Israel Shahak's book "Jewish History, Jewish Religion; The Weight of 3000 Years" (1994) shows how the past provides a key to understanding the present.
According to Shahak, the Jewish elite always had a symbiotic relationship with the governing class. The Jews would "administer the oppression" of the masses. In return, the governing class would force Jews to obey their "leaders." Sometimes a pogrom would do the trick.
The "Jewish" position was always strongest when the governing class was most at odds with the masses, and when there was least national feeling.
Today, specific Jews (in finance, government, education and especially the media) play a prominent role in the world elite's preparation for "globalization," which many see as a modern form of feudalism. Once again, "anti Semitism" is exploited to mobilize Jews (and Christians) to support oppression (e.g. "The War on Terror"), disarm opposition and to deflect blame.
The following is a brief summary of Shahak's argument
1. In spite of persecution, Jews throughout history formed an integral part of the privileged classes. The poorest Jew was immeasurably better off than the serfs. Until roughly 1880, their most important social function "was to mediate the oppression of the peasants on behalf of the nobility and the Crown."
2. Classical Judaism (1000-1880 AD) developed hatred and contempt for agriculture as an occupation and for peasants as a class. "The supposed superiority of Jewish morality and intellect...is bound up with a lack of sensitivity for the suffering of that major part of humanity who were especially oppressed during the last 1000 years, the peasants." (53)
3. While Gentiles in general were reviled, Jewish laws made an exception for the elite. Jewish physicians, tax collectors and bailiffs could be relied upon by a king, nobleman, pope or bishop, in a way that a Christian might not. The Jewish community enjoyed autonomous status and Jewish rabbis and rich were part of the governing class. Together they oppressed the masses, Jew and non-Jewish. (53)
4. The position of rich Jews is "particularly favourable under strong regimes, which have retained a feudal character" and are disassociated from the people they rule. "But in those countries where...the nobility enters into partnership with the king (and with at least part of the bourgeoisie) to rule the state, which assumes a national character," the position of the Jewish elite deteriorates.
5. However the position of the Jewish masses moved in tandem with the peasants not their leaders. The stronger the Jewish elite, the more tyrannical its grip over the Jewish people. For example, at the rabbis' request, the state would flog or imprison a Jewish vendor for opening his stall on a minor holiday.