Off-White: The Truth About Antisemitism

by Rachel Shabi

As antisemitism rages yet again, it has become impossible to talk about it truthfully. Instead we find ourselves in a storm of misinformation, accusation and bad faith. Picking apart our polarised politics, Rachel Shabi reveals the obscured and entangled histories of racism and antisemitism. She looks at questions of whiteness, Christian Zionism, pro-Israel antisemitism, the Palestinian struggle against colonialism and the untapped potential of the Left in coalition building.

Off-White is an essential, nuanced analysis of one of the most divisive issues of our time, demonstrating how this quagmire of confusion is often entirely by design. And how there might be a hopeful way forward for progressive politics.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Judaism, Audiobook, History, Anti Racist, Jewish

248 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 7, 2024

Reviews

[Ilyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shabi rehashes a lot of Naomi Klein’s Doppelgänger, +972 magazine, Jewish Currents, progressive reporting from events of the past 3-5 years, and talking points from more liberal/centrist sources such as The Forward and Tablet. So I felt like I wasn’t getting much new. What I appreciated the most was understanding anti-semitism as a conspiracy theory separate from systemic racism. As a white Ashanazi Jewish progressive activist, I’ve had a hard time taking antisemitism as seriously as anti-Black racism, and still do to an extent when I think about mass incarceration, maternal mortality rates etc. But Shabi spelling out what makes antisemitism different from systemic prejudice by dint of being a conspiracy theory about who holds power was helpful. Also, there was so much filler with the Black Klansman movie review, but ultimately, the point that white presenting Jews have “skin in the game” and aren’t allies/saviors in but instead are part of the white supremacy framework, and ergo need to be stood with as well as standing with fellow outsiders to dismantle the master’s house is a powerful thesis. I don’t know why we have to tread through so much filler throughout the book to get there.

[Charley · Rating 5 out of 5]

“My hope for this book is that it sheds some light on why the subject of antisemitism has become such a horrible, divisive battleground, an ugly, distorted mess of claims and counterclaims; why it has torn progressive movements apart. What we have been struggling with is a jumble of contradictory, but separate and identifiable problems: a comprehension gap in understanding antisemitism as a live structure of racism; divisions over the way claims of antisemitism get deployed in our politics; confusions caused by the way we understand Israel, or the way different elements of the far right use both Israel and antisemitism. When we get right down to it, very little of our conversation is actually about Jewish people or their lived experiences, so much as it is about 'The Jews', as the antisemitic conspiracy and as the victims of it, and how both factors manifest in our society and in our political ecosystems.”

Essential resource for movements and thinkers who are trying to hold multiple truths at once while moving towards a world of justice, freedom, dignity and equality for all, a world so far from where we stand today, but a world that we must try to read and write into existence

[Liisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½ (3.5 stars)

Rachel Shabi’s Off-White is a thoughtful, deeply engaging examination of antisemitism and the complexities surrounding its discussion in modern political and social discourse. Tackling an issue that is both urgent and fraught, Shabi unpacks the ways in which antisemitism is often downplayed, misunderstood, or co-opted for political ends, making honest conversation about it incredibly difficult.

One of the book’s strengths is Shabi’s careful and nuanced approach. She does not shy away from the ways antisemitism differs from other forms of racism, particularly in how it does not always fit within conventional understandings of structural oppression. She highlights how the left’s reluctance to confront antisemitism has led to blind spots, resulting in a lack of empathy for Jewish experiences and a weakening of broader solidarity against racism. At the same time, she acknowledges the troubling reality that charges of antisemitism are frequently weaponised to deflect legitimate criticism of Israel’s actions against Palestinians.

This is where Off-White is at its most powerful—wading into the difficult space where multiple truths exist at once, resisting simplistic narratives and binary thinking. Shabi’s background as an Israeli-born journalist of Iraqi Jewish descent adds an important perspective, making her a compelling and credible guide through these thorny discussions.

While the book’s subtitle, The Truth About Antisemitism, might suggest a singular, definitive answer, what Shabi actually presents is a web of histories, identities, and tensions that cannot be neatly resolved. At times, this complexity makes the book feel a little overwhelming, and while her analysis is insightful, the structure occasionally meanders. That said, this is an important, necessary book—one that invites deep reflection and encourages more honest, good-faith engagement with a topic too often clouded by misinformation and political posturing.

