Calling what we are seeing a “rise in antisemitism” minimizes the reality: an ideological contagion that is spreading across movements, platforms, and demographics with alarming speed.
BTW, Yashar, thank you for what you do. It has been a little difficult for me to find resources/news related to Iran /or/ Jewish anything that are not drip-feeding propaganda, or flagrantly prejudiced. I am Jewish, so the latter often puts me in a stressful position. I don't want to unknowingly peddle anti-Iranian or anti-Muslim garbage either.
I'm really not sure what else to say. Please take care of yourself.
I doubt very much that they are being bombed, since the US and Israel are targeting the regime infrastructure (even that school was embedded within an IRGC compound)
However no doubt the Iranian Jewish community is in danger until the regime falls
Deservedly so - like 9/11 they LET IT HAPPEN and had detailed intel shared to them by the Egyptians three days ahead of the attack and they chose to ignore it. Reported in the times of Israel a few days after 10/7.
I’m so tired of Zionist victimhood. You’re not victims you’re terrorists.
Edit: Receipts for the zionists (and it was 10 days prior and Netanyahu was personally called):
I just heard someone In the Security business say the other day that it’s never a problem of not enough information. It’s a problem of too much information.
I have a Jewish friend who thinks just like you. We've talked about this. A lot. And we've had to stop, because we reach a point where our arguments simply don't meet. It's not that one of us is right and the other is wrong. It's that we're speaking from paradigms that don't connect.
I can't speak from having lived through the Holocaust up close. That wound isn't mine, and I respect it. But I do know what it means to be a people without a state. I'm Catalan. I know what it means to have your language, your culture, and your right to exist as a people permanently questioned. They're different wounds, but both teach you things.
And here's what I'm trying to say:
As long as you refuse to recognize that your paradigm is part of reality, but not all of reality, the loop won't break. As long as you won't see that there's another way of looking at the same thing—a way that doesn't deny your pain but adds more pieces to the puzzle—we'll keep talking without ever hearing each other.
What I see, from my paradigm, is this: the suffering of the Palestinian people is not the result of some ancient hatred finding a new host. It is the direct consequence of concrete political decisions, made over decades by the governments of Israel. Governments that have acted from a logic of survival, yes, but that have ended up believing something deeply absurd: that only by being omnipotent, only by dominating and subduing all their neighbors, will they achieve the stability and the peace they've dreamed of.
But that's not a dream. It's a nightmare.
And I know this because real stability—the kind that lasts—isn't built with walls and bombs. It's built by recognizing the efforts of all those who are already doing something different. The Jewish and Palestinian doctors working together in hospitals, saving lives without asking about nationality. The Jews and Palestinians who have chosen to build equal communities, where they live together and share. The people who sit down to negotiate as equals, looking at the other for what they are: a human being with a past, a present, and a future that they hope will be better than the past.
These people aren't naive. They're the only ones who've understood that peace isn't won—it's built. And it's built together.
I suggest you read some unbiased history. You cannot blame the Israeli governments over the years without also blaming England, France, the Ottomans, the Arabs, especially Germany and the Axis Powers, the Arab Nations that formed after the two world Wars, the UN, UNWRA and the Palestinians themselves.
Read about the Balfour Agreement, read about the UN partition plan, the White Paper, the 1948 war that the Arabs started and lost; the refusal of those who fled or were expelled due to violence to return under a banner of peace, the refusal of the Arabs to accept not only Israel but any Jews in the Middle East; the expulsion of Jews from MENA countries, the refusal of any Arab country other than Jordan to accept Arabs from Palestine as citizens; the refusal of of The refugees to become citizens and loose their refugee status because that would mean accepting Israel and Jews living next to them; the change in status of UNRWA from mainly humanitarian assistance to radicalized education; the formation of the PLO and many terrorist acts to follow, the Itifadas and the Oct. 7.
I can't fully grasp what your people have been through, that's true. That wound isn't mine. But I can see where the dynamics I'm observing are leading.
