Don’t Let the Fight Against Antisemitism Fuel Antisemitism

Labeling critiques of Israeli policy and actions as “Jew Hatred” or saying global anger at the war in Gaza is a “PR problem” is precisely the wrong approach.

My mother and her family in Vienna in 1938 knew antisemitism. They lived it as Nazi Germany swept across the Austrian border.

Synagogues burned. Jewish children were no longer welcome in their schools.

Jewish property was attacked and seized. Uniformed agents went door to door, harassing and detaining Jews, including my grandfather.

My mother and much of the family fled. Too many others in the family were exterminated.

In Russia, my father relates in his autobiography a truly horrifying story of an attempt to pin a “blood libel” on his great-grandmother. There’s a branch of my family that traces its journey to consecutive expulsions from Portugal, Spain and Italy.

We absolutely need to teach and understand the roots of what is rightly called “the world’s oldest hate.” And, as the last survivors of the Nazi Holocaust leave us, we are obliged to preserve their stories and memories.

Antisemitism is a unique form of hatred, but it does not stand alone. Across the millennia, far too many peoples have horror stories to tell of death and devastation rooted in hate of the other. Armenians and Tutsis in just the past century come to mind.

So I hope we can all agree on this truth: Antisemitism is real and insidious and must be condemned and fought at every turn.

Those leading the fight against antisemitism bear a heavy responsibility. They must not allow that fight to be instrumentalized to further unrelated political agendas – whether to shut down debate about Israel, to close the doors of the US to immigrants or to choke off funding to institutions of higher learning.

And we need to be on high alert that, in today’s overheated political debate, we don’t seek to establish an over-broad definition of “antisemitism” that ends up demeaning the term.

Specifically, demands for punishment as ‘antisemites’ of those who criticize – even in the harshest of terms – Israel’s actions in the Gaza War or its treatment of Palestinians living in territory occupied in 1967 runs a very real risk of fueling rather than quelling the fires of antisemitism.

My inbox overflows every day with breathless emails from publications and organizations warning of not just rising antisemitism, but of “Jew hatred.” And nearly inevitably those charges relate to someone or some organization opposing how Israel is carrying out the war in Gaza or the occupation of the West Bank.

I share the concerns of those who ask where the comparable outrage is over what is happening in other parts of the globe. Whether in Ukraine or South Sudan or the many other places where human rights atrocities are taking place, no country attracts the attention Israel gets for its every move.

No matter the over-focus on Israel particularly on the political left, it is a tragic error for leaders and organizations in the Jewish community to seek to shut down debate and dissent by labeling all critiques of Israel as antisemitic.

In New York City, a young Muslim-American who has been active for a decade in movements opposing Israel’s occupation is now the Democratic nominee for Mayor.

Many Jewish New Yorkers are concerned. They legitimately find the language used in pro-Palestinian circles about Israel, Zionists and Jews deeply troubling, even frightening.

The nominee, Zohran Mamdani, has a tremendous opportunity and responsibility in the months ahead – and possibly years should he become Mayor. He can start by modeling how to distinguish between criticism of Israeli policy and antisemitism, and he can help build bridges between pro-Palestinian activists and Jewish Americans around the values we have in common.

Those bridges will never be built if leaders of our community insist on labeling Mamdani an antisemite because of the views held and words used in the movement in which he has been active.

Similarly, when members of a teachers union vote to stop engaging with the Anti-Defamation League, we need to examine the reasons why. I don’t agree with the approach union members are proposing: cutting ties with those with whom they disagree. I favor engagement. And I see value in the educational materials the ADL produces for teaching about antisemitism and the Holocaust.

However, this vote shouldn’t be dismissed as evidence of deep-seated antisemitism or sympathy for Hamas. Rather, it’s a sign of the adverse reaction Jewish institutions like the ADL are generating when they seek to restrict how schools and others grapple with this complex conflict or to label critics of Israel’s actions antisemitic.

Finally, we need people like the Prime Minister of Israel to stop dismissing all critiques of Israel as part of a concerted communications campaign to discredit Israel. He and all those who consistently label Israel's growing international isolation a “PR problem” are missing a more fundamental point.

Israel's problem isn't its PR. The problem is its policy.

It’s not the media coverage that needs to change, it’s what Israel is doing and has been doing since 1967. Getting a better PR firm to explain the occupation of another people and the denial of their equal rights won’t solve the problem.

Yes, there is antisemitism throughout the world. It will never fully disappear, and it must be continually fought.

As we address that hatred, let’s also take a long look in the mirror and ensure that the state that is the national home of our people is acting in a manner that accords with our values and advances our interests.

If it is not, let’s speak out.

In doing so, we will not just be standing up for what is right and in our own interest, we'll be demonstrating the important distinction between what this extreme right-wing government of Israel is doing and what the majority of Jewish people who care about the state and people of Israel actually believe.

And let’s ensure that, in the way we react to those who are not Jewish and raise concerns that many of us share about Israel's policies and actions, we aren’t inadvertently fueling the flames of antisemitism.