O pinion
My Fellow Progressives Are Always Asking Me if
Anti-Zionism is Antisemitic. Here’s What I Tell Them
BY OREN JACOBSON
I’VE SPENT MOST of the
last decade focused on grass-
roots organizing and capacity
building inside the American
progressive movement.

From helping build the
largest leadership develop-
ment organization on the left,
to launching a first-of-its-kind
organization to mobilize male
allies into the fight to protect
and expand reproductive
freedom, I’ve proudly helped
elect progressive change makers
and pass landmark legislation.

I’ve done all of that as a Jew
who wears a kippah in public,
as someone who, statistically
speaking, shouldn’t exist. My
grandfather is one of the 10%
of Polish-born Jews to survive
World War II. Three million
of his Jewish neighbors, and
another 3 million across Europe,
were packed into boxcars and
sent to the slaughter, to gas
chambers, to the ovens.

What I am is central to who
I am. So when I saw the state-
ment from the Washington,
D.C., chapter of the Sunrise
Movement explaining its
refusal to march in a voting
rights rally with Jewish groups
because they are “Zionists,” I
understood immediately that
it was deeply problematic. Not
only did the decision have the
potential impact of spreading
anti-Jewish bigotry, but it also
weakened our movement more
broadly at a time when democ-
racy, which is necessary to
ensure civil rights, is under
12 NOVEMBER 4, 2021
assault in America.

I also understood right
away that, for many people, the
anti-Jewish nature of the state-
ment wasn’t so obvious. When
moments like this arise, I get
texts and calls from progres-
sive peers across the country
who ask: “Is this antisemitic?”
To answer the question, I
begin by explaining what it
means to be a Jew. Judaism
is the religion of the Jewish
people. But Jewish identity is so
much bigger and more diverse
than religion. Some of us are
deeply religious. Some of us
are totally secular. All of us
are Jews. We’re a people, not
simply a religious community.

Contrary to what most think,
antisemitism is not anti-Ju-
daism in its modern form
(several hundred years). It’s
anti-Jew. It’s not about how
Jews pray, but rather about who
they are and what they are
accused of doing.

Jews get attacked for suppos-
edly controlling the world
(governments, banks, media),
for being disloyal to our home
countries, for killing Jesus, for
making up the Holocaust, for
being greedy, for undermining the
white race and subverting people
of color (among other things).

We’ve been blamed for
plagues, famine, economic
hardship and war. Whatever
major problem a society has,
Jews have been blamed for
it. None of those things has
anything to do with religion.

Criticism of Israel or opposi-
tion to it isn’t necessarily
antisemitic. Harsh criticism of
Israeli government policy may
make us uncomfortable but isn’t
antisemitic. But the Sunrise DC
statement wasn’t about policy.

By attacking “Zionist organi-
zations” in a voting rights
coalition, and saying that they
can’t participate in a coalition
that includes them, Sunrise
DC basically said it won’t work
alongside Jewish organizations
(or Jews) that believe the state of
Israel has the right to exist.

For the average Jew, Zionism
has become simply the idea
that Israel has the right to exist,
rather than an embrace of the
policies of its government. The
Zionist movement got its name
in the late 19th century, but it
really put a label on a 2,000-
year-old yearning to return
to the native land Jews were
violently forced out of (in an act
of colonization). That yearning
grew over time as we failed
to find sustained peace and
security elsewhere, including in
Europe, North Africa and the
broader Middle East.

national movement.

Fourth, it divides Jews into
good and bad. Only those who
oppose their own national
movement can stay. Only
Jews who reject Zionism are
allowed. Replace “Jew” with
any other group and ask if that
would be acceptable.

Even if you forswear coali-
tions with anyone, Jewish or
not, who thinks Israel is legiti-
mate, that still denies the Jewish
people’s right to self-determina-
tion. It says that Jews must be a
perpetual minority on this earth
subject to the whims and bigot-
ries of the societies they live in.

For thousands of years Jews tried
that and failed to find perma-
Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people.

But Jewish identity is so much bigger and more
diverse than religion.

That’s why when people
attack Zionists, we hear “Jews.”
We hear them saying that the
80-90% of Jews who believe
Israel has a right to exist are
unacceptable, and that Israel,
a country that came into
existence with the vote of the
international community and
today is home to 7 million
Jews, must be ended.

Why is that antisemitism?
First, it singles out Jews when
most people believe Israel has
the right to exist. (In fact,
85% of the general public in
America believes the statement
“Israel does not have a right to
exist” is antisemitic, according
to a survey released this week.)
Second, it seeks to deny Jewish
people the right to self-de-
termination by erasing our
peoplehood and connection to
the land. Third, it declares that
a national movement for Jews
is uniquely unacceptable, while
at the same time advocating
in support of another
JEWISH EXPONENT
nent refuge — which, fairly or
not, is part of the reason most
Jews believe in the right to, and
need for, national self-deter-
mination in some portion of a
contested land.

Sunrise DC wasn’t interested
in the nature of their shunned
Jewish allies’ support for Israel
— even though each of the
three groups, like most Jews in
America, have advocated for
a Palestinian state and for an
end to policies by the govern-
ment of Israel that harm the
Palestinian people, including,
but not limited to, the occupa-
tion of the West Bank.

Ultimately, only Jews get
to define who and what we
are and what antisemitism is.

Too often in progressive spaces
that right is denied to Jews.

Instead, to justify their own
positions, some rely on Jews
whose voices, while relevant,
are far from representative on
the question of what consti-
tutes antisemitism. If someone
ignored the voices and lived
realities of 80-90% of any other
minority group, most progres-
sives would quickly recognize
that as an act of tokenization to
shield biases (or worse).

Some who identify as
progressive feel it’s OK to use the
word “Zionist” to attack others,
claiming that the word is not
about Jews. I encourage everyone
to go on far right-wing message
boards on occasion. Once there,
you’ll see how white suprema-
cists typically call Jews Zionists.

The prominence of the word, in
connection with claims that they
control the governments and are
trying to replace white “patriots”
with Black and Brown “inter-
lopers,” will stun you.

While there is plenty of room
for criticism of Israeli govern-
ment policy, there should be
no room for the exclusionary,
reductionist and dehumanizing
language of white nationalists
in progressive discourse on the
topic, or the denial of the right
for Jewish self-determination
on this earth.

I believe in standing up for
those who are attacked for the
crime of being who they are as
much as I believe in standing
up for Jewish life. For me, this
work is personal. Not because
every issue affects me directly.

But because I feel like I owe it
to my grandfather. To Jews who
were murdered and never had a
chance to live. To my peers
here who face systemic racism
and bigotry. And yes, because I
believe “Never Again” isn’t just
a slogan to hope for, but rather
a mission to fight for. l
Oren Jacobson is the co-founder of
Project Shema, which helps Jewish
students, leaders, organizations
and allies explore the difficult
conversations surrounding Israel
and antisemitism. He previously
served as national chapter
development director for the New
Leaders Council.

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