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On Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice in Palestine
When the State of Israel claims to represent all Jewish people, defenders of Israeli policy redefine antisemitism to include criticism of Israel. Antisemitism is harmful and real in our society. What must also be addressed is how the deployment of false charges of antisemitism or redefining antisemitism can suppress the global progressive fight for justice. There is no one definitive voice on antisemitism and its impact.
Jewish Voice for Peace has curated a collection of essays that provides a diversity of perspectives and standpoints. Each contribution explores critical questions concerning uses and abuses of antisemitism in the twenty-first-century, focusing on the intersection between anti-Semitism, accusations of anti-Semitism, and Palestinian human rights activism.
This anthology provides a much-needed tool for Palestinian solidarity activists, teachers, as well as Jewish communities. Featuring contributions from Omar Barghouti, Judith Butler, and Rebecca Vilkomerson, as well as activists, academics, students, and cultural workers, On Political Solidarity and Justice includes the voices of Palestinian students and activists, and Jews that are often marginalized in mainstream discussions of anti-Semitism, including Jews of Color and Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. JVP has over 200,000 online supporters, over sixty chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.
Jewish Voice for Peace has curated a collection of essays that provides a diversity of perspectives and standpoints. Each contribution explores critical questions concerning uses and abuses of antisemitism in the twenty-first-century, focusing on the intersection between anti-Semitism, accusations of anti-Semitism, and Palestinian human rights activism.
This anthology provides a much-needed tool for Palestinian solidarity activists, teachers, as well as Jewish communities. Featuring contributions from Omar Barghouti, Judith Butler, and Rebecca Vilkomerson, as well as activists, academics, students, and cultural workers, On Political Solidarity and Justice includes the voices of Palestinian students and activists, and Jews that are often marginalized in mainstream discussions of anti-Semitism, including Jews of Color and Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. JVP has over 200,000 online supporters, over sixty chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
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May 29, 2024
Israeli occupation apologists want you to think “that any critiques toward the state are antisemitic rather than merely anti-nationalistic.” “It is problematic that a state that identifies as Jewish has the right to assert antisemitism when it enacts discriminatory policies upon not only its own Palestinian population but also its minoritized Sephardi/Mizrahi/Ethiopian Jewish population.” “Palestinians are imagined (if you intentionally ignore international law) to have no legitimate claims, only a desire to hurt Jews.” “Calling critiques of Israel antisemitic, dilutes real antisemitism toward Jewish people.” “Ashkenazi Israelis in positions of power (need) to stop using antisemitism and victimhood as a shield while implementing repressive and discriminatory practices as a mechanism of control over Palestinians, minoritized Jews, and other people of color.” “US white Ashkenazi and white-passing Jews (need) to refuse these hegemonic narratives and reject privileges that undermine marginalized communities.” Equating criticism of Israel with criticism of Judaism “prevents Diaspora Jewry from developing a sense of its own worth apart from the place it chooses not to live.”
The charge of antisemitism is used as a tool to shut down discussion. “Why can’t Israel and its policies be discussed?” In the late 60’s you were an idiot if you didn’t discuss the Vietnam War - when did fighting oppression become verboten? Yes, “Invocation of the term ‘antisemitism’ may silence polite conversation. But it will not silence history.” Zionists have controlled the narrative, but endless Instagram videos of Gazan children recently injured and killed by Israel is crumbling the IDF’s “most moral army in the world” narrative. “The Jewish majority in Israel is maintained only through dispossession, deeply unequal laws, and a democratic war against Palestinians.”
“While Mizrahi Jews constitute a majority of Jewish Israeli society, Ashkenazi Jewish culture and history dominates.” Racism within racism. “This perpetuates Mizrahi erasure and assumes that all Jewish people are white and European descent.” “Islamophobia is one branch on the tree of racism. Islamophobia, homophobia, anti-Black racism, and antisemitism are all connected, and we cannot dismantle one without the other.” “The US so-called ‘war on terror’, and the US and Israeli state violence …feed and rely on Islamophobia.” “Wanting freedom and justice for Palestinians is not antisemitic; in fact, it reflects the teachings of Judaism, which focuses on uplifting the oppressed.” “In North America, the Jewish establishment and in general the Jewish community currently exist endowed with white privilege,” provided of course you aren’t Jews of color.
How Can Palestinians Be antisemitic when most Palestinians ARE Semitic? The term means languages which are part of the Semitic lingual group. This includes Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, and Hebrew. Note that Mainstream Media emphasizes the Holocaust, but never discusses with viewers the holocaust of the Middle Passage (slavery), or the genocide of the Native Americans in the New World. While some Jews want the world to focus on their victim status, other Jews recognize thanks to the all-powerful Israel Lobby, that they live “in an age of unprecedented Jewish power.” Israel has become a state above the law or as Desmond Tutu said, “on a pedestal” above other states. A rogue state.
The majority of Jews worldwide are not Israeli, and not all citizens of Israel are Jewish. Israel is a state and Zionism is a political ideology. Unlike the both of them, Judaism honors both the sacred Jewish values of Tikkun Olam, and Torah’s Deuteronomy 16:20. Note how in US Mainstream Media, “balance” on discussions about Israel means “indifference to Palestinians suffering.”
