-The author is director of the European Center for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter.

ISTANBUL

One of the intriguing consequences of the Gaza genocide was its impact on Jewish communities around the world. For many young Jews, particularly in the US, the genocide raised serious questions about their relationship with Israel and Zionism. There was a growing disinclination to identify with a state that commits genocide and is led by an extreme right-wing government. For some of them, this dissociation led them to join the pro-Palestinian solidarity movement.

Zionism and antisemitism

But for many Jews who still believe that Israel is a Jewish state to which they are unconditionally committed, the genocide and the swing to the right in Israel since 2009 pose a challenge they find difficult to deal with. With this kind of support, they risk being identified with a state that commits crimes against humanity, one that demands that they support and defend it almost without reservations. In so doing, they follow the main line of the Israeli propaganda that Judaism and Zionism are the same, and hence that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

Zionism and Judaism are not the same. The former is an ideology, the latter a religion or faith. Objections to an ideology are very different than negating the right of people to practice their religion or live according to their faith. Indeed, for centuries in Europe, Jews were persecuted because of their faith and in World War II were subjected to genocide because of being Jews.

After the war, this kind of antisemitism was pushed to the extreme right-wing margins of American and European politics. This is one of the main reasons so few Jews from Western countries decided to immigrate to Israel. Western racism was directed more towards Arabs, Africans, Muslims, and people from the Global South.

Antisemitism remained relatively dormant and definitely was not widespread and paled in comparison in the beginning of this century to Islamophobia in the West, which raged in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and later when a new influx of life seekers arrived in Europe following the Syrian civil war and the troubles in many Arab and North African countries.

However, with the shift in world public opinion towards Israel in this century, antisemitism was reframed as criticism of Israel as well as subscribing to criticizing Zionism. It was around 2010, in response to the emergence of the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement that the new regime in Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, realized it was losing the moral battle over Palestine and decided to confront the new challenge by weaponizing antisemitism as a tool to intimidate and silence criticism of Israel. They demanded like never before that Jews around the world would commit to identify not only with Israel, but the kind of Israel that Netanyahu and his messianic neo-Zionist allies have created.

Everything's antisemitism

This led to the identification of Jewish institutions, rather than Jewish people, with the acts of Israel on the ground. When these institutions wave the Israeli flag, they seem to identify not just with the state but also with its policies. Thus, it is possible that this intentional conflation of Judaism and Zionism, or Jewish identity with Israeli policy, initiated by Israel, increased the number of instances of antisemitism.

But these should be seen in a context. First, a large number of Jews play a prominent role in the international solidarity movement with the Palestinians, hence claiming that this movement is antisemitic is ridiculous. Secondly, a large number of Zionists today are fundamental Christians; in fact the sense in the US is that Israel relies more on them than on the Jewish communities, since its younger generation in growing numbers refuse to be associated with Israel or Zionism. Thirdly, some of the most prominent individuals and movements that subscribe to the old kind of antisemitism, located on the extreme right of world politics, are now Israel’s best allies. This October, Tommy Robinson a leader of the British antisemitic and racist movements, visited Israel and received VIP treatment.

To this one can add Israel’s attempt to weaponize Holocaust denial in order to silence criticism of its policies and curb solidarity with the Palestinians. This is not only is dangerous in instigating antisemitism, but it also abuses the memory of the Holocaust. But both these weapons, allegations of antisemitism and Holocaust denial, seem to be less effective now after the genocide in Gaza. Israel cannot take the high moral ground as it fails to convince the young Jewish generation in the world to stand behind it.

I do believe that the clarity of what Israel does and intends to do in fact would decrease antisemitism and allow us all to recognize that in the fight against this particular version of Zionism that unfolded in Gaza, we are fighting for a world free of racism of any kind and against the oppression and colonialism from which the Palestinians have suffered for more than a century.

*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu