In March 2019, the US Congress passed a resolution condemning antisemitism and other forms of hatred. The resolution was originally supposed to focus solely on antisemitism, but in the end, it condemned antisemitism and “anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against minorities.”
Then-Rep. Ted Deutch expressed outrage at the resolution: “Antisemitism is worthy of being taken seriously on its own. It’s worthy of being singularly called out. It feels like we’re only able to call the use of antisemitic language…if we’re addressing all forms of hatred.”
The US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee recently took up the issue of antisemitism on American college campuses. In his opening statement, Jewish ranking committee member Bernie Sanders offered two qualifications to his objections to antisemitism.
The first addressed other forms of hatred: “I condemn all forms of bigotry. Vile hatred is not something that should exist in the United States, whether it is racism against the African-American community, whether it’s sexism, whether it’s homophobia, whether it is xenophobia, or whether it is Islamophobia... antisemitism is unacceptable; so are Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry.”
Senator Sanders offered a second qualification to his objections to antisemitism by criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza, “There are very serious disagreements about what [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government has done in Gaza… We can agree that antisemitism is unacceptable in all forms, but some of us happen to believe that the response of the Netanyahu government to the Hamas attack is also unacceptable.”
Antisemitism is a big problem in America
When giving a major address on antisemitism, current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer felt the need to offer this qualification: “Every single American ought to condemn, with full-throated clarity, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of racial and religious prejudice. We must condemn all forms of hate.”
These are just a few examples of the curious phenomenon that Jewish lawmakers feel the need to qualify their objections to antisemitism. I don’t understand their belief that they can’t simply object to antisemitism and must qualify their objections to Jew-hate.
One might posit that they think antisemitism isn’t a bigger problem in America than any other form of hate. However, all studies on antisemitism confirm that antisemitism is the most frequent and problematic form of hate in America.
In a recent poll commissioned by the Israel on Campus Coalition, 74% of Jewish college students believe antisemitism is a serious problem on campus, and 30% reported experiencing antisemitism.The ADL reported an over 360% rise in antisemitism across America. Antisemitic incidents were 68% of all religion-based hate crimes, according to the data, even though Jews only make up some 2% of the US population.
WE DO not find other forms of hatred qualified by expanding objections to them by including antisemitism. There would be outrage if a resolution against racism, sexism, or Islamophobia were amended with an objection to antisemitism. If antisemitism in America is at higher levels than other forms of hate, why do Jewish leaders feel the need to qualify their objections to antisemitism?
Experts on antisemitism have addressed the reluctance of some Jews to call out antisemitism.Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, has highlighted the emotional and social toll of confronting antisemitism, which can deter public action.
David Feldman, a historian and director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, points to the complexity of distinguishing legitimate criticism from antisemitism as a potential barrier.
Deborah Lipstadt, a prominent Holocaust scholar and former US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, suggested that Jews may internalize a sense of futility or trauma from centuries of persecution, leading to a cautious approach.
Noah Feldman, a Harvard Law professor and author, touches on the psychological dimension, noting that antisemitism’s resilience “engenders fear, pain, sadness, frustration, and intergenerational trauma.” This emotional burden could make Jews hesitant to speak out against antisemitism.
I’m not an expert on antisemitism, but I think there are Jews who are embarrassed to call out antisemitism because they fear doing so would differentiate them from their gentile colleagues and neighbors. They are fearful of being different than the gentiles. Instead of being proud of their uniqueness, they are ashamed.
The need to qualify objections to antisemitism, no matter how it is done, is wrong. Qualifying objections to antisemitism – either by expanding the objection to all forms of hatred, conflating it with Israeli policy, or making it political – serve to dilute and minimize the objections to antisemitism. By not keeping antisemitism a standalone subject of objection, the danger of antisemitism becomes muddied in the public’s eye. It must stop.
The writer is a Zionist educator at institutions around the world. He recently published his book Zionism Today.