“Conflating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism undermines and distracts from the fight against genuine antisemitism.” All humans should be “vigilant in fighting the abuse and misuse of the term.” Tar & feathering critics of Israel with accusations of “anti-Semite” “chills protected speech, ruins reputations, and intentionally diverts the conversation away from Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and toward the allegedly sinister motives of individuals.” To make sure the anti-Semite charge sticks, the dumber Zionists will also depict you as pro-terrorist. You know, pro-terrorist …like the Irgun, Haganah, Lehi, Stern Gang, like Israel today intentionally targeting children, doctors, ambulances, hospitals – that kind of heartless terrorism. Or pro-terrorist like applauding the US at Abu Ghraib. The goal of the smear is “to intimidate advocates for Palestinian rights into silence and inaction.” “Zionism focuses on the Jewish people’s historical experience of oppression and disregards its equally long traditions of solidarity and struggle for liberation with others.”
Let’s face it: The project of Israel “requires the continued subjugation and suffering of Palestinians” and the “relentless privileging of antisemitism in debates about Israel/Palestine over and above racism and Islamophobia.” Israel’s self-appointed job is “to maintain Israel’s impunity and exceptionalism” while Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Barak adds Israel has been “infected with the seeds of fascism.” The rush to call Israel’s critics “Jew hating” is shamelessly done to “protect Israel from censure and accountability” by reducing the honest desire to end Israel’s regime of oppression. The genuinely human pursuit of freedom, justice, and equality (the goals of Judaism) is warped into basic unchecked and unrepentant Settler-Colonialism. The Zionism/Judaism conflation “nourishes real anti-Jewish bigotry by indirectly implicating Jewish communities at large in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and others. Zionism has always thrived on REAL anti-Semitism.” Funny how another real enemy of Zionism has always been assimilation; Zionists in the 1930’s viewed Nazi anti-Jewish legislation as a victory. Don’t assimilate, move to Palestine, and dissuade Jews from going anywhere else was the Zionist mantra during in the 30’s and 40’s.
Note that BDS has never targeted Jews or Israelis as Jews. BDS “calls for equal rights for all humans, irrespective of identity.” This conflation is a smear tactic, a form of bullying, and shutting down all debate and dissent. Before Israel became a nation there was lots of recorded Jewish concern about the Zionist cause and its demanding violence and force to achieve its end. Let’s stop forever persecution of the innocent Jews by finding instead someone else innocent for Jews to persecute – yeah, that’s the ticket. There is nothing Jewish about Israel’s apartheid and settler-colonial oppression; there is nothing inherently anti-Jewish about non-violent universal resistance to denial of human rights and international humanitarian law.
Israel, by placing ALL Jews in a single category ignores human diversity in favor a non-inclusive utopia which can barely hang with its own Mizrahi Jews …let alone with its anti-Zionist Jews like Amira Hass, Gideon Levy, and Ilan Pappe. Israel’s daily To-Do List is to “enforce an apartheid legal system, maintain a Jewish demographic majority, and relegate Palestinians and other non-Jews to the status of second-class citizens.”
A 2015 poll (p.144) found that “three-quarters of highly educated, high income, publicly active US Democrats believe Israel has too much influence of American policy.” “If our call for equal rights and freedom is regarded as a threat to Israel’s ‘existence’, what does that say about Israel?” Israel was founded on injustice “and Jewish Israelis have to live ‘by the sword’ as colonial masters oppressing the Palestinians.” “Did equality destroy the American South? Or South Africa? Equality and justice only negate inequality and injustice.” Focusing on anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism means not focusing on equally important Islamophobia. It’s actually ranking racisms. Are Zionists even allowed to rank Islamophobia equal to anti-Semitism as a wrong? Will a Zionist also voice concern when a Muslim woman’s headdress being ripped off by a racist attacker? Why do some racisms matter more than others? PEP= progressive except Palestine (there are a lot of these PEP people on Facebook – I just call them liberals, not progressives).
Judaism is about justice and liberation for all. Zionism is about justice and liberation BUT only for Ashkenazi Jews who follow settler-colonialism like a dog’s head follows a steak when it is waved. Want to see something hideous? Go to the website for the over-top Zionist hate site Canary Mission (canarymission.org).
US College Campuses: The conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Judaism sustains “the myth that campuses are hostile places for students.” Palestine Legal in 2004 and 2005 found that over half of anti-Semitism complaints of the 300 incidents from US college campuses involved speech critical of Israeli policy. Palestine Legal found that many colleges had a trained vocal minority that was repeating “the tired mantra” that Palestinian activism, or questioning anything illegal that Israel does, makes Jewish students feel “unsafe”. [“I really felt unsafe when he said, ‘Wouldn’t it be a better world if Israel would maybe stop targeting children and hospitals’.”] University administrators silencing student voices on Israel, replicates Israel’s same racist and colonialist power dynamic to impose it on students. “Nazis hurt you? No problem – hurt the Palestinians. University sponsors hurt you w/ threatened loss of funding – no problem – hurt the students.” No morals, no problem. Criticisms of Zionism among Jews has been happening since the time of Herzl. Must students be kept from the prophetic historical concerns about Zionism by fellow Jews? Is that education? The goal on college campuses today is “to fight for a campus, and a world, free of oppression and racism in all of its forms.” A poll at UC in 2012 (p.166) found that “75 percent of Muslim and Arab students on UC campuses, had seen or observed intimidation on campus, and 71 percent felt the UC system didn’t do enough to protect their communities.” The same community noted that UC president Mark Yudof sent the entire student body a zero-tolerance policy expressed toward anti-Semitism policy, but nothing mentioned about Islamophobia or anti-Arab racism (Bill Maher’s specialty)” on campus.