It’s always difficult to “rate” a book chosen for self-education, but Off-White is certainly a valuable contribution to discussions of racism, identity, and solidarity. It’s sharp, earnest, and honest, and while it doesn’t provide easy answers, it offers a vital framework for engaging with antisemitism in a way that serves justice rather than division.

[Jim Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brilliant and much-needed forensic analysis by Iraqi-born Jewish writer Rachel Shabi focuses on the complex and confusing dynamics around the concept of anti-semitism and how it has been weaponised by the far right to shut down criticism of Israel, divide the left and undermine progressive causes.

Just about every day now in western democracies someone - usually on the left side of politics - is accused of being anti-semitic. Many of these accusers are of the far-right - people like the vile Hungarian authoritarian Viktor Orban or his biggest fan, Donald Trump, who see a political utility in allying themselves with Zionists seeking to wipe out an entire people in Gaza.

Others who form an alliance of convenience with Israel are the white nationalist Christians, like far-right Australian Catholic politician Tony Abbott, who ritually bring up a mythical ‘Judeo-Christian’ heritage. This is a term, Shabi argues, that the West has invented to absolve its own failures over the Holocaust. It is, she argues, an exercise in Western ‘rebranding’.

“The same supposedly ‘civilised’ countries that had either carried out or turned a blind eye to the Holocaust, while not providing refuge to Jews trying to flee the Nazis, were giving themselves a makeover – while also throwing Jews a bone,” she writes. “It really wasn’t the Jewish side of the so-called Judeo-Christian heritage that needed the label, so much as the Christian Western side looking for a redemption story.”

As has become clear since 9/11, ‘Judeo-Christian heritage’ is a protective shield used by the far right to demonise a supposedly alien and violent Islam. It is also a device used by reality-deprived fundamentalist Christians - in the US mainly - to proclaim an imminent ‘Second Coming’. These frankly deranged people cite Old Testament prophecies of the Jews returning to the Holy Land as a necessary precursor to their longed-for End Times.

The bottom line, argues the author, is the Jewish people are now ritually co-opted by the REAL anti-semites (people like Trump and Orban) into a bogus shared narrative and given honorary ‘white status’ (hence the full title of this book ‘Off-White: The Truth of Anti-Semitism’). This is all to create the spectre of a battle to save western civilization and destroy progressive politics.

“There is a clear geopolitical strategy behind all this, a recognised advantage in binding the state of Israel, in its identity, outlook and values, to Europe and to the West,” Shabi writes. “Israeli leaders know that Western buy-in and impunity is available in part through this constructed shared-heritage narrative; that’s why they keep banging on about it.”

In the meantime, many Jewish diaspora communities in the West who typically skew liberal and left on domestic issues find themselves yoked to defending an Israel that is careering rightwards and turning increasingly illiberal.

As one of those progressives, Shabi’s most important plea in this book is for the left to take back the fight against anti-semitism from a cynical right, which has weaponised the concept to justify Israel doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews.

“My hope for this book is that it sheds some light on why the subject of antisemitism has become such a horrible, divisive battleground, an ugly, distorted mess of claims and counterclaims; why it has torn progressive movements apart,” she writes.

“What we have been struggling with is a jumble of contradictory, but separate and identifiable problems: a comprehension gap in understanding antisemitism as a live structure of racism; divisions over the way claims of antisemitism get deployed in our politics; confusions caused by the way we understand Israel, or the way different elements of the far right use both Israel and antisemitism.

“When we get right down to it, very little of our conversation is actually about Jewish people or their lived experiences, so much as it is about ‘The Jews’, as the antisemitic conspiracy and as the victims of it, and how both factors manifest in our society and in our political ecosystems.”

This for me was an eye-opening book. So much of the weaponisation of ‘anti-semitism’ has been disquieting and disorientating to the point where one finds oneself holding one’s tongue about the horrors in Gaza for fear of being declared a Jew-hating racist.

As Shabi writes, there is only racism. And injustice and anti-semitism are all part of that.

[Brian Saitzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been trying to articulate what this book covers for the last year. I’ve read book after book, each one adding a piece of the puzzle. It all comes together here. There’s so much confusion surrounding Israel and antisemitism. In such critical times, this knowledge is essential.

[Natali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did learn from this book but I felt it was a shame that the author pushes her discussion of antisemitism through the lens of Western partisan politics with a clear preference for the left. She goes out of her way to say that the right's support for Israel is unwanted because they are rooted in racism but fails to notice the racism of the left. She is making an appeal to the left to reject Israel in order to combat antisemitism and, in my opinion, that is like washing your laundry in mud.

