Marty Levine
September 20, 2024
They just can’t stop yelling “antisemitism” in our crowded political space.
It seems that whenever a voice is raised in support of Palestinian lives and rights, it is attacked by those who claim to speak in defense of all Jews.
Accusing someone you disagree with as being antisemitic has become the “go-to” strategy to keep any conversation that questions Israel from having a chance. It is what we hear at the very moment when that dialogue is ready to begin. When invoked, it stirs an almost primordial fear in the heart of many Jews that seems to make rational discussion and dialogue impossible.
Recently I opened my copy to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz to see that “Israel’s foreign minister accused EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell of being an “antisemite and Israel-hater” (those two words now are seen as one and the same) after he participated in discussions on a timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian State.”
The Spanish prime ministerhosted in Madrid on Friday the foreign ministers of several Arab and Muslim countries, as well as European Union foreign policy chiefJosep Borrell, for a series of discussions about the possibility of creating a timetable that would be acceptable to the international community, concluding with broader international recognition of a Palestinian state.
Posting on X on Friday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz published an image of Borrell sitting on the lap of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with an octopus at their feet. He wrote: “Instead of pushing for the EU to join the sanctions on Iran, Borrell supports establishing a Palestinian terror state controlled by Iran and the axis of evil against Israel.”
The European leaders met to take seriously the “two-state solution’” that has been the supposed correct solution to the decades of conflict in Israel/Palestine. It has been at the core of our national Middle East policy for decades. They were engaged in an attempt to break through for a future that was better than the hell of today.
But, because it is not on the agenda of the current Israeli government, their supporters seek to drive it away from public consideration. So even discussing it is labelled a sign of antisemitism and hatred!
This means that Vice President Harris is also an antisemite because she said last week as reported by Haaretz, that “the only way to ensure Israel’s security is to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, includinga recognitionof the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. …understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution.”
Applying this principle, Chicago Alderwoman Debra Silverstein recently damned an aide to Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson a post made shortly after the October 7th massacre of 1,200 Israelis that stated: “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free. Amen!” Speaking as the council’s only Jewish Representative, Ald. Silverstein said when this almost year-old posting surfaced that the aide “has made her position clear on the war between Israel and Hamas — which is her right — but she has done so in a way that crosses the line into disrespect and overt antisemitism….This was an insult to me, to my community, and to 1,200 innocent Israeli victims who were murdered by Hamas.”
Transforming pro-Palestinian or anti-Zionist expression into antisemitism closes any discussion that challenges Israel’s actions and its political objectives. It puts the government of Israel above public criticism and debate.
When Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago, an organization I am involved with, sought to screen Israelism, a documentary that “ uniquely explores how Jewish attitudes towards Israel are changing dramatically, with massive consequences for the region and for Judaism itself”. The film raises strong questions about the way Israel has marketed itself to young American Jews and a growing recognition that it has hidden the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation.
Because the film challenges the idea that Judaism and support for Israel are one and the same, Israel’s supporters wanted to stop it and the easiest way was to label it antisemitic and therefore it had no place in the public arena. So, defenders of Israel protested both it’s being screened and the planned discussion to follow. . The protestors said that, according to the Patch,
This is bad news. The screening of ‘Israelism’ at Northbrook Library, organized by the Chicagoland Jewish Labor Bund and JVP, is a troubling attempt to gaslight our community,” the Chicago Jewish Alliance said in a social media post. “This small fringe group of Jews and non-Jews is misrepresenting our voices and values, and it’s disrespectful to all of us.
And so, for this moment this discussion is pushed out of the public square.
Even in the hallowed halls of the United States Congress any discussion that tries to view more than the pro-Israel perspective as worthy of consideration has major difficulty.
Earlier this week my Senator, Dick Durbin, chaired a Judiciary Committee hearing under the banner of “Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America.” The Senator began the hearing by emphasizing his desire to recognize the threat of hate to our nation.
Prioritizing which group is being discriminated against the worst, I don’t believe is a valid exercise of our authority here,” said Durbin. “What we are trying to do is to identify a problem in America that extends beyond the Jewish population to the Arab population to the Palestinian population. All of those hate crimes are unacceptable.
But that was not what Israel’s supporters wanted or were prepared to tolerate. Committee co-chair Lindsey Graham countered with these words.
The goal was to have a hearing about why it’s so hard to go to school if you’re Jewish, and it’s really hard to go to these schools if you’re Jewish, you’re being knocked down, you’re being spat on. This is not the hearing we’re getting…
Maya Berry, Executive Director of the American Arab Institute, a witness at this hearing and the object of a blatantly Islamophobic attack by Senator John Kennedy, responded by telling a truth that needed to be told,
Hate against any one group is inseparable from hate against all and hate prevention should be done collectively – in coalition and partnership with all communities affected by hate.” Hate in all its forms should have no place here in the US.
For those who defend Israel at all costs Antisemitism is the only hatred that must not be tolerated.
If only one perspective is permitted, we are condemned to continue the violence and hatred that has taken the lives of too many. When we cannot recognize that our problem is not going to be solved without our recognizing the many perspectives that make problems difficult, we are doomed.
