The danger of false accusations of antisemitism

JVL Introduction

Here is a voice from the Israeli-Palestinian left, Natasha Roth-Rowland writing for +972’s weekly newsletter on the danger of false accusations of antisemitism.

The occasion is the foot-in-mouth farce of former Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, denouncing Emma Watson as an antisemite.

As Roth-Rowland makes clear, such an elision depends on believing that

• there is no distinction between the State of Israel and Jews worldwide (itself an antisemitic belief); and that
• because some Palestinians are associated with terrorism anything suggesting they deserve rights has to be open support of violence against Jews.

It also is a variant of the conspiracy theory that Jews have suffered from over the centuries – except now it is the Palestinians who are the villains of the piece, part of an international effort to subvert “the free world”.

It’s all part of “the fiction that by supporting Palestinians, you are by default hating Jews”.

Danon’s intervention is a folly and an insult. We need to make sure it backfires in his face.

This article was originally published by the Landline (+972's weekly newsletter) on Fri 7 Jan 2022. Read the original here.