He’s right that it’s an issue. He’s wrong in saying it’s as large as it is. Americans have continually been positive towards Israel, for the most part: http://www.gallup.com/poll/189626/americans-views-toward-israel-remain-firmly-positive.aspx
That includes the Democratic party, which is becoming more infected with anti-Zionism, but which has not accepted it into the mainstream.
He also makes the argument that fighting the two are somehow mutually exclusive. The point here is that Nazis are becoming more emboldened, and that they are part of something larger (the alt-right movement, which is much larger and which openly accepts people like Richard Spencer into its midst). They need to be spoken up against, and unfortunately this idea that somehow speaking up against them means we aren’t speaking up against anti-Zionism is just plain wrong.
In fact, the people most equipped to fight those anti-zionists are those of us fighting Trump and allying ourselves with liberals. We are the voices that will actually affect that world. By fighting for others, we’re given the strength to fight for ourselves. Those trying to make it an all or nothing proposition where you’re either for or against Israel have put themselves in a corner where they only hear themselves.
One more thing, the issue of intent matters here: he makes the point himself that people who aren’t necessarily antisemitic are sadly getting sucked into being anti-Zionist. Nazis are OPENLY and blatantly antisemitic. That matters, and that it’s treated so casually because it’s not as big of a problem as it could be one day, despite the fact that there has been an actual terrorist attack committed only a week ago by these people, is a huge issue that the pro-Israel world has failed to address properly.
The next two articles really tug at my Jewish soul,
Shabbat Shalom,
Coach Yulia
Rivka Nehorai shared Pop Chassid‘s post.
But the pain of those who have been divorced must also be acknowledged. This new tragedy of Charlottesville must be remembered. For it is no minor pain, nor is it just another disagreement among Jews.
It cuts to the core of who we are as a people, and it cuts to the core of how Jews have held themselves together in the face of hatred since World War II.
One day, we may look upon the days when we debated whether things were antisemitic as golden years, as divided as we were then. Because now we are entering a new era: one in which the debate isn’t whether a group or philosophy is antisemitic, but which antisemitism we prefer.
And the psychic communal effect of that on a people cannot be understated.”
This time it’s different. And it’s time we speak about just how different it is, and how much pain it has caused the Jewish community.
My latest. I look forward to your thoughts.
A guest post by my wife, Rivka Nehorai, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and who has felt hit particularly hard by Charlottesville and the rise of the shameless Nazis.
You just have to read it. Incredibly powerful.
