If every time I got a pound for someone saying that “being anti-Israel” isn’t anti-Semitism, I would be a very rich woman. Whilst Israel has always received backlash, the level of backlash these past few years has been off the charts. Anti-Israel rhetoric dominates the media. Increasingly more and more celebrities and public figures express anti-Israel views and pro-Palestine protests take place on a regular basis. The most sickening yet is the Jews who side with the enemies who want to destroy our homeland.
First of all, I want to start by pointing out that it is ok to criticize governments and fellow people who act badly. There are things that the Israeli government do that I don’t agree with (such as not allowing Jews who the rabbinate doesn’t legally recognise as Jewish and non-Jews to marry in Israel) and not every Jew is faultless, but this is all balanced criticism. I also don’t agree with all of the decisions that the British government make(ahem Brexit and Boris Johnson’s hypocrisy) and I don’t think that every Brit is wonderful- far from it. However, criticizing Britain and the government doesn’t make me anti-Britain. I am grateful to live in a democracy where I have rights. Israel is also a democracy that grants rights to all of its citizens- Jewish, Christian, Muslim etc. Many Jews and Arabs co-exist happily. Israel is also at the forefront when it comes to developments in technology and medicine. It has also been the only country that has been successful in dealing with COVID and vaccinating the population.
The most hurtful thing is that the anti-Israel lobby refuse to see Israel’s positive sides as well as their side of the story. They go above criticizing Israel- they deny Israel’s right to exist and paint them as the big bad evil villains whilst the Palestinians are helpless lambs, whilst turning a blind eye to countries that truly violate the human rights of its inhabitants. You don’t see protests about the way that people are oppressed by totalitarian governments such as North Korea or the lack of rights that women face in some Arabic countries such as Saudi Arabia. Nobody goes around saying how much they hate North Korea or Saudi Arabia and that they should cease to exist. At the moment, nobody in the world apart from the Polish people care about the Polish government’s implementation of Nazi-like laws such as making Poland free of LGBT people and denying women the right to an abortion. Nobody goes around saying how much they hate Poland- quite the opposite. I meet so many British people who are in awe when they find out that I’m half Polish and remark on how much they love Poland. I daren’t tell them that I’m Jewish as I know that many wouldn’t share the same love for Israel. Yet I doubt that these people really know the real situation in Poland.
Ignorance really is the root of all evil. A lot of the information that people receive about Israel is false and biased, just as the people who believe the anti-vaccine propaganda that they read on social media. Those people believe that the vaccine is the root of all evil- that it’s a form of government control and that a microchip will be implanted into your brain or that it causes infertility and other diseases. The same propaganda can be applied to the anti-Israel lobby. People only see “poor defenseless” Palestinians who are “preyed upon” by the “big bad Israelis". Yet nobody sees or wants to see the Palestinian terrorist groups that want to destroy Israel and that use their own people as weapons in the process. The anti-Israel lobby deny the right of the Israelis to protect themselves against the Palestinians who throw bombs at Israel and kill innocent Israelis. Any rational person can see how grossly unfair this us. The Palestinians are treated like the favourite perfect child who can do no wrong and Israel, the least favourite child who always gets the blame for everything even when it’s not their fault. The Palestinians are allowed to want to destroy Israel and its people but the Israelis have no right to defend themselves and are accused of apartheid.
The funny thing is how little those who are anti-Israel actually know about Israel. I bet they don’t know that Israel wanted a two state solution but the Palestinians didn’t want to. Nor do they know about how much Israel has contributed to the world especially innovations in science and technology or that Israel is a democratic countries. My mother has a friend whose daughter lives in Israel in a mixed Israeli/Arab neighbourhood and according to her daughter, Jews and Arabs live pretty well together. Whilst Israel isn’t perfect, no country is. Every single country on earth has its own set of problems.
So now you can see why being anti-Israel is anti-Semitism. Being anti-Israel but not anti-Semitic is as much as an oxymoron as being a Nazi but liking Jews. The only case in which being anti-Israel doesn’t constitute as anti-Semitism is in the case of the ultra religious Jewish Satmar community who reject Israel for religious reasons. Other than that, there is no other rationalisation for being anti-Israel without undertones of anti-Semitic sentiment. No other country is singled out as much as Israel. For millennia, Jews have been singled out and used as scapegoats. We’ve been blamed for everything from killing Jesus to controlling the media and the world (both the most ridiculous and untrue accusations). Jesus himself was Jewish and if Jews really did control the world and the media then there would be zero-tolerance for anti-Semitism.
Now in this current climate, being anti-Israel is the biggest trend as is veganism and being “woke”. People who were previously indifferent to Israel are now all of a sudden its biggest haters. The left certainly propagates anti-Semitism and “wokeness”. This “woke” generation claim that all lives matter but this is not true. They’re very selective about which lives matter- certain groups are vulnerable and helpless in their eyes such as The Black Live Matter Movement but other groups such as Jews don’t count and instead are painted as the villains. There are so many vile anti-Semitic attacks everyday but nobody goes around with Jewish Lives Matter banners. The Labour Party has contributed massively to the rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment. The left are illogical and ignorant and aren’t fighting for real justice. They just leave more chaos and destruction in their wake. Another example is with the whole anti-vaxxer movement. Many of the leftists believe the uneducated lies about the vaccine and/or refuse to be vaccinated because doing so goes against their “human rights”. Yet they have little concern for the human rights of the others whose lives they’re putting at risk and insouciance in taking part in a social effort to put an end to the pandemic. The point is that these woke protesters really don’t care about others.
The worst is that there are Jews who are joining the anti-Israel bandwagon- Jews who believe the lies spread by anti-Semites. How can you shun a country that is your homeland and which was created to protect you from persecution? It seems as though these Jews who are anti-Israel don’t want to be singled out and follow the anti-Semitic crowd even if it means betraying your own people. To the woke Jews who are anti-Israel: your anti-Israel anti-Semite “friends” don’t have your back. Don’t believe their staunch denial that they’re not anti-Semites. They’ll be the first to turn against you.
I just hope that the whole anti-Israel lobby will fade away in time, but unfortunately I don’t see that happening. It seems that anti-Semitism is spreading faster than COVID. The only vaccine against it is education about Israel and Judaism and the responsibility of governments and institutions to help spread awareness of anti-Semitism and spread the message that Jewish and Israeli lives matter too.
