascinating_race/.
The essay argues that the Cardassians are one of Star Trek's most fascinating and human-like races, resonating particularly with fans from non-Western, less democratic countries. Unlike other Star Trek species that are often portrayed as one-dimensional, the Cardassians are depicted as a complex society with internal dissent, revolutionaries, and nuanced personal relationships.
Key Comparison with Middle Eastern and Third-World Dictatorships:
The author strongly disagrees with common comparisons of the Cardassian Union to fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. Instead, he views Cardassia as a direct reflection of modern-day military dictatorships found in parts of the (Arabe) Middle East, Africa, Asia, and formerly in South America.
These regimes are characterized by poor economic conditions, regional power status, oversized military budgets, repressive internal security agencies (like the Obsidian Order), and pervasive surveillance, where even ordinary citizens can act as informants. The Cardassian justice system is portrayed with show trials and predetermined verdicts, serving as a literal example of how political justice functions in such dictatorships: trials are merely for propaganda, and dissenters often disappear.
The author draws personal parallels, noting that torture and interrogation scenes in Star Trek closely mirror real-world practices in his own country, making the portrayal of the Cardassians particularly chilling and relatable in South America.
That's quite fascinating. Thank you!
The problem is not just that these stereotypes become ingrained in non-Jews. Jews assimilate them into their racial memory as well. After millennia of put-downs, not to mention expulsions, expropriations, and massacres, is it any wonder some Jews (and all Jews, sometimes, I would guess) continue to belittle and berate their people? I just had a brainstorm, reading your piece- you exactly describe my youthful impression of why I would never marry a Jewish man, to my enduring regret for the devastation my choice caused me and my child. Time for a detox for all!
Maybe we should remind the world what has happened in successive Arab wars, Entebbe, post- Munich, and the current conflict where all its enemies are in defeat…
I watched all of Deep Space-9, being a Star Trek fan, and I am staunchly pro-Israel and have never thought of the Bajoran/Cardassian conflict as an allegory fo "palestinians"vs Jews. It never occured to me. it's a huge reach and it actually bolsters the antisemitic view that Jews seem antisemitism everywhere. The Ferengi are potentially problematic, but it's just typical hypocritical Liberal anti-capitalism, IMO. BTW, I thinkthe Ferengi are one of the most fun species. I particulalry enjoy the Rules of Acquisition.
I love Star Trek, Star Wars, don’t watch South Park but thought it funny how in an alternate universe the antisemitic kid became an orthodox rabbi, even the movie Avatar has antisemitic overtones. Truth is I am not sure how many people associate some of these characteristics as Jews as opposed to not nice people. It does bring up
The issue though combined with the rise of Marxist ideology which is inherently antisemitic what that does mean.
I would say that I am more concerned with Hollywood making the human traffickers ex Mossad agents or ex Mossad agents being evil
Mercenaries. The hubby said this is subtle ingrained in society and people will imbibe the antisemitism.
Hollywood has characteristically been antisemitic. The first Jews who created the studios were running away from their heritage not embracing it. And just look today the like of ruffalo making millions and yet he is a vile antisemite, same with Cusack. But it’s the proIsrael actors who are losing jobs and needing to be quiet to get any kind of project. If they said anything racist or transphobic their careers would be over.
Same with fashion. Vogue consistently puts the Hadid sisters on their cover. But if they were racist they would be out in their butts
Thank you for bringing up Kyle from South Park - brilliant analysis
It seems to me, after watching a couple of "documentaries" about early Jewish theatre in NY, that some of the characters were not especially nice or cultured. Those Jews did not display themselves in a very favorable light. I suppose they carried it over to Hollywood (which they did control in the early days).
My mother grew up in the teeming Jewish tenements (slums) of NY, and while she never spoke about it, it was a world of desperate poverty from which many immigrant children sought to escape by any means possible including changing their names and some resorting to crime... TheJewish theatre reflected that social and political reality, I assume.
What do you think about "The Mandalorian"? I thought it was a pretty faithful allegory of Jewish history and Zionism in positive terms.
I'll be honest, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan (no offense to those who are). I saw the recent films and enjoyed them to an extent, but I haven't seen anything that came after that.
I watched it with my son, and we really enjoyed it! As the episodes progressed, I noticed quite a few Jewish-Zionist echoes, and I later realized I wasn't alone. Even the conflicts between the different branches of Mandalorians resemble conflicts between Jews. The quest to return to their ancestral homeland, the stigmatization of others, and strict codes of conduct are all quite obvious similarities. And they're portrayed in a rather positive, heroic way!
Interesting. I'll give it a look. Thanks!
There have been academic essays about the Mandalorians being "space Jews"
Truth
I think the best thing for Star Trek now would be to end it, permanently. It sprung from a time and place now many "light years" away and the format just doesn't work with today's hyperserialized twist of the week storytelling.
The Ferengi are an interesting case, they were originally intended to be the primary new villains of The Next Generation but just came off too goofy, so eventually were relegated to comic relief. I think they were originally intended to evoke Gordon Gekko Wall Street "Greed is Good" hardchargers rather than Jews but that certainly became a subtext later in the franchise. I do wonder had someone other than Armin Shimerman played the best-known Ferengi if the writing might have gone in another direction.
I've never seen it suggested that the Cardassians were intended to evoke Israel, given the timing I would think the context might have been more South Africa and Apartheid. Some of the early episodes of Deep Space Nine have a real smarmy ABC Afternoon Special quality to them that reminds me of the Nelson Mandela discourse around that time.