A great timely book – at a time in 2024 when free-speech at US campuses is so under attack, I’d recommend this book to anyone. As you can see, I learned a lot. If some troll scumbag hounds you on Facebook with their tired Hasbara “Criticism of Israel = anti-Semitism” canard, this book and even my review, will give you plenty of ammunition. Cheers…
The charge of antisemitism is used as a tool to shut down discussion. “Why can’t Israel and its policies be discussed?” In the late 60’s you were an idiot if you didn’t discuss the Vietnam War - when did fighting oppression become verboten? Yes, “Invocation of the term ‘antisemitism’ may silence polite conversation. But it will not silence history.” Zionists have controlled the narrative, but endless Instagram videos of Gazan children recently injured and killed by Israel is crumbling the IDF’s “most moral army in the world” narrative. “The Jewish majority in Israel is maintained only through dispossession, deeply unequal laws, and a democratic war against Palestinians.”
“While Mizrahi Jews constitute a majority of Jewish Israeli society, Ashkenazi Jewish culture and history dominates.” Racism within racism. “This perpetuates Mizrahi erasure and assumes that all Jewish people are white and European descent.” “Islamophobia is one branch on the tree of racism. Islamophobia, homophobia, anti-Black racism, and antisemitism are all connected, and we cannot dismantle one without the other.” “The US so-called ‘war on terror’, and the US and Israeli state violence …feed and rely on Islamophobia.” “Wanting freedom and justice for Palestinians is not antisemitic; in fact, it reflects the teachings of Judaism, which focuses on uplifting the oppressed.” “In North America, the Jewish establishment and in general the Jewish community currently exist endowed with white privilege,” provided of course you aren’t Jews of color.
How Can Palestinians Be antisemitic when most Palestinians ARE Semitic? The term means languages which are part of the Semitic lingual group. This includes Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, and Hebrew. Note that Mainstream Media emphasizes the Holocaust, but never discusses with viewers the holocaust of the Middle Passage (slavery), or the genocide of the Native Americans in the New World. While some Jews want the world to focus on their victim status, other Jews recognize thanks to the all-powerful Israel Lobby, that they live “in an age of unprecedented Jewish power.” Israel has become a state above the law or as Desmond Tutu said, “on a pedestal” above other states. A rogue state.
The majority of Jews worldwide are not Israeli, and not all citizens of Israel are Jewish. Israel is a state and Zionism is a political ideology. Unlike the both of them, Judaism honors both the sacred Jewish values of Tikkun Olam, and Torah’s Deuteronomy 16:20. Note how in US Mainstream Media, “balance” on discussions about Israel means “indifference to Palestinians suffering.”
“Conflating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism undermines and distracts from the fight against genuine antisemitism.” All humans should be “vigilant in fighting the abuse and misuse of the term.” Tar & feathering critics of Israel with accusations of “anti-Semite” “chills protected speech, ruins reputations, and intentionally diverts the conversation away from Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and toward the allegedly sinister motives of individuals.” To make sure the anti-Semite charge sticks, the dumber Zionists will also depict you as pro-terrorist. You know, pro-terrorist …like the Irgun, Haganah, Lehi, Stern Gang, like Israel today intentionally targeting children, doctors, ambulances, hospitals – that kind of heartless terrorism. Or pro-terrorist like applauding the US at Abu Ghraib. The goal of the smear is “to intimidate advocates for Palestinian rights into silence and inaction.” “Zionism focuses on the Jewish people’s historical experience of oppression and disregards its equally long traditions of solidarity and struggle for liberation with others.”
Let’s face it: The project of Israel “requires the continued subjugation and suffering of Palestinians” and the “relentless privileging of antisemitism in debates about Israel/Palestine over and above racism and Islamophobia.” Israel’s self-appointed job is “to maintain Israel’s impunity and exceptionalism” while Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Barak adds Israel has been “infected with the seeds of fascism.” The rush to call Israel’s critics “Jew hating” is shamelessly done to “protect Israel from censure and accountability” by reducing the honest desire to end Israel’s regime of oppression. The genuinely human pursuit of freedom, justice, and equality (the goals of Judaism) is warped into basic unchecked and unrepentant Settler-Colonialism. The Zionism/Judaism conflation “nourishes real anti-Jewish bigotry by indirectly implicating Jewish communities at large in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and others. Zionism has always thrived on REAL anti-Semitism.” Funny how another real enemy of Zionism has always been assimilation; Zionists in the 1930’s viewed Nazi anti-Jewish legislation as a victory. Don’t assimilate, move to Palestine, and dissuade Jews from going anywhere else was the Zionist mantra during in the 30’s and 40’s.
