To effectively address the dangerous rise in antisemitism in America we must look far beyond reigning in the pro-Hamas and anti-Zionist rally organizers. In recent years, many Jews and non-Jews have become less supportive of and even opposed to Israel and its actions, having been taken in by widely promoted, horribly distorted, and recklessly incomplete narratives about Israel and the Gaza conflict.
The result is a coalition of the malicious and the well-intentioned, bringing together the haters of Jews and Israel with poorly informed and often self-righteous advocates for innocent Gazans. We are threatened by the hatred of antisemitic arsonists and the naivete of would-be champions of human rights.
Fine and meaningful distinctions between opposition to Israeli policies and actions, anti-Zionism, and Jew-hatred are lost on the mobs in America and around the world who glide from one to the other.
Criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza that does not consider that Hamas actively seeks to destroy Israel and embeds its fighters, weapons and military infrastructure among civilians is harnessed by devoted antisemites to blame Jews and stir up anger and violence against them.
This is a time when it is dangerously easy for even the well-meaning to feed the frightening resurgence of the ultimate and enduring conspiracy theory called antisemitism that has attributed to Jews a malicious bloodlust and that has fueled millennia of persecutions, killing millions and uprooting Jews from country after country.
The blood libel of the modern era
The accusation of genocide against the Jewish state is the 21st century version of the medieval blood libel.
The Talmud notes that while there is a difference between the active murderer and one whose actions lead indirectly to the death of another, that difference is solely a matter of degree.
The Torah condemns to exile the accidental killer and demands that we proactively and responsibly take action to protect each other, not standing idly by as our brother’s blood is spilled. Similar ideas are echoed in many faith-based value systems.
American law classifies as involuntary manslaughter an individual killing that stems from a lack of intention to cause death but involves an intentional act of negligence. The ‘involuntary antisemitism’ of the many is fueling the ‘antisemitism in the first degree’ of the few.
None of us can afford to ignore the lessons of history nor exercise willful blindness to current events. In the presently dangerous climate for American Jews, responsible politicians, pundits, and activists, Jewish and non-Jewish, need to not only disavow and condemn antisemitism and pursue its perpetrators, but affirmatively uphold the facts about Israel’s complex and challenging reality.
They must celebrate Israel’s humanity and ethics and acknowledge its existential struggles with neighbors and haters committed to its destruction and they must leave no room for the perpetuation of the Gaza genocide blood libel. This is a time for elevated responsibility in reporting and opinionating on the conflict.
Not every criticism, demonstration, or negative news story about Israel and Zionism or on behalf of the Gazans is a result of antisemitism. But they are often its cause.
Rabbi Moshe Hauer is the Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union.