By Irishexaminer.com,Ria Czerniak-Lebov

Copyright irishexaminer

Jews, like any other minority, feel the impact of any such hostilities. However, it seems the fastest growing threat to Jewish safety and belonging across the diaspora is, in fact, the state of Israel.

We can no longer discuss antisemitism without acknowledging the seismic effect that Israel’s genocide in Gaza and violent, expansionist settler project in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have had on global Jewry.

Those intent on defending Israel’s offensive have weaponised antisemitism in order to discredit, demonise and silence those who oppose their actions, and in the process have obscured the very definition of the term.

Over the last 23 months, critics of the Israeli government have repeatedly been met with accusations of antisemitism. The United Nations, International Court of Justice, numerous NGOs, activists, educators, medics and politicians, including our own president Michael D Higgins, have all been accused of being antisemitic.

This strategy is not new. Long before AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), CUFI (Christians United for Israel), ELNET (European Leadership Network), UK Lawyers for Israel and the rest of the pro-Israel lobby existed, early Zionists began equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

In 1943, future Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion responded to accusations of arms-trafficking by claiming a British court was antisemitic, thus beginning what writer Christopher Sykes described as “a new phase in Zionist propaganda” in which “to be anti-Zionist was to be antisemitic”.

Such bad-faith accusations of antisemitism have done untold damage to Jews who face real discrimination.

Even when it doesn’t make itself explicitly visible, there has always been a degree of latent antisemitism, both in Ireland and around the world, which like any form of racism or prejudice, leans on stereotypes.

The Jews as miserly, the Jews as the self-identified “chosen people”, the Jews as cunning, the Jews as secretly controlling Hollywood or government, the Jews as wealthy, the Jews as self-proclaimed perpetual victims, the Jews as loyal to each other or to Israel above any other nation or identity. The list goes on. Much like Islamophobia, antisemitism renders the diversity of global Jewry into one monolithic entity.

While Christians are not universally expected to share culture, language and political views with every Christian-majority government, the public imagination often conflates Jews and Muslims with regimes with which they share nothing but their religion.

I remember clearly the rise in post 9/11 Islamophobia and the horrific effect this had on my friends in the Irish Muslim Community. Similarly, Netanyahu and his government’s actions are contributing to hostilities towards Jews worldwide, who are often held accountable and implicated in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

As a non-Zionist Jew, I have often experienced the conflation of Zionism and Judaism, and am deeply upset by any presumption that my faith and heritage may be misconstrued as support for Israel. This conflation, in itself, is the single most antisemitic attitude that I personally face.

While exclusion or discrimination against Jews, simply because they are Jews, is utterly unacceptable, the same cannot be said of a state whose government are committing war crimes. It is not antisemitic to endorse sanctions and boycotts against those who profit from occupation and genocide. Pressure must be applied to Israel and all complicit in war crimes by any means possible.

However, just as we must never hold Palestinian civilians responsible for the actions of Hamas, we should not hold all Jews accountable for Israel’s atrocities.

Jews should be made to feel welcome and comfortable, equal and valued wherever we find ourselves. However, those who are vocally supportive of a state which remains committed to obliterating the Gaza strip cannot expect their views to be respectfully accepted.

That may well mean that many supporters of Israel, whether Jewish or not, feel deeply uncomfortable or threatened by the Irish public’s overwhelming support of Palestine. Nearly two years into a live-streamed genocide, none of us should feel comfortable, but equally, no form of physical or verbal threat can be condoned irrespective of political or religious difference.

It is horrifying to hear Jewish community leaders, representative councils and lobby groups across Europe and the US continue to defend Israel unconditionally, deflecting allegations of complicity with accusations of antisemitism, whataboutery and propaganda.

By failing to condemn a genocide being committed by the only Jewish state in the world, the very groups who claim to represent and protect Jews continue to reinforce the notion that Judaism, Zionism and support for Israel are inextricably linked.

For all our sakes, it is imperative that we fully separate Judaism from Zionism, while acknowledging that the current coalition in Israel is part of a global rise of far-right fundamentalism which threatens us all.

Since the dawn of Zionism, there have always been critical Jewish voices whose values were at odds with Israel’s violent occupation. From the ultra-orthodox Jews of Neturei Karta to the Israeli New Historians Ilan Pappé and Avi Shlaim, Jewish-Palestinian solidarity organisations to Israeli human rights activists and military refuseniks.

Such Jews are largely depicted as disloyal, self-hating, naive or supportive of Hamas in a bid to undermine their position. These accusations only marginalise and alienate conscientious objectors within their own communities.

For many years, I would not have dreamt of wearing a Star of David. I felt it had been appropriated and corrupted by Israel, flown on the flag of a country who had made a mockery of everything I had been raised to believe. It was only in recent years that I felt the desire to wear a small gold star around my neck. I too, needed to relearn the ways I navigated and engaged with my own Jewishness, distinct from Israel and my family and friends there.

In being Jewish, I have nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to hide the religion, heritage and ethnicity which have been instrumental in making me the person I am. Israel does not represent me, just as I do not represent Israel.

For those who had never questioned Zionism before the current genocide, it is deeply painful to have to confront Israel’s longstanding moral bankruptcy and systemic oppression of Palestinians. Some people I know and love cannot do so.

However, turning away, repeating Israeli hasbara and refusing to bear witness to the horrors being committed is a privilege which is not afforded to those facing displacement, starvation and daily bombardment.

It is our moral obligation to use our privilege to do all we can to end this genocide and to call out those who exploit antisemitism for their own agenda.