Note that BDS has never targeted Jews or Israelis as Jews. BDS “calls for equal rights for all humans, irrespective of identity.” This conflation is a smear tactic, a form of bullying, and shutting down all debate and dissent. Before Israel became a nation there was lots of recorded Jewish concern about the Zionist cause and its demanding violence and force to achieve its end. Let’s stop forever persecution of the innocent Jews by finding instead someone else innocent for Jews to persecute – yeah, that’s the ticket. There is nothing Jewish about Israel’s apartheid and settler-colonial oppression; there is nothing inherently anti-Jewish about non-violent universal resistance to denial of human rights and international humanitarian law.
Israel, by placing ALL Jews in a single category ignores human diversity in favor a non-inclusive utopia which can barely hang with its own Mizrahi Jews …let alone with its anti-Zionist Jews like Amira Hass, Gideon Levy, and Ilan Pappe. Israel’s daily To-Do List is to “enforce an apartheid legal system, maintain a Jewish demographic majority, and relegate Palestinians and other non-Jews to the status of second-class citizens.”
A 2015 poll (p.144) found that “three-quarters of highly educated, high income, publicly active US Democrats believe Israel has too much influence of American policy.” “If our call for equal rights and freedom is regarded as a threat to Israel’s ‘existence’, what does that say about Israel?” Israel was founded on injustice “and Jewish Israelis have to live ‘by the sword’ as colonial masters oppressing the Palestinians.” “Did equality destroy the American South? Or South Africa? Equality and justice only negate inequality and injustice.” Focusing on anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism means not focusing on equally important Islamophobia. It’s actually ranking racisms. Are Zionists even allowed to rank Islamophobia equal to anti-Semitism as a wrong? Will a Zionist also voice concern when a Muslim woman’s headdress being ripped off by a racist attacker? Why do some racisms matter more than others? PEP= progressive except Palestine (there are a lot of these PEP people on Facebook – I just call them liberals, not progressives).
Judaism is about justice and liberation for all. Zionism is about justice and liberation BUT only for Ashkenazi Jews who follow settler-colonialism like a dog’s head follows a steak when it is waved. Want to see something hideous? Go to the website for the over-top Zionist hate site Canary Mission (canarymission.org).
US College Campuses: The conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Judaism sustains “the myth that campuses are hostile places for students.” Palestine Legal in 2004 and 2005 found that over half of anti-Semitism complaints of the 300 incidents from US college campuses involved speech critical of Israeli policy. Palestine Legal found that many colleges had a trained vocal minority that was repeating “the tired mantra” that Palestinian activism, or questioning anything illegal that Israel does, makes Jewish students feel “unsafe”. [“I really felt unsafe when he said, ‘Wouldn’t it be a better world if Israel would maybe stop targeting children and hospitals’.”] University administrators silencing student voices on Israel, replicates Israel’s same racist and colonialist power dynamic to impose it on students. “Nazis hurt you? No problem – hurt the Palestinians. University sponsors hurt you w/ threatened loss of funding – no problem – hurt the students.” No morals, no problem. Criticisms of Zionism among Jews has been happening since the time of Herzl. Must students be kept from the prophetic historical concerns about Zionism by fellow Jews? Is that education? The goal on college campuses today is “to fight for a campus, and a world, free of oppression and racism in all of its forms.” A poll at UC in 2012 (p.166) found that “75 percent of Muslim and Arab students on UC campuses, had seen or observed intimidation on campus, and 71 percent felt the UC system didn’t do enough to protect their communities.” The same community noted that UC president Mark Yudof sent the entire student body a zero-tolerance policy expressed toward anti-Semitism policy, but nothing mentioned about Islamophobia or anti-Arab racism (Bill Maher’s specialty)” on campus.
A great timely book – at a time in 2024 when free-speech at US campuses is so under attack, I’d recommend this book to anyone. As you can see, I learned a lot. If some troll scumbag hounds you on Facebook with their tired Hasbara “Criticism of Israel = anti-Semitism” canard, this book and even my review, will give you plenty of ammunition. Cheers…
December 25, 2017
The whole point of this book, not clear from the title, is that people opposed to the existence of the Jewish state do not automatically deserve the accusation of being antisemitic. I accept the book's premise, because many Jews and others have been anti-Zionist for many reasons ever since the modern concept of Zionism arose. As a supporter of J Street I have spoken against bills and other repressive measures that hinder the free speech rights of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions activists. But there are too many discordant and even bizarre things about this book for it to serve its purpose well. For instance, only two of the many contributors is willing to face the extent of Arab and Moslem anti-Jewish prejudice (which is "old antisemitism" in its most virulent form) and--on top of the terror such people perpetrate overwhelmingly against other Moslems--their violence against Israelis and other Jews. Several authors say that false applications of the term "antisemitic" to anti-Zionists have weakened the response of the Jewish community to real antisemitism, for which I see no evidence. One author claims that Jews are no long major participants to African-American rights movements, which I see on a daily basis to be false. I won't take up more space with the attitudes with which I disagree, because the authors apply a rigid template to a complex Middle Eastern situation, but I will admit that I learned several useful perspectives from it, such as the roles of Mizrahi Jews, who make up the majority of Israelis and are in the U.S. as well.
