Explaining why anti-Semitism disguised itself as anti-Zionism during the war against Hamas

Bret Stephens is perhaps one of the most lucid journalists in the State United. He has scoured the editorial offices of major newspapers and is today one of the most widely read columnists in the world. The New York Times, the universal newspaper named after your city of birth. In his latest editorial – titled Isn’t anti-Zionism anti-Semitism? Someone did not receive the memo – raises the incongruities that progressivism or a certain left have not taken into account when judging the actions of Israel in its latest offensive against the Hamas terrorist group which lasted eleven days.

In order to Stephens -whose family fled Nazism and settled State United in the Second World War– in many industries it has become a matter of faith to repeat that one thing is “anti-Zionism“And quite another was the”anti-semitism“Trying to justify criticism of Israeli actions by Gaza. “In recent years, it has become an article of faith of the progressive left that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism and that it is slanderous to assume that someone who hates Israel hates Jews too.», He raises.

However, this statement – repeated ad nauseam in recent weeks to justify itself – would hide other hidden feelings, according to the author of the opinion column. “Some did not receive the notification. He was not received by the people who, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Death to the Jews”, assaulted Jewish diners at a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles. Not (received) those who launched fireworks in New York’s diamond district. Not the people who brutally beat a man wearing a kippah in Times Square. Not those who walked through London insulting Jews and shouting, “Rape your daughters” Nor the people who gathered outside a synagogue in Germany shouting insults. The memo was not received by people who, during a demonstration in Brussels, chanted: “Jews, remember Khaybar. Muhammad’s army is back ‘“.

Following the illustration of the anti-Semitic demonstrations which have toured the world, Stephens deepens his explanation and his reproaches Twitter which according to his point of view allowed insulting and clearly anti-Semitic hashtags to flood the social network: #HitlerTeniaRazon Yes # COVID1948 with reference to the year of creation of the State of israel. Maybe for some parameters of this platform they don’t involve hate speech.

“If there was a massive progressive alliance online campaign with the Jews, I missed it. If corporate executives sent memos to workplaces expressing concern for the safety of Jewish employees, I missed it. If academic associations have published public letters denouncing the use of anti-Semitic tropes by pro-Palestinian activists, I have missed them. It is a curious silence. In the land of inclusion, Jews are denied inclusion“, Condemned the newspaper columnist The New York Times.

Later in his article, Stephens explains how absurd and anti-Semitic it is to attack an American, English or German Jew for the things he might do Israel. And he ridicules arguments to the contrary: “Would the Los Angeles and New York attacks have been more justifiable if the victims had been Israeli citizens, including, for example, Israeli diplomats? Is hatred of an entire country and threats or violence to its people acceptable as long as the hatred is not marred by older prejudices?“.

In addition, argues the journalist, the parameters and norms that are applied against Israel are not reflected in the actions of other countries which carry out abominable actions against entire communities in the face of the silence of political leaders and entire nations. “It is especially despicable when Israel is chosen in a way that does not apply to any other country. To take just one example, when was the last time you heard of a protest on a college campus or a call for boycott and divestment in response to Turkey’s 47-year occupation of the northern Cyprus or its routine bombing, using American-made Kurdish-language aircraft. militants in Iraq?“. The silence will be overwhelming on this question.

“The charges against Israel – theft of Palestinian land and rampant violence against Palestinian civilians, especially children – can’t help but remind me of the old slanders of Jewish greed and bloodlust.“, Strong points Stephens. “The anti-Semitic worldview is still Judeocentric, in that it is obsessed with Jewish behavior as the supreme factor in national and international political life. Lately the left has been terribly Judeocentric», Adds the chronicler to his logic.

“It should be ringing in the ears of progressives who say they are horrified by all forms of prejudice. Instead, they have indulged in an anti-Israel movement that continues to sink into the crudest forms of anti-Semitism.“He continued.

Finally, Stephens concludes with a warning about the difficult times ahead: “Progressives will have to make their own decisions about what to do with the burgeoning anti-Semitism among them. As for the Jews, they should take the events of the last days less as an outrage than an omen“.

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