It's Possible to Support Palestine Without Antisemitism
The extremist rhetoric that fuels targeted violence against Jews needs to stop
Over the weekend 8 people suffered burns in Boulder, Colorado after a man who shouted “Free Palestine!” attacked them with a flamethrower. The people were peacefully participating at a weekly event called Run for Their Lives, which is designed to raise awareness about the hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack against Israel.
This comes just over a week after 2 Israeli embassy workers were murdered on the streets of Washington, D.C. And it comes a little over a month after the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was set fire.
All of these attacks were targeted at Jews in America.
The reactions on social media have been disturbing to say the least. Just take a scroll through some of the comments to my Thread post:
Some have accused Mossad of orchestrating this “false flag” operation. Others have said the people all deserved it because they’re “Zionists.” Many more have diverted attention to the children in Gaza who have lost their lives from incessant Israeli bombings of their homes.
What many of these people miss is the fact it’s possible to support Palestine without being antisemitic. It’s completely legitimate to criticize the Netanyahu regime and pressure U.S. elected officials to hold them more accountable for reckless attacks on Gaza. It’s totally reasonable to advocate for Palestinian statehood.
But to do so by using inflammatory rhetoric like “Globalize the intifada” or “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is not advocacy. It’s extremism.
This type of incendiary rhetoric endangers Jewish people everywhere. It’s a call to action for the many deranged people in society to take up arms against anyone who they deem responsible for what Israel is doing to Gazan children. It’s lawless and it helps no one.
Criticizing Israel or the Zionist cause is not inherently antisemitic. There are many legitimate critiques of the Netanyahu administration and there’s good evidence that he’s responsible for war crimes, corruption, and more. But to use that as an excuse for targeted violence against Jewish people in America is beyond counterproductive. It’s dangerous and deadly.
To justify or otherwise excuse what Hamas did on October 7, 2023 and what they continue to do by holding hostages captive is similarly dangerous. Calling for global intifadas that not everyone understands as “civil” promotes extremism around the world. It makes Jews a symbolic target of the Israeli state.
The craziest part of this movement is that liberals and other left-leaning people are the primary amplifiers of these messages. The same people who champion civil rights and progressive causes simultaneously minimize or look away while Jews are the targets of hate crimes. As if it’s impossible to separate Jews in America from their personal criticisms of Israel.
We have a mayoral candidate in my home of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, who is constantly critical of Israel and oftentimes borderline antisemitic. Yet he’s been silent as of this writing about denouncing violence against Jews in the wake of this latest Boulder, Colorado attack.
This is typical for many who advocate like Mamdani. Whenever tragedy strikes Israel or American Jews, silence is the default. And if they respond, it’s typically prefaced with, “But Zionism….”
It’s as if civil rights for those who support an Israeli state or who identify as Jewish suddenly don’t apply because they’re not perfectly aligned with a morally pure progressive worldview. This is beyond cancel culture — it’s violent culture.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. With just a little critical thinking, we should all be able to agree that children in Gaza shouldn’t die and that violence targeting Jewish people is horrific. These ideas are not at odds with each other. If you think they are, then you need to pause and reexamine your worldview, especially if you view yourself as liberal, progressive, or leftist in your political ideology.
Supporting human and civil rights does not include exceptions. It does not account for someone’s identity or religious convictions. It does demand, however, that we don’t conflate the actions by one government with the rights of a minority of people globally, many of whom disagree with the present actions of Israel.
Similar to what I argued following the Luigi Mangione vigilantism, the more we attempt to justify or excuse violent responses to world problems, the more injustice we’ll all experience. Instead we should be engaging in civil debates and civil disobedience. We should let the marketplace of ideas decide which arguments and courses of action are best.
The problem with vigilante justice is that it has no real authority. Each person’s version or definition of justice is subjective and therefore different. Regardless of whether that person is Luigi Mangione or John Brown.
My essay on: Luigi Mangione and the Dangers of Vigilantism
The second we attempt to legitimize domestic violence in America for a cause half a world away is the second we lose our own humanity. It’s the second we descend into extremism. We open ourselves up to cults of personality who claim to have all the answers and are willing to cancel civil liberties in order to prove it.
This extremism against American Jews, which has largely come the left, is a big reason why Donald Trump is back in power. It’s a main cause for the fracturing of the Democratic Party. No centrist voter with sympathy for the Palestinian cause is going to join an extremist coalition.
It also creates space for extremism of another kind. The kind that Donald Trump thrives on. It gives him power to deport anyone and everyone who may have said even the slightest critique of Israel as he blames them for this broader extremist movement.
Violent extremism will not “Free Palestine.” Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is not political activism. It’s dangerous antisemitism.
We need more good faith advocacy for the Palestinian people. The dangerous rhetoric and violent actions only distract from the Palestinian cause. It only empowers other extremists from Netanyahu to Trump. The more the Palestinian movement in America realizes this, the closer we can get to productive solutions that hold Israel accountable while achieving freedom for Palestine.
For more of my writing on Israel, Palestine, and Gaza, particularly as it relates to American politics, see below:
It’s sad how political polarization and extremism on both sides are making it harder to have honest conversations or build coalitions for peace. The silence from some political figures only worsens the problem by signaling that some lives or viewpoints are less worthy of defense.
We need leaders who unequivocally condemn violence and antisemitism, even as they stand for Palestinian rights. Otherwise, the space is left open for extremists to hijack the narrative, and ordinary people suffer the consequences.
Happy June, John.......