May 24, 2021
4.5 stars.
This is such an important book. If you're looking for a text to help you understand if critiquing the human rights record of the nation of Israel is antisemitic or not (hint: it's not, unless you're blaming all Jews around the world for the actions of a country the majority of them don't live in), this is the one. Fair warning though, it's a pretty dense book. I could read two essays a day max, at which point my brain was overloaded and couldn't learn anymore. Of course, you might say that's just because much of the terminology used and ideologies dissected were new to me, so it was incredibly impactful reading and might be easier for folks who have already done some studying of, for example, the various ways that pro-occupation advocates use the charge of antisemitism to silence and subdue activism for Palestinian justice, among other topics.
Another reason I loved it - the intersectional, liberation-oriented approach it takes. As one of the editors, Rabbi Alissa Wise, shares, "This book is the first meditation on antisemitism to include the voices of Muslim and Christian Palestinians as well as Jewish and Christian African Americans, all of which bring critical perspectives on power, supremacy, and tribalism."
Powerful, intersectional, and much needed.
This is such an important book. If you're looking for a text to help you understand if critiquing the human rights record of the nation of Israel is antisemitic or not (hint: it's not, unless you're blaming all Jews around the world for the actions of a country the majority of them don't live in), this is the one. Fair warning though, it's a pretty dense book. I could read two essays a day max, at which point my brain was overloaded and couldn't learn anymore. Of course, you might say that's just because much of the terminology used and ideologies dissected were new to me, so it was incredibly impactful reading and might be easier for folks who have already done some studying of, for example, the various ways that pro-occupation advocates use the charge of antisemitism to silence and subdue activism for Palestinian justice, among other topics.
Another reason I loved it - the intersectional, liberation-oriented approach it takes. As one of the editors, Rabbi Alissa Wise, shares, "This book is the first meditation on antisemitism to include the voices of Muslim and Christian Palestinians as well as Jewish and Christian African Americans, all of which bring critical perspectives on power, supremacy, and tribalism."
Powerful, intersectional, and much needed.
March 21, 2017
To make the long story short this book handle, or at last tries to, manage the impossibility that some Jews have to criticize Israel; this is due to the fact that the known situation: whoever criticize Israel's politics is accused of being Antisemit, even if this is pretty ridiculous as the people are themselves Jews, but it is so.
Thanks to the Jewish Voice for Peace to remember us (not Jews) that they are not all against Palestine, in times like these it's necessary to work for peace.
Per farla breve, questo libro cerca di raccontare l'impossibilità da parte di alcune persone di religione ebraica di criticare Israele; questo sembra essere dovuto al fatto che chiunque critichi Israele viene accusato di antisemitismo, anche se le persone sono a loro volta di religione ebraica e quindi il tutto sembra piuttosto strano, ma é cosí.
Grazie all'associazione "Jewish Voice for Peace" che ci ricorda (a noi che non siamo di religione ebraica) che ci sono anche ebrei che non sono contro la Palestina e che in tempi come questi sarebbe ora di lavorare assieme per la pace.
THANKS TO EDELWEISS FOR THE PREVIEW!
Thanks to the Jewish Voice for Peace to remember us (not Jews) that they are not all against Palestine, in times like these it's necessary to work for peace.
Per farla breve, questo libro cerca di raccontare l'impossibilità da parte di alcune persone di religione ebraica di criticare Israele; questo sembra essere dovuto al fatto che chiunque critichi Israele viene accusato di antisemitismo, anche se le persone sono a loro volta di religione ebraica e quindi il tutto sembra piuttosto strano, ma é cosí.
Grazie all'associazione "Jewish Voice for Peace" che ci ricorda (a noi che non siamo di religione ebraica) che ci sono anche ebrei che non sono contro la Palestina e che in tempi come questi sarebbe ora di lavorare assieme per la pace.
THANKS TO EDELWEISS FOR THE PREVIEW!
May 20, 2024
This book shows how we can critique Israel/be anti-Zionist without being antisemitic. I’ve really only learned about the experiences of American/European Jewish people, so I was interested when I saw this book gave an intersectional approach and a variety of viewpoints from Jewish people of many different backgrounds.
Bookmarked this because it said everything my brain feels.
“Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism are connected. Most often the same groups who are Anti-Muslim/Anti-Islam are also Anti-Semitic. Often times the opposition uses our communities and our traditions to pin us up against each other. We must defeat Islamophobia while we monitor and defeat Anti-Semitism. [...] Right wing Zionist groups and hard line pro Israel politicians have labeled the fight for Palestinian liberation as Anti-Semitic. When many of those at the forefront of Palestinian liberation are Jewish Americans."
Bookmarked this because it said everything my brain feels.
“Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism are connected. Most often the same groups who are Anti-Muslim/Anti-Islam are also Anti-Semitic. Often times the opposition uses our communities and our traditions to pin us up against each other. We must defeat Islamophobia while we monitor and defeat Anti-Semitism. [...] Right wing Zionist groups and hard line pro Israel politicians have labeled the fight for Palestinian liberation as Anti-Semitic. When many of those at the forefront of Palestinian liberation are Jewish Americans."
