Five Types of Anti-Semitism
The targeting of Jews must end. Anti-Semitism also needs to be seen as part of a broader global phenomenon. Many vulnerable groups are now under attack, including People of the Global Majority, Muslims, immigrants, women, LGBTQ people, and climate activists. Anti-Semitism is a unique oppression that deserves everyone’s attention. At the same time, it is helpful to recognize that it’s happening in the context of worldwide systemic attacks against many groups. To end anti-Semitism, we need to unite all the groups. We need a united front.
To counter anti-Semitism, we can think of anti-Semitic incidents in five broad categories, each requiring its own tailor-made response.
WHITE SUPREMACY
White supremacists express the most readily identifiable anti-Semitism. It is familiar to many—for example, the torch-carrying throngs marching in Charlottesville (Virginia, USA) chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” A chilling recent expression of white supremacy was the shooting of Shabbat worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA). According to the Anti-Defamation League and the FBI, white supremacist incidents targeting Jews are on the rise. White supremacists use shopworn anti-Semitic tropes that say Jews control the world order and are responsible for economic disparities that have a particularly negative impact on the white working class. Politicians aligned with the Right encourage this thinly veiled anti-Semitism, for example, by denouncing “globalism” or the Jewish philanthropist George Soros. President Trump’s press office denies any connection between Trump’s actions and rising anti-Semitism in the United States, but anti-Semitic incidents rooted in white supremacy have not only become more overt, they have also become more frequent since his election.
THE POLITICAL WEAPONIZATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM
During the Trump presidency, the Right has weaponized charges of anti-Semitism to attack progressive forces to weaken and divide them. Trump’s charge that the Democratic Party is anti-Semitic has this goal. The claim against Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in the United Kingdom had the same aim. The anti-Semitism in the Labour Party does need to be addressed, but the Right’s divisive charge of anti-Semitism needs to be challenged. When the Right selectively ignores vicious anti-Semitic comments from within its own ranks and exaggerates the anti-Semitism in progressive circles, all progressive movements become weakened.
Trump’s recent executive order to withhold federal funding to colleges and universities based on what the Right is defining as anti-Semitism—which includes any criticism of the policies of the Israeli government—is part of this larger agenda.
At first consideration, many Jews might welcome the executive order as a positive step to address anti-Semitism. However, it fails to address the source of anti-Semitism and settles instead for stifling free speech, labeling anyone who voices criticism of the Israeli government as anti-Semitic. It will have the effect of further isolating Jewish students from other progressive groups on campus. The Right is systematically weaponizing charges of anti-Semitism to divide the Democratic Party and other progressive movements. The self-serving, cynical way in which the Right denounces anti-Semitism is not a positive step.
PEOPLE OF THE GLOBAL MAJORITY AND ANTI-SEMITISM
In some neighborhoods in the United States, especially where Jews and People of the Global Majority live side by side, economic disparities have sometimes led People of the Global Majority to take out their resentments on Jews, who often play visible roles such as small shopkeepers, teachers, and social workers. Instead of recognizing and taking on the larger systemic issues of economic disparity, People of the Global Majority can see Jews in their communities as interlopers, as the visible face of oppression. Historically, when poor and working-class people have been ready to stand up and resist oppressive conditions, the Jews among them have often been held up as the reason for their difficulties, becoming the target for anger and resentment.
In New York City (USA), Orthodox Jews and non-Jewish People of the Global Majority are being set up against each other. This is classic anti-Semitism. Jews are seen as the primary impediment to others’ well-being. However, Jews and People of the Global Majority are natural allies. When they get pitted against each other, as in New York, both groups suffer, making it harder to fight effectively against either racism or anti-Semitism.
The rift between non-Jews of color and Jews is different from the anti-Semitism of white supremacists. It requires a different response and a reaching for unity between both peoples.
ANTI-SEMITISM ON THE LEFT
The Left also has a form of anti-Semitism that needs to be challenged. Many progressive movements minimize Jewish issues, not seeing them as meriting the same attention deserved by those of other oppressed groups. The Left has also been inclined to villainize Israel and assign it sole blame for all the complex issues in the Middle East conflict. The anti-Semitism is evident in the singling out of Israel as exclusively responsible for the conflict.
The challenge for progressives has been to keep a proper balance: to hold the Israeli government accountable for the Occupation and its oppressive policies toward Palestinians while supporting the right of Israel to exist and the central importance of that for Jews. In their critiques of Israel, many on the Left may not explicitly target Jews, but they implicitly hold all Jews responsible for Israel’s failures and increasingly move to silence Jews for wanting to speak in support of Israel.
Those who support Israel’s right to exist have not always been willing to criticize the oppressive policies of the Israeli government. And those who support Palestinian liberation have not always been willing to acknowledge the right of Jews to a homeland. Honoring both people’s liberation aspirations is a key part of the work of progressive movements to end-anti-Semitism.
FAITH BASED ANTI-SEMITISM
In many countries, particularly in Western Europe, the State has used Christianity to oppress the Jewish community. While Christianity is neither the source nor the primary cause of anti-Semitism, when it’s been closely aligned with the State it’s become a vehicle for the dissemination of anti-Semitism. The Church’s historic teachings of contempt for Jews and Judaism have also fueled anti-Semitism in those periods when a close relationship existed between Church and State. Since the election of Trump, there has been a strong collaboration between Christian evangelical communities and the White House. Such alliances between Church and State have historically led to an increase in anti-Semitism.
Building a united front against anti-Semitism alongside other oppressions, such as racism, Islamophobia, sexism, and LGBTQ oppression, is now key. And the more we can understand the different kinds of anti-Semitism and develop strategies for each, the easier it will be to build this united front.
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of Jews
(Present Time 201, October 2020)