How to think about antisemitism in America

JVL Introduction

In a wide-ranging 15-minute podcast Peter Beinart touches on many important issues relating to antisemitism. Some focus on US realities, others have more universal relevance.

Here’s one for starters…

There is no doubt that the rise the rise in Israel-related antisemitism that we’re seeing in the United States is related to this war on Gaza. But it is not an excuse to take out legitimate anger at what Israel is doing on Jews.

The distinction between what Israel does and what Jews worldwide are responsible for is crucial.

But, as  Beinart points out, it is not just some antisemites who make this conflation.

“Many established American Jewish organizations don’t want to make that distinction. They don’t want to distinguish Jewishness or Judaism on the one hand from Israel, and Zionism on the other, because they want to suggest that being a Zionist or supporting Israel is inherent in being Jewish.”

And, adds Beinart, “you’re actually contributing to exactly the conflation, it seems to me, that makes Jews in the US and in other parts of the world less safe because it makes it harder to maintain the distinction between Israel and Jews and harder to tell people that it is unacceptable for them to take out their anger against Israel—its actions, even its state ideology—on Jews.”

RK

This article was originally published by the Beinart Notebook on Mon 25 Mar 2024. Read the original here.