October 17, 2025
I picked up this book expecting to disagree vehemently with a lot of the content, as over the last 2 years of the Gaza war JVP has exposed itself as being at best implicitly antisemitic. I was therefore intrigued to find out that they had previously published a whole book on the topic, and was curious to see how they'd frame their arguments.
It's a collection of essays by different writers on a variety of subjects, and they vary greatly in quality and content. Despite the "Jewish" in the organization's name, many of the contributors are Christian or Muslim, including some controversial Palestinian figures. One benefit of the diversity was some good insight into Christian, Muslim, and Black antisemitism, as well as anti-Sephardic and Mizrachi sentiments, and related issues such as Islamophobia and BLM.
The second part delves more deeply into the relation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, along with efforts to defend the BDS movement as exclusively the former and in way the latter. This is where things start to get shaky, relying on oversimplified arguments, strawman arguments, false equivalences, false choice fallacies, etc. Many of the pieces also gloss over a lot of their more controversial positions. For instance, they state that they're "against the occupation" without specifying which borders they are referring to as being "occupied, 1967 (i.e. West Bank and Gaza) or 1947 (i.e. all of "Palestine"). They state that the goal of BDS is to force Israel to "adhere to international law" without specifying which laws, and what they view as the end result.
Only at the 2/3 mark do they reveal that their actual goal is to utterly destroy Israel as a Jewish nation, returning all of the descendants of the Palestinians who left in 1948 to their original homes in what became Israel. This radical idea places them much closer to Hamas than to the PLO and the PA, which has for decades accepted the premise of a two-state solution.
They defend their proposed Arab-majority "democracy" with the specious comparisons to the way that Jews are a tiny minority in the US yet afforded equal rights and treated well. As if groups dedicated to their destruction such as Hamas and PIJ don't exist.
Things get worse from there, and sillier too. In one ironic twist, in the midst of complaining about Jews dismissing the validity of Palestinian culture and rights, the narrator says "nabcha" instead of Nakba. More than one writer whines about the insidious influence of "the Zionist establishment." They support vile antisemitic actions by the SJP on college campuses, including issuing mock eviction notices to Jewish students.
Towards the end, they abandon all pretense of limiting themselves to legitimate criticism to the Israel government's policies and practices, going as far as redefining Palestinians as "Semites" and hence the real victims of antisemitism. In this framework, "decolonial resistance" is justified, Jihad is "Liberation Resistance against oppression," the acceptance of "non-Eurocentric Standards" legitimizes an Islamic Caliphate replacing Israel "by any means necessary," concluding with the "intersectional and collaborative" call to arms, "let us fight to end the world."
It's a collection of essays by different writers on a variety of subjects, and they vary greatly in quality and content. Despite the "Jewish" in the organization's name, many of the contributors are Christian or Muslim, including some controversial Palestinian figures. One benefit of the diversity was some good insight into Christian, Muslim, and Black antisemitism, as well as anti-Sephardic and Mizrachi sentiments, and related issues such as Islamophobia and BLM.
The second part delves more deeply into the relation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, along with efforts to defend the BDS movement as exclusively the former and in way the latter. This is where things start to get shaky, relying on oversimplified arguments, strawman arguments, false equivalences, false choice fallacies, etc. Many of the pieces also gloss over a lot of their more controversial positions. For instance, they state that they're "against the occupation" without specifying which borders they are referring to as being "occupied, 1967 (i.e. West Bank and Gaza) or 1947 (i.e. all of "Palestine"). They state that the goal of BDS is to force Israel to "adhere to international law" without specifying which laws, and what they view as the end result.
Only at the 2/3 mark do they reveal that their actual goal is to utterly destroy Israel as a Jewish nation, returning all of the descendants of the Palestinians who left in 1948 to their original homes in what became Israel. This radical idea places them much closer to Hamas than to the PLO and the PA, which has for decades accepted the premise of a two-state solution.
They defend their proposed Arab-majority "democracy" with the specious comparisons to the way that Jews are a tiny minority in the US yet afforded equal rights and treated well. As if groups dedicated to their destruction such as Hamas and PIJ don't exist.
Things get worse from there, and sillier too. In one ironic twist, in the midst of complaining about Jews dismissing the validity of Palestinian culture and rights, the narrator says "nabcha" instead of Nakba. More than one writer whines about the insidious influence of "the Zionist establishment." They support vile antisemitic actions by the SJP on college campuses, including issuing mock eviction notices to Jewish students.
Towards the end, they abandon all pretense of limiting themselves to legitimate criticism to the Israel government's policies and practices, going as far as redefining Palestinians as "Semites" and hence the real victims of antisemitism. In this framework, "decolonial resistance" is justified, Jihad is "Liberation Resistance against oppression," the acceptance of "non-Eurocentric Standards" legitimizes an Islamic Caliphate replacing Israel "by any means necessary," concluding with the "intersectional and collaborative" call to arms, "let us fight to end the world."
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February 1, 2024This is an interesting compilation of a range of diverse critical essays on antisemitism (and its instrumentalisation). I appreciate that so many different perspectives and positionalities are represented here.
