Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
...and even pure unfiltered antisemitism is steadily growing in part due to the behavior and rhetoric of the Netanyahu government.
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See, here's the thing about this "antisemitism" that seems to be growing. It really isn't antisemitism that is growing, it is anti-Israel sentiment that growing by leaps and bounds. The problem is that Judiasm and Israel are so inextricably linked together, and Jewish support for the "Jewish state" are so strong, that Jews everywhere are automatically identified as supporters of the Israeli action and the subjugation of the Palestinians.
I had this point driven home after a dinner with my wife's cousin who is a (converted) Jew. She was very upfront about the challenges/backlash she is facing right now as being a Jew and immediately being accused of supporting apartheid and the genocide happening to Palestinians, which she does not. She is actually on the side of the Palestinians and acknowledged the bad situation they find themselves in their homeland. She has some very nuanced views that fluctuate from side to side on the larger issue but her views are unpopular in her religious community. In the same breath the fact that she is a Jew makes her unpopular in her community at large because people assume she is a staunch supporter of what is going on. She says that prior to the start of this "war" that being a Jew didn't matter in her community. After the swing in violence and the tactics used against the Palestinians by the IDF she said the hateful rhetoric stepped up and her religious community became pariahs within the larger community as people conflated being a Jew as an immediate supporter of the Israeli government, which was not the case. She said there are always going to be those that support Israel because of the ethno-religious connection, but that is not representative of the whole religious community. She stated this perceived blind support of the Israeli government is where the supposed "antisemitism" is coming from. She said it is an anti-Israel sentiment and not a true antisemitism sentiment, which she has felt in the past.
I'm glad my wife dragged me to this dinner with her cousin because it shed new light on this issue and clarified some things. You can be anti-Israel and not be antisemitic. Antisemitism is a crutch and a catchall defense for those who support Israel. They know the power of that claim and they hit you over the head with it when you are critical of Israel. It shouldn't be that way because being a Jew does not make you an Israeli and you should not blindly support the political position of a country just because of your religious identification. You also shouldn't be accused of supporting that political entity just because you of a particular religious group. What is happening across the world is a pushback against Israel and that pushback is being labeled as antisemitism because of the tight association between being a Jew and the Jewish majority of Israel. We need to develop a more nuanced view and understand there is a difference and not all Jews blindly support Israel in what is going on.