There are at least four specific major strands of antisemitism in the US today:
* Traditional far-right antisemitism associated with neo-Nazis and white supremacism that regards Jews as both uniquely powerful puppet-masters and racially inferior.
* Black antisemitism, both the decades-old version where Jews are regarded as the epitome of "whiteness" and become lightning rods for Black resentment, and the more modern Nation of Islam type regards Jews as imposters and Blacks as the real Jews and actively incites the Black community against Jews with lies about the slave trade
* Arab and Islamic antisemitism centered on Quranic texts and hate of Israel.
* "Progressive" and Leftist antisemitism that obsesses over Israel and regards the Jewish state - and by extension, Zionists - as uniquely evil when acting as any other nation at war acts. It also divides up the nation into "oppressors" and the "oppressed" and Jews are invariably placed in the former role making them the victimizers in the only real discrimination that matters.
While it says that the US "embraces" the IHRA Working Definition and "welcomes" other definitions of antisemitism, the 65-page document has almost no concrete examples of the latter three types. Indeed, while it doesn't mention it, the entire document is fully compatible with the
Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, which was written specifically to excuse all forms of antisemitism that do not emanate from the Right.
The strategy document lumps Jews in with Muslims and Blacks as victims, but not once mentions these other groups as even potential oppressors against Jews. (The closest is when it mentions the Colleyville synagogue hostage crisis, without mentioning that the attacker was Muslim.)
The document mentions "Islamophobia" 21 times, and most of the specific policy recommendations include fighting all forms of bigotry. For example, its very first recommendation is:
Federal Agencies will incorporate information about bias and discrimination related to
religion, national origin, race, and ethnicity, including information about antisemitism
and Islamophobia, and about workplace religious accommodations into training
programs as they carry out their obligations under Executive Order 14035 (Executive
Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce)
There is nothing wrong with workplace accommodation for religious Jews and Muslims, but DEI is part of the problem. It categorizes Jews as white by default and therefore as oppressors who need to be educated in how not to be bigots. This means that Jews are the only minority who are regarded as part of the problem DEI pretends to solve.
This is the way the entire strategy is: while the introduction notes that antisemitism is unique, the rest of the document does not.
When it comes to Israel, the best rule of when criticism of Israel is antisemitic remains is Natan Sharansky's
"3D" test of demonization, double standards and delegitimization.
This document does not combat any of them. This is the only section that deals with Israel in any depth:
Although antisemitism remains a pernicious global problem, the scope of this national strategy is
domestic. The strategy is focused on countering the threat and manifestations of antisemitism in
the United States of America. The U.S. Government, led by the Department of State, will
continue to combat antisemitism abroad and in international fora—including efforts to
delegitimize the State of Israel.
As we confront antisemitism, we do so with profound respect for our democratic traditions,
including free expression and speech protected by the First Amendment. We also do so with an
unshakable commitment to the State of Israel’s right to exist, its legitimacy, and its security. In
addition, we recognize and celebrate the deep historical, religious, cultural, and other ties many
American Jews and other Americans have to Israel.
But this is a sop. This strong commitment to Israel is only a foreign policy priority, but explicitly not a domestic one. It only protects Zionist Jewish students in the narrow sense of protecting their rights to free speech and belief.
The only examples of anti-Israel opinion that the document explicitly calls out are those that neo-Nazis are comfortable saying.
Part of the perniciousness of modern antisemitism is that it is hate disguised as anti-racism and justice. This allows the current Jew-haters to insist that they are against antisemitism (i.e., white supremacy) while engaging in it, and there is nothing in this strategy that calls that out - meaning that today's haters can continue to lump Zionism in with racism and homophobia as evils to be eradicated and there is little in the national strategy that could combat that except by noting that it indirectly discriminates against Jews.
This means that proving antisemitism is a much higher bar than proving racism.
And that is the real problem. The strategy is too vague to be useful. By avoiding explicitly endorsing the IHRA working definition of antisemitism it means that the strategy cannot combat:
* Saying that Jews controlled the slave trade
* Claiming that Jews have no historic connection to Israel or Jerusalem
* Charging that Israel and Zionists engage in "Jewish supremacy"
* Comparing Israeli actions to those of Nazi Germany
To effectively fight antisemitism, the strategy must be specific, not vague. There is nothing in this strategy that directly combats Black Americans being exposed to lies about Jews from their own celebrities. There is nothing that says that saying Israel has no right to exist as a Jewish state is antisemitic. There is not a word about BDS.
Moreover, because it doesn't recognize Black, Islamic and Leftist antisemitism, the strategy cannot combat them except in marginal and extreme cases.
Unlike other bigotries which are defined as broadly as possible, antisemitism is implicitly defined here as narrowly as possible. Whether right or wrong, burden of proof in other cases of bigotry rest on the accused, but with antisemitism it rests with the accuser.
Holocaust education and teaching employers that they shouldn't discriminate against religions Jews is fine and good, but they cover up the real issues facing most American Jews today. This strategy has some good ideas and suggestions but it fails to do what it was meant to do, and as such it feels more like a checkmark in a list of promises instead of a real tool to combat the world's oldest, and constantly morphing, hate.
The lack of a real definition, the lack of calling out specifically the threats to US Jews today, and the desire to subsume antisemitism with other bigotries makes the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism a failure before it starts.
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Sunday, May 28, 2023
Elder of Ziyon
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