I did learn a lot, but I do feel the book might need some updating/ a new edition in light of the developments since 2016. Some considerations, while very valuable as such, seem to be a little bit dated from today's point of view. It is also quite US-centred, which is not a problem as such; however, if there was a second edition, essays by activists based outside the US and their specific struggles in different contexts could be an interesting addition.
I did learn a lot, but I do feel the book might need some updating/ a new edition in light of the developments since 2016. Some considerations, while very valuable as such, seem to be a little bit dated from today's point of view. It is also quite US-centred, which is not a problem as such; however, if there was a second edition, essays by activists based outside the US and their specific struggles in different contexts could be an interesting addition.
January 22, 2025
Some great essays in this collection! This honours and uplifts the voices of Jewish folks organizing for Palestinian liberation.
content warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism and Islamophobia
Moderate: Hate crime, Violence, and Colonisation
content warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism and Islamophobia
Moderate: Hate crime, Violence, and Colonisation
January 28, 2024
Definitely a necessary read at the moment.
May 25, 2018
[4.5 stars] I've been reading the essays of this book in short spurts over the last five months. As a non-Jewish woman of color in an interracial and interfaith relationship with a White Ashkenazi Jewish JVP member / organizer, I found this book to be an important educational resource to examine my understanding of antisemitism and its contemporary uses to justify empire. I think a lot about how (I hope) to raise children in both secular and religious feminist Jewish community inclusive of non-White identities, interfaith families, and anti-Zionist beliefs; the essays here give me hope that I may be able to someday make that a reality. There was a lot of history and theory that I either didn't know or only knew at the level of a former anti-war organizer so it was helpful to gain the deeper context, especially as it's paralleled with my own experiences as a Korean-born / US-raised anti-imperialist. It also gave me helpful language and tools to think about the ways I perpetuate or allow antisemitism to exist in the world. My only critiques are that I wish there had been more from POC / discussing white supremacy and that I wish there had been more writing on the other parts of JVP's multi-pronged campaign work (a lot of the organizing examples focused on campus-based activism).
March 2, 2022
Though at times I found myself wishing for a deeper explanation and analysis of certain topics and nuances, this was an overall comprehensive work on the relationship between jewish identities, antisemistim, zionism and Palestinian solidarity. I really appreciated the way that the contributors to this volume, especially the jewish ones, spoke about issues frankly and confronted some hard to swallow topics and stances that mainstream anti-zionism sometimes tends to gloss over or downplay. Every essay contained something valuable.
In particular, my favourite essays were:
Antisemitism, Palestine, and the Mizrahi Question by Tallie Ben Daniel
Captured Narratives by Rev. Graylan Hagler
Two Degrees of Separation: Israel, Its Palestinian Victims, and the Fraudulent Use of Antisemitism by Omar Barghouti
A Double-Edged Sword: Palestine Activism and Antisemitism on College Campuses by Kelsey Waxman
This Campus Will Divest! The Specter of Antisemitism and the Stifling of Dissent on College Campuses by Ben Lorber
Antisemitism on the American College Campus in the Age of Corporate Education, Identity Politics, and Power-Blindness by Orian Zakai
Let the Semites End the World! On Decolonial Resistance, Solidarity, and Pluriversal Struggle by Alexander Abbasi
In particular, my favourite essays were:
Antisemitism, Palestine, and the Mizrahi Question by Tallie Ben Daniel
Captured Narratives by Rev. Graylan Hagler
Two Degrees of Separation: Israel, Its Palestinian Victims, and the Fraudulent Use of Antisemitism by Omar Barghouti
A Double-Edged Sword: Palestine Activism and Antisemitism on College Campuses by Kelsey Waxman
This Campus Will Divest! The Specter of Antisemitism and the Stifling of Dissent on College Campuses by Ben Lorber
Antisemitism on the American College Campus in the Age of Corporate Education, Identity Politics, and Power-Blindness by Orian Zakai
Let the Semites End the World! On Decolonial Resistance, Solidarity, and Pluriversal Struggle by Alexander Abbasi
April 24, 2019
When I sat down to read this book, I was expecting to learn about the meaning of antisemitism -- the forms it takes in the world and how it is recognizable. What the book actually revealed to me was even more powerful. That is, the essays in the book pulled away the curtain of false accusations of antisemitism and revealed the movement for Palestinian rights. The book does have an appendix with JVP's statement on antisemitism and that is a clear and succinct definition of antisemitism. But the book as a whole lets the Palestinian rights movement take center stage. In this way the authors demonstrate a recognition that while antisemitism is real and pervasive in history and in our time, and deserves our attention and condemnation, there is a call to focus and center Israel's oppression of Palestinians and Jewish Voice for Peace is answering that call in this book. Each of the essays take a different perspective and focus, offering in the end a kaleidoscopic vision of the movement that is moving to behold.
