A TRANSLATION
If a Jew doesn’t unwaveringly back the murder of Jews, they are a bad Jew.
If a Jew doesn’t entirely support the Palestinian “red lines” issued at the 1977 Palestinian National Council— including the “right” to murder Jews — then they are a bad Jew.
If a Jew doesn’t believe that every single Israeli is evil simply by virtue of their nationality, then they are a bad Jew.
If a Jew doesn’t support the ethnic cleansing of 7 million Jews, then they are a bad Jew.
If a Jew mourns the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, then they are a bad Jew.
If a Jew doesn’t support the genocide of half of the world’s Jewish population, then they are a bad Jew.
AN ANCIENT LITMUS TEST
The demands that Jews sufficiently de-Judaize their Jewishness in order to earn acceptance or safety date back to antiquity. Some notable examples:
- In the second century BCE, the Greek occupiers in Judea were okay with Jews only so long as Jews Hellenized, replacing Jewish customs, traditions, beliefs, and identity with those of the Greeks.
- During the Spanish Inquisition, the Spanish crown would let the Jews live only if they renounced Judaism and converted to Catholicism.
- During the French Revolution, revolutionaries agreed to emancipate the Jewish population of France only as long as they agreed to renounce their Jewish “national” identity, reducing their Jewishness to a mere matter of religious belief.
MOVING THE GOALPOSTS
If you’ve been paying attention to the online discourse, you may have noticed that, especially in the aftermath of October 7 and the ongoing war, some of the most prominent voices in the pro-Palestine movement have been holding anti-Zionist Jews to impossible standards.
An Israeli refuses to enlist in the IDF? Well, that’s still not good enough, because they’re not packing up their bags and leaving (because it’s so easy to immigrate to another country, right?). They’re still Zionists.
A “Jewish” organization spends millions of dollars legitimizing Palestinian terrorism? Still not good enough. They’re still Zionists.
A fringe Jewish sect meets – and by extension, grants legitimacy to – with Hamas and with Hamas’s sponsors in Iran? Still not good enough. They’re still Zionists.
The list goes on and on. This sort of behavior makes it clear that it actually matters very little what a Jew does or doesn’t do, because at the end of the day, they’re a Jew, and that is the issue. Or, in other words: the last Jew to the gas chamber still gets gassed.
YOU ACTUALLY ARE ANTISEMITIC IF...
Not a single Jew – Zionist or anti-Zionist – deserves antisemitism. Antisemitism is an ancient bigotry that has killed millions, not a valid response to behavior or opinions you dislike. If you think the Jews you dislike “deserve” to get murdered, then you’re actually just antisemitic.
If you think Jews should prove themselves to you before you respect our humanity, then you’re actually just antisemitic.
If you think Jews are okay only so long as we chip away at parts of our identity – whether it be our connection to the Land of Israel, our religiosity, our ancient traditions, or anything else – then you’re actually just antisemitic.
If you demand that Jews accept, justify, or even celebrate the murder of our siblings in Israel – that’s half of the world’s Jewish population, by the way – then you’re actually just antisemitic.
If you only care about the safety of the Jews who weaponize their identity to legitimize your antisemitism, you’re actually just antisemitic.
WE WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH
Every single time in history – every single time – that Jews have shedded parts of their identity to please antisemites, the antisemites ended up coming for them anyway. Some prominent examples:
- The Nazis still arrested the Association of German National Jews (colloquially known as “Jews for Hitler”), even though the Association of German National Jews weaponized its Jewish identity to legitimize the Nazi regime in the international media.
- The Soviet Union arrested, tortured, and murdered the members of the Yevsektsiya, even though the Yevsektsiya weaponized its Jewish identity to legitimize the systematic persecution of Soviet Jews under the guise of “anti-Zionism.”
- The Soviet Union arrested, tortured, and murdered the members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, even though the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee raised millions for the Soviet war effort during World War II.
DEAR JEWS: SOME UNSOLICITED ADVICE
I am personally not here to tell you that you should or shouldn’t be a Zionist. Your beliefs are your perogative – even if they are beliefs that I vehemently disagree with. You deserve protection from antisemitism either way.
But I am here, as a fellow Jew, to ask you to consider just how much of yourself you’re willing to give up to satisfy the demands of your non-Jewish peers.
Maybe you are sincerely concerned for the plight of the Palestinian people, and maybe you want to do the right thing, and that’s admirable. But when your peers demand that, in your advocacy for Palestinians, you also exhibit unwavering support for those who indiscriminately murder your Jewish siblings...well, don’t you think that’s a little bit weird? A little bit off? For your sake, I ask, why are you going along with it?
I know that for the past 3000 years, we’ve been conditioned to “turn our pockets out” for antisemites, to prove that we’re good. Personally, my life – and my connection to my Jewish identity – got much, much better once I stopped doing that. I wish better for you.
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