XENOPHOBIA (NOUN)
Fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
ANTISEMITISM (NOUN)
Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.
(IHRA Definition of Antisemitism)
THIS IS NOT ACTIVISM. IT’S XENOPHOBIA
NO, XENOPHOBIA AGAINST ISRAELIS IS NOT JUSTIFIED
“Discriminating against Israelis is justified because Israel oppresses Palestinians.”
No. Would you think it’s okay to vandalize a Chinese restaurant because China oppresses Uyghurs? Or a Persian restaurant because the Islamic Republic funds fundamentalist terror proxies all over the Middle East? Or a Turkish restaurant because Türkiye bombs Kurds? Do you harass random Americans walking down the street because of police brutality against Black folks?
“Discriminating against Israelis is okay because they support the IDF.”
If a random Russian comes into your coffee shop, would you ask them their stance on Ukraine before you agree to serve them coffee? Or would you simply take their order because they are a paying customer like any other?
“Discriminating against Israelis is okay because they’ve chosen to live in Israel.”
People don’t choose where they are born. 80 percent of Israelis were born in Israel. Contrary to the propaganda, the vast majority of Israelis do not have dual citizenship. Immigrating is never easy, and asking people to upheaval their entire lives before you agree to treat them as human beings is as ridiculous as it sounds. (Not to mention…if where Israelis live is the problem, why are you discriminating against Israelis living abroad?)
“Discriminating against Israelis is okay because army service is mandatory.”
Russia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Türkiye, Sudan, North Korea, Syria, Azerbaijan, Qatar, and many other countries accused of egregious human rights violations also have mandatory conscription. Do you discriminate against their citizens when they walk into your store?
“Discriminating against Israelis is okay because they live on stolen land.”
Even if that were true, which it’s not, do you refuse service to Americans? Canadians? Australians? Do you refuse service to white Latinos? Do you refuse service to Egyptian Arabs or Arabs from Middle Eastern countries outside the Arabian Peninsula?
EXAMPLES
- Adding Israeli-owned establishments to boycott lists. You don’t have to support any business whose views don’t align with your own, but boycotting businesses based on the owner’s ethnicity or nationality alone is bigotry, not activism.
- Accusing Israelis of having no culture or “stealing” Palestinian or Arab culture. Israeli culture is an amalgamation of 3000 years of Jewish culture, including culture developed both in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora. Additionally, over 20 percent of Israelis are not Jewish, and their cultures have become integral to the country.
- Denying Israeli customers service.
- Demanding a political litmus test of Israelis before deciding whether you will treat us as human beings.
- Treating Israeli identity as “taboo” or “controversial.” For example, stripping a superhero character of her Israeli identity for fear of offending people.
- Justifying, excusing, supporting, or encouraging war crimes and/or crimes against humanity against Israelis.
- Disregarding threats on Israeli lives, or seeing Israeli lives as expendable. For example, dismissing rockets as a real threat or minimizing the Islamic Republic’s missile assault on Israel as merely a “symbolic attack.”
- Condemning Israel for saving Israeli lives. For example, the expectation that Israel shouldn’t rescue hostages because rescue operations will likely result in Palestinian deaths. Israel’s first responsibility is to its own citizens, just like any other country.
- Boycotting Israeli individuals based solely on the fact that they are Israelis. An example would be boycotting Israeli academics, who ironically are oftentimes the harshest critics of Israeli policies.
- Treating anything Israeli as inherently negative or untrustworthy.
THE JEW AS "OTHER"
Xenophobia is an element of antisemitism. Antisemites have always treated Jews as “other” or “foreign.” For example, up until the late 1700s, Jews in Europe were stateless, as they were denied citizenship. Well into the 1800s, Jews in Muslim-ruled countries were “dhimmis,” or second-class citizens. Sometimes they were denied citizenship altogether; for example, in 1962, Jews in Algeria were stripped of their citizenship.
For millennia, Europeans referred to Jews as “Oriental” and “foreign.” From the Middle Ages on, Europeans described Jews as “Semites” and “Asiatic peoples.”
Between 1100-1800 alone, Jews were expelled from at least 933 European cities, towns, and villages. With the nineteenth century rise of modern nationalism, Jews were largely excluded from the national ethos in their countries of birth, both in Europe and in the Arab world.
A major example of the intersection between antisemitism and xenophobia include the conspiracy of dual loyalty — that Jews are more loyal to each other or to Israel than to their countries of citizenship — and the conspiracy that Jews (or “Zionists”) are working together to advance an international Jewish conspiracy of some sort. These ideas were a common theme in Nazi, Soviet, and even McCarthyist propaganda. Today we see the same themes among both white supremacists and anti-Zionists.
"Fifty years ago, prognosticators said: 'Antisemitism, it's a historical fact of the past. You don't have to worry about it.' They said: 'In 50 years, Israel will be a normal nation among all the nations.' Boy, how wrong they were! Israel has become 'the Jew among the nations'."
THE JEW AMONG THE NATIONS
We know this vitriol targeting Israel is rooted in antisemitism because it’s in the exact same nature of the vitriol that Jews experienced for the past three millennia. It’s rooted in the exact same antisemitic tropes, stereotypes, conspiracies, double standards, and falsehoods — literally word for word.
Israel is not above contempt, and it should hold itself to the standard of any democracy. But what we are seeing is overwhelmingly not sincere critique of Israeli policies. It’s the delegitimization of Israel’s entire existence, and, by extension, the existence of Israelis as human beings. While once antisemites denied the right of Jews to exist, today they deny the right of the Jewish country to exist, subjecting its citizens to the exact same demonization that has long been reserved for Jews.
For example, using antisemitic imagery to "criticize" Israeli politicians is not criticism; it’s antisemitism. It’s easy to criticize politicians without evoking antisemitic tropes.
ISRAELIS ARE NOT A MONOLITH
Israelis are not a monolith. Rather, Israelis comprise of 9.9 million individuals with drastically different backgrounds, opinions, experiences, and goals. Israelis come from a number of religious and ethnic backgrounds, including Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Circassians, Arameans, and many others. Israeli Jews can be Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Sephardi, Beta Israel, and more. Most Israelis are born in Israel; a minority made aliyah later in life.
Some Israelis are right-wing, others are left-wing, and then there is everything in between. Some Israelis are conservative; others are liberal. Some Israelis are deeply religious; others don’t believe in any god at all. Some Israelis support the current Israeli government; most don’t. Most Israelis want a hostage-ceasefire deal; others believe a ceasefire deal before Hamas’s complete destruction is a recipe for disaster. Some Israelis want an election now, others want an election after the war, and others want to wait until the end of the current government’s term. Some Israelis support a two-state solution, others support a one-state solution, and others think peace with the Palestinians is impossible. Most Israelis serve in the army; others don’t.
All this to say that just because you know a person is Israeli doesn’t mean that you know anything else about them.
When you treat Israelis as a monolith, well, not only are you exposing yourself as a bigot who negatively stereotypes people based on their nationality, but this is what happens.
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