On Israel and Palestine and Antisemitism

Bret Stephens in the New York Times complains about progressive criticism of Israel. I’m not completely sure what his point is. Most of his argument is noting the many antisemitic incidents around the world. I suspect he’s attempting an ad hominem attack, implying that critics of Israel must be like these people. The effort is rather lame. Progressive don’t deny the existence of antisemitism: they are criticizing the actions of the Israeli government. The racism of Americans has nothing to do with Israel bombing Palestine.



Stephens does worse when he questions why progressives are focused on Israeli aggression, and not, say, Turkish aggression. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is arguably the second most brutal dictator in Europe (after Putin). If he feels that Netanyahu and Erdoğan are equivalent, he’s rather making the progressives’ case. But there is a reason for Americans to be more concerned with Israel’s behavior than Turkey’s: Israel is a close American ally, a country that many Americans feel close kinship with, and care very much about. No president has ever said that America has a “special relationship” with Turkey. Israel looms large in the American consciousness. It has to. Many American citizens can become Israeli citizens tomorrow, if they so choose. Any country that is important to Jewish Americans is important to all Americans. Not out of anti-semitism, just out of plain neighborliness. How can I not care about a country that is so important to my nephew and niece?



Anti-semitism is real, and active in America today. I can’t recall the specific study I saw once, but quite recently the question was posed to a sample of Americans if they had experienced discrimination based on their race. More Jewish people reported discrimination than any other ethnic group, including Blacks and Hispanics. I was stunned.



Another revelatory moment was the day I did a research project on the topic of “Christian mission.” Feeling contrary, I decided for my research, I would solicit the views of non-Christians. I interviewed a Pagan, an atheist, and a Jew. The Pagan and the atheist said much the same thing, a lot about Christians forcing their beliefs on others. The Jewish man said something different. This was thirty years ago and I can’t recollect it. But I remember my conclusion: the Pagan and the atheist had defined themselves against Christianity. The Jew defined himself by a different culture, he had his own identity.



My theory is that Americans of Christian origin do not understand how different Jewish culture is. They see we worship the same God, and that we share some of the same scriptures, and they think Judaism is just Christianity without Jesus. I think this assumption causes us to send constant signals to Jewish people: we do not know who you are.



I briefly taught kindergarten, one year. I observed one teacher, introducing a variety of short words with short vowels, ask her students to write “God.” I pointed out later that, to many Jewish people, that was not a word that one should write casually, and it would be respectful to not put any Jewish kindergartner in the position of choosing to obey his teacher or his religion. The response was: “Oh, I don’t think that’s a problem.” This was the year a gunman massacred people at a synagogue. I suggested to our principal that we include some awareness training into a teacher development day, and offered to recruit a competent expert on the subject. The response was: “Oh, our teachers are sensitive to that.”



I think it is counter-productive to label all criticism of Israel as anti-semitism. Granted, I am coming from outside the tradition. Although I have Jewish family members, I do not speak as one of the tribe. But, standing on the outside, I see a government oppressing a minority, and I respond to that the way I respond to any government oppressing a minority. Standing on the outside, for this reasoned criticism to be called anti-semitism appears to cheapen the meaning of anti-semitism. It encourages those ignorant of the real active anti-semitism to feel that the whole thing is overblown.



It isn’t. It’s underblown. I was asked by a Jewish acquaintance to use the phrase “Jewish people” rather than “Jew.” To me, the construct was problematic. I would naturally say, “Christians, Muslims, and Jews.” To have to say “Christians, Muslims, and Jewish people” implies there is something wrong with the word “Jew,” that simply to name the people as a people is wrong. Some people are Chinese, some are Buddhist, some are Black, some are Native Americans, but some are Jewish people. This discomfort with simply being named by someone “outside the tribe” speaks to me of the depth of alienation. There’s a great yawning gulf of distrust. We outsiders must prove we are trustworthy to bridge that gulf. So I guess I can understand the discomfort of Jewish people when they hear criticism of Israel.



But there are also Palestinian people. And they deserve life, too.