Her critique of Israel is sound and honest. She rightly points out how support for the war in Gaza forces intellectual dishonesty — particularly from those who would otherwise claim to uphold human rights and international law. This is where the book is strongest: exposing the moral gymnastics required to defend indefensible violence while claiming moral superiority.

She rejects an expanding definition of antisemitism, which I found intellectually honest, but then equates criticism of George Soros as antisemitism, which I found contradicting. Even if Soros cannot be blamed for mass migration, he can certainly be criticized for funding drug programs that have had devastating effects on urban centers. That's not antisemitism any more than it would be anti-American to blame Bill Gates for pushing vaccines on poor populations. The reflex to shield certain public figures from accountability by invoking antisemitism ultimately undermines serious conversations about both racism and power.

At times, I felt that she was tribal signaling to the left for self preservation. This may be unfair because you can never know someone's true intentions but I read it is as, "Hey, I'm still a progressive lefty, even if I oppose the war." But the antiwar stance was once a stalwart of the leftist platform. The fact that it now has uniparty support in most Western countries should tell you that partisan loyalty is a dead end. Had the author not played this game, I would have felt like we could have had a far more productive conversation about the antisemitism that is still real and problematic in a world that has deflated the notion with criticism of foreign policy.

[Marek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading. I enjoyed the chapter on the Judeo-Christian civilization myth, and learned a lot about Christian Zionism.

[Chris Karakaltsas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had issues.

But it did provide an interesting insight into anti-semitism from an Mizrahi Jewish perspective.

[Jenny Parm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was difficult to work through but not always in the way you’d think, given that it is a book about systems of oppression.

The main arguments Rachel Shabi presents here are pretty inarguable. Namely, that antisemitism is a key aspect of the far-right racist landscape we find ourselves in, and that bad-faith manipulation from the right has contributed to antisemitism being ignored in all but its most obvious and violent forms by much of the left. Written in the wake of surging antisemitic conspiracies which have run rampant since 2023, Off White asks the reader to consider the current discourse in the wider historical context. When critique of a far-right militaristic government is branded as blood libel, the reflex of many on the left has been to dismiss the claim outright. Criticism of Israel, criticism of Zionism, is not antisemitism after all. But in reality it is a lot more complicated than that, which nobody likes to hear. The bombing and starvation of civilians has motivated so many to protest, but when you are standing side-by-side with someone who is spouting Great Replacement conspiracies, how does one rectify that? How does a movement rectify that?

This is a deeply complex issue, which Off White does its best to introduce to an audience who is unfamiliar, or even wary of modern antisemitism. As someone with even a passing familiarity with the current State Of Things, I do wish that it went a little deeper, a little harder. It hedges many of its points, making absolutely clear to the reader where the author stands on Israel’s government and treatment of Palestinian Territories (not a fan!) before getting into the ways that the contemporary left in North America and much of Europe has simply ceded the topic of antisemitism to the right. Shabi does so much setting of the stage, and provides so much contest and so many anecdotes, and then once the meat of the arguments finally begins it is mostly just repeating “antisemitism goes hand in hand with other forms of racism and the relative prosperity and privilege that some Jewish people are afforded only serves as fuel to scapegoat them during times of turmoil, therefore antiracism and fighting antisemitism must necessarily go hand in hand.”

In addition to the 101-level depth, there was an odd amount of spelling and formatting errors, that are perhaps not a valid criticism of The Book since it’s not really “the point” or whatever, but combined with some odd tonal moments where more academic writing butted up against more colloquial language it made for a strange read at times. I constantly felt like I was about to get right into the meat of things any page now, but then there would be more context and setting more things up and then circling back to reinforce points that were made a few chapters ago.

I think this is a worthwhile read, especially for those who have never read (or even thought) that much about antisemitism. It goes out of its way to be welcoming to that exact audience, so there is no shame in picking it up without much prior knowledge. It probably shouldn’t be the *last* thing one reads on the topic though, I could see it becoming a gateway. Very difficult to talk about, too, despite how much I’ve written here. Hopefully the next thing I read is a bit less of a lightning rod.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author is a British Mizrachi Jew, her family came from Iraq via Israel. I was interested in hearing her perspective, as so much of the discourse tends to represent the Ashkenazi American perspective which often overlooks both the rest of the world as well as Sephardic and Mizrachi Judaism. I didn't really get much of that, though, most of her approach is just like every other anti-Zionist leftist. She draws a lot of her material from writers and groups with similar anti-Israel politics such as Naomi Klein, +972, JVP.

