Anti-Semitism
The
Misuse of Anti-Semitism - Making accusations in order to deflect
legitimate criticism of Israel
Presented at CEIA-SC's
May 20, 2007 educational forum
"Israel, Zionism and Apartheid: The Case for
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions"
By Paul
Hershfield, CEIA-SC member
I was raised in a middle-class Jewish
home in the San Fernando Valley, and while born a Jew, I hope, as
my partner Yael says, to die a human being. So, much to the chagrin
and suffering of my parents, I do not define myself as Jewish. This
sets me up to be branded by the Zionists as a "self-hating-Jew,"
whatever that is. I suppose it's like "auto-anti-Semitism." Of
course this epithet is meant to demolish my credibility as a person
who can legitimately criticize Israel, leading inevitably to the
preposterous idea that the only people qualified to do so are
pro-Zionist Jews. Everyone has the right to criticize Israel, and
doing so is not, in-and-of-itself, anti-Semitism.
The problem is that the definition of anti-Semitism has become
whatever Zionists want it to be at any given moment, to fit their
political agenda, which usually comes down to simply shutting up
the opposition. Narrowly speaking, anti-Semitism is simply a hatred
of Jews because they are Jews. How "any criticism of Israel" gets
conflated with this is beyond me. Zionists and the apologists for
Israel simply pick a meaning to suit their agenda: calling for the
right of return which, if implemented would tip the all-critical
demographic balance away from a Jewish majority, would mean the end
of Israel's identification as a Jewish
state.
Therefore, calling for the right of return becomes "calling for
Israel's destruction."
This is not to say that anti-Semitism doesn't exist, nor to deny
that some critics of Israel are, in fact, anti-Semites. However, we
each know our own hearts and minds better than anyone else, and we
each know our own motivations. If we are motivated by the desire
for justice, we need not spend precious energy defending ourselves
against spurious charges of anti-Semitism, trying to convince those
who would silence us at all costs that we are not what they claim.
It is not racist to oppose a racist ideology.
What if someone who truly is an anti-Semite speaks out against
Israel's treatment of its Palestinian Arab citizens or of those
living in the West Bank and Gaza? We should oppose bigotry and
racism of every type. However, their anti-Semitism, how ever ugly
it may be, doesn't change the facts of Israel's behavior and
policies. What is the ignorance of a bigot when compared with
Israel's campaign of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, of
ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and of discriminatory laws
within Israel itself? Where is a sense of perspective?
Judaism, regardless of the politically convenient, pliable
definition of Jewish identity (a race? a culture? a religion? a
nation?) is first and foremost a religion. Zionism, on the other
hand, is, and has always been a exclusivist, nationalist
enterprise. While Israel Shahak has shown how aspects of Zionism
are direct extensions of Halakhic law, the legal system of classic
Judaism, it does not equate the two. It seems to me that
nationalist
Zionism has replaced
religious
Judaism as the common locus
of identity for Jews. Given this equation is it possible that
Israel's actions may actually contribute to anti-Semitism? Since
Zionists claim to speak for all Jews is it any wonder that some
folks would fail to differentiate between religious Judaism and
nationalist Zionism? between Jews and Israeli policy?
Perhaps we should actually welcome the accusations, for it seems to
me that whenever the actions and policies of Israel draw attention,
and criticism (however tepid it may be) finds its way into the
mainstream, charges of anti-Semitism abound. Or as Alexander
Cockburn writes: "…there's a quick way of figuring out how badly
Israel is behaving. You see a brisk uptick in the number of
articles accusing the left of anti-Semitism." When nothing can be
used to justify the brutality, oppression and dispossession, they
just change the subject. Don't let them.
