‘We Don’t Hate Jews, Only Israel’: The Argument That Backfires |
Anti-Israel politicians and voices are giving the Jewish people an unintended gift. They keep insisting their problem is not with Jews, but only with Israel, as if that distinction offers some kind of justification for their beliefs and protection for the Jews. Again and again, the formula is presented with the same underlying structure: we do not hate Jews, we only oppose Israel.
Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan Senate candidate who has called Israel’s government “evil” like Hamas, put it as clearly as anyone has: “AIPAC and Israel are not the same as Judaism and the Jewish people. I love Judaism and I love the Jewish people,” and that antisemitism should not be extended to include “a foreign government and its leaders.”
Zohran Mamdani made the same argument in a more careful political way, saying that antisemitism has to be distinguished from criticism of the Israeli government. But his broader anti-Israel history makes clear that this is not really just about the Israeli government.
Tucker Carlson offers the far-right conspiracy version of the same argument, when in an April interview, he insisted, “Of course I am not an antisemite,” and arguing that Israel “does not speak for all Jews.”
The language changes, but the underlying message is the same: Israel is over there, Jews are over here. You can oppose Israel, attack its supporters, and still insist that none of this has anything to do with Jews.
There is a true point inside their argument. Israel’s........