Is “Israel” a shield against antisemitism? In short, no.
A friend of mine asked me a question last night: “What are some of your thoughts on the argument that Israel needs to exist because of antisemitism?”
And this is what I said:
Zionism, especially via "the state of Israel," does not prevent but actually fosters antisemitism, because as an ethnonationalist settler-colonial project and genocidal warmonger, it purports to speak for all Jewish people. This claim instantaneously equates us—all the Jews of the worldwide diaspora—with both the occupation’s actions and its values, which I have literally just argued on Twitter this very second [note: last night, now] are fundamentally unJewish:
Among other things, "Israel" perverts Jewish law with regard to who is a Jew, because their “law of return” eligibility is being constantly jockeyed. “Israel" is a government, not a religious entity, which muddles debate—both internally to the government and about that government—and risks discriminatory decisions of many sorts, including against Jewish people, based on political positioning.
In this way, the settler government of Occupied Palestine has very successfully set up a fundamentalist theocracy in the grand tradition of fundamentalist theocracies while feeding its people and the wider world its tired line about being "the only democracy in the Middle East." The settler government of “Israel” shows no regard for the fact that the majority of its Jewish constituents are religiously liberal or even secular (albeit heavily propagandized politically). This propaganda occurs in no small part via mandating service in the IOF, an incredibly effective tool of indoctrination in Islamophobia, a culture of fear, and the dehumanization of Palestinians.
Rather than being a beacon for democracy, “Israel’s” governance leans ever more radically conservative, both politically and religiously, in ways that are increasingly fascist to literally everyone under their control. The totality of these violent political actions and fascism in service of religious extremism and ethnonationalism endangers Jews everywhere, especially in light of their insistence on equating all Jewish people with "Israel" and, thus, that fascism.
Recent proposals from members of the occupation’s government include laws that would punish dissent (already potential grounds to deny “repatriation” via the “law of return, alongside other exceptions, if they choose to exercise it). I personally find this both exceptionally dangerous and deeply unJewish. Argument, debate, and dissent are central to our religious teaching, learning, and practice. The old saw about two Jews with three opinions between them is enduring for a reason.
The argument of whether or not a Jewish homeland needs to exist is, at this moment in time, moot. Because we are not speaking in hypotheticals. “Israel” is not a thought experiment. We are speaking of people’s lives and, indeed, their deaths every day. The Zionist project that currently exists in the place where the Jewish entitlement to a homeland supposedly exists began 75 years ago, arising from a premise and series of tactics that were wholly wrong, infinitely harmful, and that should not have happened. But it did happen. And goes on.
The opportunity to seek to form collaborative and healthy state jointly with Palestinians was squandered, doing irreparable harm to them and, indirectly, to all Jewish people. As others have shown this week with historical documents, the Zionism of the earliest days was already toxic and not universally popular among Jews. This is even more the case now that the ongoing occupation has proven again and again how vile, violent, and unJewish it truly is.
To be a part of a diaspora like ours is, in my view, essentially the antithesis of indigeneity. You are definitionally culturally homeless. That brings with it a deep and ancient wound filled with loss, fear, and longing. You salve it as best you can in dogged hope and dreams.
You cannot heal that wound by stealing someone else’s home. And when you do that anyway, it rightly angers people. And when you anger people, some of them will decide that everyone who is like you is worthy of their anger and hatred.
Finally, there is a frequent line about “Israel" and its people functioning as rhetorical human shields in various ways. I’d argue this is also literally true, both historically and now, with regard to its strongest political ties.
"Israel" was originally British colonial project. Now it is a Middle Eastern outpost inextricably tied to the US. Both countries have been quite happy to let whiteness—and conferred whiteness, since there are many nonwhite Jews—offer it the legitimacy they need for "allyship." This allows the US and other “western” nations to gain support from non-Jews (currently in large part themselves religious fundamentalists and ethnonationalists) in furtherance of their political goals in the region.
They do this while simultaneously using a population of deeply propagandized Jewish people (who, again, have a mandate to enlist for military service, including years of reserve duty) as their expendable shield wall between the "west" and the Arab nations (read as: oil fields). In pushing their agenda and pro-“Israel” talking points, the US government and others contribute directly not only to the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine but also to denying the Jewishness of anti-Zionist diasporic Jews, which literally accuses us of antisemitism via “self-hatred.”
There’s more I could say, references I could pull, and so on, but you just asked for my thoughts.
Above here is already a lot of thoughts, but ultimately there is just one thought, and it’s this:
Zionism as a core principle and its fortress on earth—the current "state of Israel”—are not the Jewish homeland of myth.
They are fundamentally unJewish and themselves antisemitic, by association and reinforcement of others' antisemitism at a minimum and, often, literally by law.
Note: There is now a part two to these musings, which can be viewed here:
https://medium.com/@sharynblum/my-people-are-not-your-propaganda-9600aab5d23b
