Between Identity and Politics: Unpacking the Systematic Conflation of “Antisemitism” and Criticism of Israel |
Whenever Jews anywhere in the world are subjected to an attack or a threat, Israel, along with a wide network of political and media supporters, is quick to frame the incident as a direct extension of historical antisemitism.
Violence is presented as the product of deep rooted hatred against Jews as Jews, as if the contemporary political context, and what the State of Israel does in the name of Judaism, has no bearing on what is taking place. This simplified and politically convenient explanation ignores a fundamental reality: it is Israeli policies, not Jewish religious identity, that play the most decisive role in shaping reactions and anger around the world.
This does not, in any way, deny the existence of antisemitism or downplay its danger. Hatred of Jews is real, historically entrenched, and often violent. The moral and political problem begins when this reality is used as a shield to protect a state that practices colonialism and systematic violence, and when Jews as a diverse human community are deliberately conflated with Israel as a political and military system accused of committing grave crimes.
Israel, which prominent international and Israeli human rights organizations describe as an apartheid system, and which has committed acts amounting to genocide in Gaza, presents itself as the State of the Jews and the global guardian of Judaism. This claim does not protect Jews. Instead, it places them in the line of fire, tying their fate to the crimes of a state that does not represent all Jews and does not speak in their name morally or religiously.
Protecting civilians is a principle, not a political tool
One of the core principles of the human rights framework is that every civilian deserves protection, regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender, or political background. Attacking Jews because of their religious identity is a condemned crime, just as attacking Palestinians because of their national identity is a condemned crime. Yet Israel, through its colonial and military practices, has undermined this principle and turned it into a selective tool, invoked only when it serves its interests.
In Gaza, the world witnesses........