One can criticize the state of Israel and the Jewish people. When one only criticizes them and not others who have behaved similarly, then one’s motives are probably antisemitic.
There was a very interesting reaction to one of my previous articles, on the state of Harvard today. A friend put the piece up on our Facebook class page and people were indignant (he used a more colorful, if unprintable, description of their responses) that I had mentioned that some of the comments from this group were antisemitic. I checked with classmates who use the site and they confirmed to me that which I had written: a portion of the responses from fellow 1987 classmates are antisemitic in content.
One of the big problems with the intersectional mentality is that certain groups become untouchable. We have been told repeatedly that blacks cannot be racists. But that is obviously an untrue statement, for example, when a black person says that he hates whites or blames Jews for personal problems of which they played no role, that is racist. No one should be untouchable, including the Jews and the state of Israel. Fair criticism is legitimate. The question is what is “fair”?
As a rule, if one accuses Israel and/or the Jews of some local, national, or international offense, then he would ostensibly take umbrage from any people or country that did the same thing. If I were to attend a "Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions" or BDS rally and ask some of those calling for divestment from Israel what Israel did to deserve such treatment, I might receive a couple of different answers. “Israel has conquered Palestinian land.” So I might point out that Turkey took a third of Cyprus 50 years ago and refuses to leave. Will there be a BDS-Turkey protest later today? “The Jews murder Palestinian children.” Besides this being a lie, we know that Assad the Younger murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people in order to stay in power. Is there a BDS-Syria protest tomorrow? “Israel made Gaza one big open-air prison.” What about the Uyghurs who live in real concentration camps? Are you planning for a BDS for the CCP? Will you get rid of all of your electronics and shoes made by those people who are actually slaves? No, I did not think so.
Veritas, the motto of Harvard for ages, means truth. We are not interested nor do we accept any ideologies or slogans in place of the truth. If people have legitimate arguments and use the same arguments with Hamas or others, then let them be heard. But if their kvetch is only with Israel, that somehow Israel is performing a genocide when she is in fact endangering her own soldiers in order to reduce civilian death rates, then it is a pure lie and its bearer is an antisemite. Not every antisemite is a terrorist with an RPG in tow or a closet fan of Aldolf Hitler. There are many who somehow find fault in Jews, Judaism, Israel, or Zionism but magically cannot identify similar flaws in groups to which they have some greater affinity. The US pulverized civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan but there were no tents in Harvard Yard. Russia has laid waste to large civilian centers in Ukraine, but the victimhood majors cannot bother themselves to march with signs demanding Russia out of Ukraine. Somehow little Israel, the size of New Jersey, with quite a mixed population of around 10 million—just this one country can get them to find fault with its leaders, its army, and with its actions. Dr. Martin Luther King, a fellow Harvardian, said that there is no difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. And as we see from the people who can only find fault with Israel but not other countries with far worse military and human rights records, he was right. The mastermind behind the 10/7 massacre was treated for brain cancer in Israel. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas sitting by the pool in Qatar—his sister was given intensive medical treatment in Israel.
Veritas demands being honest, even when the outcome is not in your favor. Israel is by no means a perfect country, and its citizens spend much of their time complaining about high taxes, endless traffic jams, no parking, lousy politicians, religious fissures, and more. But for those who wish to claim that their attacks against Israel are honest and not antisemitic must ask themselves one question: do I hold others to the same standard? If I claim that Israel is not providing enough food to Gaza, did I in the past complain about another army not providing its enemy with sustenance during active military combat? If I believe that there is apartheid in Israel, can I explain how more than 10 percent of the Knesset is made up of Arab members and that Israeli Arabs have a far better standard of living than Arabs in any of the surrounding lands? People throw around words like apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and they don’t have a clue about what they are discussing. Israel has the firepower to wipe Gaza clean off the map in an afternoon. That they have not used it says a great deal about the way that they are fighting.
Antisemitism is a visceral hatred of Jews. No amount of education or positive examples can reform it. You could probably put all of the reformed antisemites into a minivan and have plenty of room for some unicorns and tooth fairies.
Veritus demands honesty. If you cannot put your Israel position onto others who have done the same or worse, then you are trying to whitewash your antisemitism with anti-Zionism.
As I was finishing this piece, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said that it wants arrest warrants for Binyamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his defense minister. Oh yeah, they also want warrants for Yaya Sinwar and two of his terrorist pals. They have made it clear that an arch-terrorist responsible for the death of over over a thousand people and the brutal rape and murder of scores of women is the moral equivalent of a sitting prime minister fighting off an existential threat to his country. In their document, they referenced “the State of Palestine” but only “the territory of Israel”. Israel, in avenging its citizens and destroying its murderous enemies is now a criminal entity. Has the ICC ever filed such charges against a country that fought back after being attacked? No, of course, it's only for the Jews.