I was a bit concerned by the subtitle, as anyone promising to provide "The Truth" about such a fraught topic is at best deluded, or far more often trying to sell a particular perspective. The latter is the case here, as the book is primarily an attack against the right's cynical use of pretending to combat antisemitism as a cover for their racism and islamophobia and other regressive agendas.

But before she gets to that, she spends most of the first half of the book defending the virulent anti-Zionism from the left. She's sympathetic to the disgraced leaders of the Women's March and even defends the college presidents' disastrous Congressional testimony. She grudgingly concedes that there is some slippage from anti-Zionism into antisemitism, but justifies it because Israel is just so naughty that who can blame them, really. And anyway, Jewish students being hounded on campus and Jews around the world being attacked by "Pro-Palestinian Activists" pales in comparison to the threat from self-professed allies Christian Nationalists in the US and far-right politicians in Europe.

In order for all of that to work, she has to resort to explaining that protestors waving Hamas and Hezbollah flags while chanting genocidal phrases such as "from the river to the sea" doesn't mean what you think it means, or what the people yelling them outside of a synagogue say they mean. She gets away with the cognitive dissonance by blithely rejecting the validity of both the IHRA definition of antisemitism and Natan Sharansky's "three D's" of antisemitism (delegitimization, demonization, and double standards), relying instead on a much narrower interpretation that focuses on antisemitism from the right.

My issue with this approach is that even if antisemitism from the right is worse than antisemitism from the left that does NOT mean that antisemitism from the left is not real or a serious problem. They can both be bad and we can [must] be opposed to both, we shouldn't [can't] settle for either of them! Especially after Oct 7 and with family in Israel, her refusal to condemn as antisemitic the people who want them eradicated is the sort of "The Truth" that I can do without.

[অচুপ্তা | acchupta!!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

The truth about antisemitism is that there is a double standard in the way that accusations of it are made. If spurious claims of antisemitism are undermining the fight against it… then so, too, is the grim fact that this fight is steeped in hypocrisy. Screaming examples of anti-Jewish hatred get waved along, as long as the bigotry is coming from die-hard, right-or-wrong supporters of Israel… Shifting the spotlight onto the left… has the effect of giving a hall pass to the dangerous antisemitism of the right. And with the focus on the political left, the Israeli government and its hardline supporters can freely form alliances with far-right groups that might otherwise be deemed beyond the pale. Backing for a right-wing, expansionist Israel seems to be given primacy over everything else. Including antisemitism.

While at-times kind of meandering and overstuffed, Off-White is overall a deeply engaging, nuanced examination of ‘new’ antisemitism and the complex, oft contradictory, dynamics abound in current cultural and political discourses in an environment of a hard-right, genocidal coalition of Israel and the West and a steadily growing, anti-zionist left. In a fractured world where questions of Jewish safety and security has been co-opted by bad-faith actors and far-right demagogues of fascist and messianic evangelical tendencies to serve their own profoundly antisemitic agendas; where weaponizing of ‘new’ antisemitism is wielded by state powers against Palestinians and activists to silence criticism of Israel’s apartheid and genocide, Shabi cuts through the fog to give a powerful and insightful reminder that all this obfuscating, messy discourse fails to truly centre or address the material needs of the very people these groups claim to protect: Jews.

Shabi addresses a lot in the book and truthfully, I’m not sure I have the bandwidth to properly articulate and express all the ideas she tackles throughout the chapters. What I will say is that she gave words to confounding, confusing things I have long seen and defeatedly accepted as simple paradoxical truths. It’s a hard read, but very needed and very, very crucial for any modern leftist movement. I’ll probably need a reread or two to truly get everything she’s talking about. Maybe even take notes.

Free Palestine. From the River to the Sea.

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars -- Shabi does an admirable job pulling together the tangled and contradictory politics around Antisemitism. There are some incisive moments, and everyone will find something to learn, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum. But it gets tangled in its own tentacles.

I have a lot to say about it's idea of "whiteness" and of race more generally, but I will leave that to another time. The main thing is that it gets lost the same way that so much of the conversations here get lost: Before you make a point you have to embark on a long list of apologies... "I don't support Hamas but Israel is bad, and I don't support Israel but there's always a bigger context, and I'm not against BLM but one guy wearing a t-shirt had some bad takes, and I support the Women's March but the organiser knew someone who said something bad once..." by the time you get to your point the magic is gone. The ideas are there in this book, but they're too often hidden. Maybe that allows the book a wider audience, but it loses some of its moral clarity.

