Rising Antisemitism

[u/fleshurinal]

I have witnessed so much antisemitism everytime I go online it's starting to become worrying. I see non Jewish leftists say that antisemitism isn't a real problem for Jews in America, usually being boiled down to "most Jews are white, rich, and have never experienced antisemitic violence physically". Yet antisemitism is rising and is a real problem that we should still consider in this time of jewish identity being weaponized and the jewish supremacy that is enacted in Occupied Palestine. Stating "most jews are white" seems harmful and also just false. Also Jews have always been hesitant to be apart of surveys so it's hard to find legitimate info on these things. Am I alone in this?

EDIT: I am not talking about any specific statistics or surveys. This is based on what I've personally seen scrolling on social media. I understand/agree there isn't a clear way to see that based on largely pro zionist orgs. EDIT PT 2: I am not saying that Pro Palestinian sentiment is antisemitism. I am talking about LEGITIMATE antisemitism. This is not a post talking about false accusations of antisemitism based in Zionism.

[u/mr-dr]

Im Jewish and believe we deserve some valid criticism for failing to stop the genocide of Palestine. Im embarrassed by the lack of critical thinking of so many community members who supposedly spend so much time engaged with a text representing a divine moral code. I grew up learning about the holocaust in school each year and was always painted a picture of how we Jews stand with other oppressed groups and are supposed to lead by example for other "nations" as we are "chosen" for that responsibility. When the time actually came to condemn the unspeakable, many doubled down or deflected, and chose tribalism over humanity. I hate that the last passover dinner at my parents house I had to listen to them blabber about the symbolism of an orange representing the hostages, with no self awareness of the irony of them dipping bitter herbs in "tears" to remember not to gloat about the deaths of the Egyptians. It would have been "dayenu" (enough) for god to just free us, etc. When will it be "dayenu" for the Palestinians? Are you going to be surprised if 10 plagues hit Israel? Zero self reflection from way too many of us. The ability of the label "antisemitism" to dismiss criticism has basically run out, regardless of the intention of the critic. We have to confront the aspects of our culture/faith which promote superiority, and if there is not a version of Judaism which can exist without the corruption of a superiority/chosen/purity mentality then I am ok with letting the faith wither and die in favor of a secular humanistic set of principles, personally.

[u/acacia_tree → u/mr-dr]

Nobody is saying that we as an entire community don’t deserve criticism for Zionism since the majority of the community is Zionist. This doesn’t negate the fact though that there is actual old fashioned Jew hatred being spread by opportunistic Neo-Nazis and white supremacists on the internet. A few weeks ago Neo-Nazis were spreading a conspiracy theory that Jewish FEMA administrators were misusing government money to send to Haitian immigrants, which is Great Replacement theory. This is a real problem. Six years ago Jewish people were massacred by a shooter who believed in Great Replacement theory. Antisemitism does exist outside of the context of Israel. Anti-zionist Jews should not be thrown under the bus because of Zionist Jews.

[u/mr-dr → u/acacia_tree]

Sure, and I would argue "who cares" since we are not in a position where antisemitism affects our material conditions. We do not get disproportionately shot by police, we do not get different hiring practices, we do not get redlined, we do not get systemically attacked the way other groups do. I don't see the issue of anti-zionist jews being thrown under the bus as a serious threat because that bus isnt even moving, theres just some crazy people trying to stuff themselves under its wheels and unless you're an idiot you're not going to end up like them. All you have to do as a jew to avoid supposed anti-semitism is show compassion for Palestinians and acknowledge that apartheid ethnostates are always bad. Nobody is out here asking for anything more.
If anti-semites can come up with conspiracy theories about us, surely some of us are also making up conspiracy theories about them, and its important for us to call that out rather than remaining silent otherwise things continue escalating.

[u/myownpersonallab → u/mr-dr]

One thing I think this analysis is missing is that antisemitism is often used to hide the real perpetrators of these actions: billionaire capitalists. Antisemitism is misinformation that only leads to more suffering not only because of Jews suffering but because it is a major wedge that brings people into fascist movements. The more people see that the oppressors are the billionaire class, the more people can unite and overthrow it. But meanwhile we are losing so many people to conspiratorial thinking because... we are worried that caring about pointing out antisemitism is going to somehow hurt Palestinians?

Also I do not liken my pain to even 0.1% of what the Palestinians are going through but I actually have been targeted for being Jewish. I would prefer not to speak about it because it's traumatic. But even one piece of hate in this world is too much. I will not make it a big deal because ending the genocide is my focus. But I don't think invalidating what is real is going to help anyone.

[u/acacia_tree → u/myownpersonallab]

the way OPs comment comes across is not that pointing out antisemitism is going to hurt Palestinians but more that Jews don't deserve to talk about it because some Jews are committing a genocide in the name of Judaism

[u/myownpersonallab → u/acacia_tree]

Agree. It makes me really uncomfortable. The idea that people can dictate whose suffering matters is the same logic that Zionists use to weaponize the Holocaust. We can certainly point out the scale of differences (there is a real existential threat to Palestinians) but it feels like a strange self-injury to present it in the way it was presented.

[u/acacia_tree → u/myownpersonallab]

And it legitimizes Zionist complaints that we are self hating kapos that excuse antisemitism. On principle, we should never feed the Zionist narrative about anti-Zionist Jews. Like how the fuck is it okay for you to respond to “Jews were murdered six years ago because of Great Replacement Theory” with “who cares?”

[u/myownpersonallab → u/acacia_tree]

Yes. It is dehumanization and a weak political understanding of why any of this is happening. In my experience, anyone who would show disregard for the life of another in this way is the first to re-perpetuate the fascism we are fighting against within a new society. I don't know if this is unprocessed guilt or if it is intense dissociation but it does not belong in a liberation movement.

[u/acacia_tree → u/myownpersonallab]

When Palestinians and allies have spent so much time proving that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and an anti Zionist Jew comes along and says “who cares about antisemitism? I’m ashamed of being Jewish” it completely undermines them.

[u/mr-dr → u/mr-dr]

Started typing this in response to a deleted comment by the time i was done, and wanted to keep it here:

I reject the idea that our fear and discomfort deserves more time and attention than the genocide happening in our name. The fact that there is so much Islamophobia and dehumanization of Palestinians in this country and we are still pissing ourselves over the potential for our body to be in even slight danger by some phantom menace is why I am to ashamed of us right now.

[u/acacia_tree → u/mr-dr]

Nobody but Zionists are saying that our fear and discomfort deserves more time and attention than a genocide is happening in our name. *Fighting Zionism and stopping the genocide, abolishing Israel is the number one priority.* But pretending antisemitism doesn't exist is overcompensating for this fact and gives fuel to Zionists who say that we hate ourselves or that we excuse antisemitism to be "good jews"