Part of growing up, part of maturing, is making mistakes. Sometimes even regarding fundamental beliefs. Millions of people grow up believing one thing and later change their views, sometimes drastically, at different points in their lives. Is it right then, to hold everyone accountable for comments deemed inappropriate in the current era that may not have raised eyebrows before? For misdeeds done as a teen, within reason? The answer is of course no. But due to the nature and speed with which (dis)information spreads online today, what’s actually moral doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
The cancel culture soldiers are on the warpath, and in addition to destroying many people’s careers and lives through social media, they’ve also begun to target people for their identity in a trend that resembles Stalinist Russia. Somehow being proudly Jewish has become the opposite of “woke” and social justice warriors are doing their very best to cancel people simply for supporting the indigenous rights of the Jewish people. This isn’t a coincidence. It is the result of an organized effort to smear Zionists, and as such, the vast majority of Jews. While anti-Israel activists harass and in some cases even physically attack Jews, their primary means of “canceling” Jews is currently on social media.
Last week, antisemites erupted in a digital temper tantrum over pop star Billie Eilish and her comments on Israel. You’d think that for such outrage, Eilish must have made an extremely inflammatory comment. You’d be wrong. Eilish’s “crime” was saying “Hi Israel…” in a targeted video message to promote her newly released album. The response was thousands of hate messages across multiple social media platforms canceling Eilish for her “support for genocide against Palestinians” among other outlandish claims.
In another horrific incident, April Powers, who was the chief equity and inclusion officer at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), was forced to leave her position after she issued a statement on behalf of the society condemning the sharp rise in antisemitic attacks. Her crime? Not also including “Islamophobia” in the same statement. Not only has it become normalized to minimize antisemitism, but it’s become somehow “progressive” to attack those who fight against one of the oldest forms of prejudice in the world.
It goes without saying that the response to the actions of Powers and Eilish is absurd, but it is also tactical. It’s a means of silencing pro-Israel voices or they will “pay the price” on social media. It’s a way of preventing artists from treating Israel just as any other country in the world, and increasing the calls and pressure on artists to boycott Israel. In short, it’s a method to shut down free speech and free expression which is rooted in antisemitic obsession with the State of Israel.
In Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls, we saw social media being used more than ever before as a way to harass Jewish, not just pro-Israel, voices. YouTubers who talk about beauty or fashion were targeted, Jewish teens on TikTok, even Holocaust survivors were spammed with antisemitic comments. This isn’t occurring because of Israel’s action; it’s occurring because we have normalized antisemitism and allowed the extreme Left to push Jews out of the discussion.
Right-wing antisemites tend to be more transparent about their end goals of destroying Jews, but the far Left extremists are playing a different game and the world needs to wake up. Calls to “globalize the intifada” which were chanted by thousands in New York City last week are not woke. Efforts to defund Jewish campus groups like Hillel at Rutgers, such as occurred last week, are not woke. Campaigns to smear and attack Jews not only for supporting Israel, but for not condemning Israel are not woke. They are antisemitic.
The threat of cancel culture to the free speech and expressions of both individuals and groups is relatively new, but the age-old hatred known as antisemitism is thriving again, more than ever. Under the guise of progressive politics, even elected officials like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are spearheading efforts to legitimize antisemitic and inflammatory rhetoric that costs Jewish lives. No Jew or supporter of Israel should ever be canceled for supporting the right of Jews to live in equality, and no one should condone those who attempt to do so. And yes – it shouldn’t cause a global furor to say, “Hi Israel.”
The writer is the CEO of Social Lite Creative LLC.