February 3, 2018
Valuable not only for critical discussion of the role Antisemitism and Antisemitism discourse plays in the Palestinian struggle, but for critique of how we form arguments, ideologies, and identities that can be applied (with adaption) to many, if not all, issues in our lives. Doesn't appear to me to diminish the reality of antisemitism, it's use in Israel-Palestine discourse and in the lives of Jewish people and communities, while providing critical discourse on how it can be weaponized to silence criticism of Israel. A good starting point for discussions, some more readable/accessible than others. Many/most readers will find their thoughts challenged in at least one or two of the essays, but that is what I found so valuable in this volume. Gave me a lot to think on and digest as a non-Jewish American concerned about the conflict, Israeli (and US or US-supported) human rights abuses in the region, and the reality and impacts of antisemitism.
May 26, 2024
Incredibly important, intelligent, nuanced analysis of whether critiquing Israel is inherently antisemitic.
I loved “Woke Antisemitism”, which took the opposite POV. But this book blows it out of the water. It identifies, wrestles with, and completely refutes everything that Woke Antisemitism argues — before it ever was written.
As usual, I find progressive analyses to be far more insightful and analytical than pro-Israel analyses — and trust me, I’m searching far and wide to find the very best that “hasbara” has to offer. I wish pro-Israel authors would honestly wrestle with these analyses. They aren’t doing it. There’s a reason that the youth vote is changing on this issue, and it’s not just because of dumb groupthink kids on Tiktok. It’s what happens when you get blatantly and rightfully out-argued.
I loved “Woke Antisemitism”, which took the opposite POV. But this book blows it out of the water. It identifies, wrestles with, and completely refutes everything that Woke Antisemitism argues — before it ever was written.
As usual, I find progressive analyses to be far more insightful and analytical than pro-Israel analyses — and trust me, I’m searching far and wide to find the very best that “hasbara” has to offer. I wish pro-Israel authors would honestly wrestle with these analyses. They aren’t doing it. There’s a reason that the youth vote is changing on this issue, and it’s not just because of dumb groupthink kids on Tiktok. It’s what happens when you get blatantly and rightfully out-argued.
February 27, 2022
This is a terrific book for people who want to understand the uses and abuses of antisemitism - from its etymological roots to its applications. Although there is some repetition in the volume, what is nice is the variety of authors, including Christian and Muslim writers. It's an important tool given the ever increasing misapplication of the term, especially in US politics.
February 3, 2022
3.5/5
Essay quality and points vary a lot essay to essay. Good intro for left wing anti-Zionist Jewish critiques of Israel.
Essay quality and points vary a lot essay to essay. Good intro for left wing anti-Zionist Jewish critiques of Israel.
April 18, 2025
A must-read for all Jews. It discusses how accusations of antisemitism are used to shut down conversations about Palestine. I also really appreciated the issue to all systems of oppression because it’s often looked at in a vacuum. It also gives a voice to many Jews of color whose intersectional identities and injustices they face are erased or overlooked.
I initially read excerpts in my Nonviolence Theory and Practice class.
I initially read excerpts in my Nonviolence Theory and Practice class.
August 17, 2024
I guess I should start by saying I’m not Jewish. So far a great collection of essays. I realize that this doesn’t represent all Jewish people, but I still think it’s an important perspective. I’m really enjoying this so far. I’m a little hesitant to compare Israel to the far right but perhaps that’s just rethinking that I need to do. 4.4 stars
April 11, 2025
This book was a random pick for me, but contains incredibly valuable insight! A series of essays written by people with different credentials/identities/backgrounds allows for a nuanced conversation while adding emphasis to ideas repeated across chapters. I found the historical parallels, cross cultural comparisons, and emphasis on interconnectedness and solidarity to be particularly valuable. I also appreciated that it felt less like an introduction but rather an expansion on the topic.
November 20, 2018
incredibly helpful tool for thinking through the need to always connect identity politics to where structural power and oppression happens. helped me think through the workings of antisemitism, anti-zionism, anti-racism, and anti-colonialism in a more nuanced way
December 7, 2022
The title is very misleading, which is annoying. Also, most of the writers seems to have trouble with the concept that antisemitism can still exist and be on the rise AND it's often used inappropriately to silence critics of Israel.
February 8, 2024
Hit or miss, but overall a great exploration of different ways of approaching antisemitism and its intersections with Zionism. Worth a read for anyone, like me, who is generally not in favor of Zionism but also wonders about how to separate Zionism from antisemitism.
February 28, 2018
Enjoyed “Two Degrees of Separation: Israel, Its Palestinian Victims, and the Fraudulent Use of Antisemitism” but Omar Barghouti
November 3, 2024
Profound, fatally pressing, and powerful.
April 14, 2017
Some of the essays in this collection oversimplify anti-Semitism and some of the claims made explicitly or explicitly are ones I disagree with (eg. the assertion that it's somehow inaccurate or disingenuous to describe anti-Semitism as cyclical in nature). However most of the essays are good, and a few are really great. I'm glad the Jewish community is having a discussion about Orientalism, the Euro-centric roots of common definitions of anti-Semitism, the construction of the category of "Semite" in the first place, and the practical effects on Jews, Palestinians, and others of the ways that anti-Semitism are defined and un-defined in American Jewish discourse.
January 3, 2018
A good intro to the Israel-Palestine conflict and clearly a much-needed book on why conflating anti-semitism with criticism of Israel is problematic. A great starting point if you want to learn more about the issue; some themes become a tad repetitive but you do get to hear from diverse perspectives.
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