The other problem is that Jewish people have no agency in this story, they're almost always passive. Zionism is the byproduct of European antisemitism, the Palestinian ethnic cleansing is the byproduct of Zionism. It's as if there are no bad people, only unfortunate historical dynamics. I think this is a problem with the way the book deals with the subject more generally, but if it reaches a wide audience and helps them think through these very complex issues, that's what's important.

[Chloe Fowler · Rating 1 out of 5]

her definitions and conceptions of antisemitism are quite researched and explained until it becomes about israel and palestine. she talks about not taking sides but consistently prioritizes palestinian deaths while also actively minimizing their government’s acts of terrorism against jews. she peddles a perpetual victimhood of palestinians that becomes quite clear the more she defines her perceptions of intifadas and pro palestine slogans that align with hamas and their charter (which is to eliminate jews and israel). overall disappointed as this book could’ve been a great critique of the lefts antisemitism but instead justified it. shabi also works for al jazeera (funded by multiple terrorist organizations in the middle east) which publishes articles by hamas officials that spew hatred against jews.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important book for this moment in time. It is written by an Iraqi Jewish woman as a challenge to those who identify as progressive and antiracist to ensure that our antiracism radars are as finally tuned to antisemitism as they are to other forms of racism, especially in the call for peace and justice in Palestine. A sober reminder not to use the gross weaponisation and over-deployment of accusations of antisemitism as some sort of reassurance that antisemitism does not truly exist. Smart, nuanced, provocative, confronting, delicately balanced. I strongly recommend it - especially to those committed to anti racism.

[Ann Samford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on the airport on the way home from Las Vegas and the drive to go to Nelson county and to Stuart’s Draft to get flowers.

This is the book about anti-semitism and Israel current events that after a little disconnect about Zionism resonated with me. Both the left and the hard right are subject to racism. And when we act on the left people consider us privileged white and not Jewish so why would they care about anti-semitism.

Lots to unpack but this one rings true. Is read by the author. An Iraqi Jewish woman.

[H Wesselius · Rating 5 out of 5]

At its best, Off White is a coherent nuanced yet compact description of modern antisemitism. Focusing on the post WW2 era, Shabi explores the role of whiteness, colonization, Israel, etc. The author is at her strength when she discusses the interaction of the Israeli government, Christian Zionism and traditional right wing antisemitism. The discussion of the left and antisemitism is rather weak and inconclusive but doesn't take away the value of reading the book especially in light of Palestine and current events.

[Thaths · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the last few years I've been despairing at how the same set of people who were in support of Far Right marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia shouting "Jews will not replace us!" had transformed into champions of Israel calling out progressives as anti semitic. Why, I wondered, was nobody pointing out the hypocrisy.

This a beautifully balanced book, does a great job of explaining his this came about, and also shining light on why it's been hard for progressives to flight back, and what we could do to stand to for oppressed and others people.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first found out about Shabi's work through Peter Beinart's excellent Substack, so I was excited for this book. I found it to be more of an all-encompassing, dense, history of antisemitism rather than having a viewpoint, a definitive, "the truth" about the subject. I found my views represented--left, progressive, pro-Palestine, but I still wished it was more definitive and clear where she stood.

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an incredible dissection of antisemitism that really pulls all the changing forms of british jewry and antisemitism together to enable jews and non jews to come together in the fight for compassion for all people and minorities in an increasing right leaning political landscape.

[Kate Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellent, a really thought provoking, challenging and interesting read. An investigation of antisemitism from a left perspective, exploring the contradictions and asserting the importance of anti semitism being an integral part of anti racist struggles.

[Oskar Rees · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece. Wow.

[Oli Kashti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book, everyone should read, truly talks about the complexity of anti-semitism, how it plays out in this world, and how we can do better as a society and a race to counteract it

[Mustafa al-Hasan]

Actually, as a professional translator, I believe this none-fictional & politicised book is worth translating into other languages, due to its highly important value.

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely nuanced intervention in the ongoing global conversation regarding the ongoing events in Palestine.

[Rachel Burnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, nuanced analysis. Shabi's insights and moral clarity are much-needed in the current moment.

[preachersdaughter · Rating 4 out of 5]

(dnf @ 38% bc i had to return to the library lol)
this book was so amazing & insightful!! writing was tea, as was the way the subject manner was handled

[Meganniie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learnt so much from this book.

[Manuela Conegliano · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good primer for anyone new to the topic.