I know antisemitism is evil. Using the label on pro-Palestinian activists cheapens it | Opinion

For 22 years, I taught a course on antisemitism and the Holocaust at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Students studied the long history of antisemitism and how that ideology led to the genocidal violence of the Nazis and their collaborators in WWII.

Beginning in the late 19th Century, antisemitism and mounting violence against Jews was the context for the emergence of the Zionist movement for a Jewish state in Palestine. The idea was passionately debated among Jews. Many felt they would be better off in the diaspora. The Zionist argument gained credibility with Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917 for the creation of “a national homeland for the Jewish people,” and the Holocaust settled the matter for the vast majority of Jews. Identifying with Israel has become deeply ingrained in the cultural, emotional and political lives of Jews everywhere.

In the U.S., the horror of the Holocaust along with Jewish activism led to wide support for Israel as an ethical and political obligation. This support, however, also contributed to a neglect or dismissal of the price paid by Palestinians — mass expulsion, living under an oppressive occupation, the isolation and virtual imprisonment of Palestinians living in Gaza and much more.

Since Hamas’s shocking and horrific attack on October 7 and Israel’s brutal response, Americans, including American Jews, are now painfully divided. Critics allege Israel is deliberately targeting civilians and, as the death toll continues to mount, is committing genocide. Defenders of Israel’s war in Gaza say Hamas must be destroyed, even though many despise Netanyahu and are critical of his failure to prioritize return of the hostages.

Speaking one’s truth and taking a stand should not in principle foreclose trying to understanding the positions and emotions of one’s opponent. War makes such understanding nearly impossible.

Yet how can we dismiss the moral passion motivating the protesters as the collective punishment in Gaza continues unabated? The specter of genocide acquires alarming plausibility. The forced displacement of 85% of the population of Gaza with no safe place remaining; the almost total destruction of dwellings, hospitals, and schools; the use of starvation as a weapon of war; and the attacks on humanitarian convoys and aid workers cannot be credibly denied.

For those defending Israel’s war in Gaza, the growing criticism of that war now becomes the outrage. Among the various allegations, the most incriminatory is that the criticism and protests against Israel are antisemitic and that they are fueling a resurgence of antisemitism.

Certainly, the enduring strength of antisemitism should never be underestimated. Examples proliferate and not just among far-right extremists who commit violence against Jews or chant “Jews will not replace us.” Some antisemites likely do mask their anti-Jewish attitudes as anti-Israeli. Neither should the fears of a hatred that spurred centuries of violence and then the Holocaust be simply discounted.

Yet the allegation that criticisms of Israeli policies are by themselves antisemitic (along with repeated references to the Holocaust to drive home the point) should be forcefully challenged. The political purpose of such a claim is to slander opponents of Israeli war policy and thereby censor their voices.

Non-Jewish as well as the many Jewish protesters refuse to be silenced. It should be noted that only a few of the critics fail to condemn Hamas for October 7. Most understand that just as Israel’s right to self-defense does not justify total war against civilians, the right to resist cannot justify the slaughter of Israeli civilians or the taking of hostages.

If Americans lose their right to protest an unjust war; if we allow ourselves to be intimidated and our passionately held moral commitments made illegitimate, if laws are passed that repress our voices, and if sanctions are leveled on those who do speak out, we will find ourselves in a renewed McCarthyism we thought had been defeated.

Americans must strongly reject the attempt to use the charge of antisemitism to silence protest against Israel’s war in Gaza or against U.S. military and diplomatic support for that war.

Robert Crawford is a professor emeritus and founding faculty at University of Washington, Tacoma, where he taught politics, human rights, history and culture. He is a recipient of UWT’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the Retiree Excellence in Community Service Award.

This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 9:34 AM.