A nice opinion piece I found on FB about what is and isn't antisemitism.
This resonated with me. I simply reposted.
I know many friends are confused and don’t want to appear antisemitic to their Jewish friends. A few things very distinctly are and are being thrown around by people I love.
In my opinion....
Not Anti-Semitism:
- it is not antisemitic to mourn Palestinian lives and their culture. They are a distinct people who have suffered loss, and have the human right to grieve. Validating their humanity does not eliminate justice or care for Jews or Israelis. It’s been happening within Israel for years through community.
- it is not antisemitic to want a Palestinian homeland. Everyone deserves a place where they feel, and are, safe. It’s been happening for years through peace talks and diplomacy.
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Anti-Semitism:
- it IS antisemitic to fail to denounce Hamas. Their charter and mission, still, calls for the elimination of Jewish people worldwide. They are not the same as the Palestinian people. This has been happening for years now through propaganda.
- it IS antisemitic to chant “From the river to the sea…”. It calls for the elimination of the state of Israel, a legally and justly recognized formal democracy. This has been happening for years now through ignorance and group think.
- it IS antisemitic to call Israel “colonizers”. People cannot colonize land they are indigenous to. This has been happening for millennia through demonization and expulsion of Jews worldwide.
- it IS antisemitic to write off Jews as having white privilege. Being Jewish is an ethnicity, not a race. There are Jews of all skin color and from all corners of the world. While many of us are white passing and benefit from it, it only exists until we’re learned to be Jewish. This is called “conditional whiteness” and has been extensively studied. This has been happening for thousands of years through forced assimilation and self preservation.
(Bonus fact: US Green Cards were specifically developed to keep Jews from immigrating to the United States, because even though ~90% of American Jews are white, we still weren’t seen as white.)
- it IS antisemitic to call Israel an apartheid state. There are more than 2 million Palestinians peacefully living in Israel in all walks of life including doctors, teachers, lawyers, and politicians. There are no Jews or Israelis living in Gaza. This has been going on for decades through the democratic process.
- it IS antisemitic to accuse Israel or Jews of ethnic cleansing. The Palestinian population in Gaza has approximately doubled in the last 15 years, and the Palestinian population in Israel has grown as well, although not in proportion to Jews because refugees from all over the world (recently: Ukraine and France) can only come to Israel for safety because they have nowhere else to go. This has been happening for years through financial and humanitarian aid.
- it IS antisemitic to accuse Jews or Israel, the only Jewish state, of genocide. The term developed because the horrors of Jewish genocide needed an official word as it wasn’t recognized formally prior to the Jewish population being reduced by 30% worldwide. Turning this trauma back onto the only place where Jews have refuge from this exact crime, is demonizing and again calling for the only safe place for Jews worldwide to be punished. This has been happening for years through pure propaganda and hatred.
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Indeed, fight for Palestinian people. But for the love of G-d, do it without being antisemitic.
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