Maybe you choose omnipotence because you think it's the only way out. I understand that: when you've spent centuries as the victim, the temptation to finally be the strongest is immense.
But I think you're wrong. Omnipotence isn't a way out. It's a prison. A prison where you'll have to live always afraid, always watching for the enemy's return. And in this logic, enemies never end.
First of all, I’m not Jewish. You do not need to be Jewish to stand against antisemitism or to understand the harm of it or to see that Israel is used as an excuse for it.
Secondly, self-defense isn’t omnipotent nor even powder, it’s simple survival.
And one last thing: the Netanyahu-Trump duo clearly expresses a direction for the future of humanity that makes me deeply sad. It's not just Israel or Palestine. It's the model: the strong leader who only understands power as domination, who despises international law, who feeds fear to perpetuate himself. And when I see this, and see it being applauded, I wonder what world we're leaving for those who come after.
I think people often project what Jewish people are saying in a very maximalist and extreme way. How many Jews actually applaud Netanyahu? Not many. I don’t think it’s fair to portray that Jews or Zionists support the direction he has taken the country. Israel has large and popular anti government protests.
When Jews call out antisemitism in various criticism of Israel, they are NOT saying all criticism is inherently antisemitic. In many cases, Jews may agree with the sentiment being expressed but are uncomfortable with the antisemitic tropes that it plays on. I wish people would try to understand what Jews are saying, rather than projecting their beliefs about who they are onto them.
While I’m no fan of either (never ever voted for Trump or any other Republican), but I’m much more concerned about Putin, the IRGC, Hamas, Taliban, and all radical and political Islamists, North Korea, and the many non-democratic governments around the world who kill and imprison their own citizens for the privileges we Westerners take for granted.
I criticize certain ways of doing things—that doesn't make me antisemitic. I made that clear in my very first intervention. I have a Jewish friend in Tel Aviv, and talking to him shows that there are things beyond both of us. And yes, let's be clear: the West has historically acted as a counterweight to Putin’s Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes in Asia. But now, with Trump, we’ll see—if he gets his way—whether the West has effectively erased itself, leaving the door open for dictatorships to settle in for the long haul.
The suffering of the Palestinians is purely because of real estate and an illegal land grab, not some long time hatred. The Muslims historically were better to the Jews for a thousand years than the Christians were.
This is ridiculous. There is not a rise an anti-semitism or a pandemic of Jew Hatred. There is a calling out of the harmful racist non-religious ideology that is Zionism. If you identify as a Zionist then so be it, but know that Zionism and Judaism are not one in the same. Trying to pretend that they are is harmful to Jewish people everywhere. The atrocities that the Zionist Israeli government are perpetuating on the Palestinians and now trying to do to the Iranian people is disgusting and is and should rightly be called out. Any sane person who cares about humanity would be doing the same.
Well with Gaza and now Iran it's hard to say Israel's anti Muslim stance is any better. You can't do horrible things and then expect people to like you. I don't hate anyone but it does bother me when innocent people are being ravaged because of it
Perception is everything. You perceive Jew hatred, others see people playing the victim while enjoying US taxpayer money without any rewards for the US besides war. Essentially users, not friends. The newest perception that does Israel no favor, is this joint war against Iran. Sure there is no love lost between the US and the Khomeini regime, but these are an ocean and continent away from the US. People are wondering wtf we are even doing there, our government has not presented any convincing casus belli or end-game, then people see the US doing exactly what Netanyahu has been goading the US to do for at least two decades under threat of nuclear Armageddon and Israel happily bombing along, meanwhile the idiot US president was elected on the premise that he would put America first, and not involve the US in new wars. So now it appears that Israel is the tail wagging the US dog, and Americans are not loving it. Billions and American lives gone in a matter of days, meanwhile the American dream keeps slipping away for so many. Do you think Americans will blame ourselves for this? Perception is everything.
While I deeply appreciate your unwavering commitment to the Jewish people, I was taken aback by your attack on a group of “normie moms” and the role they play in perpetuating antisemitism. It wasn’t clear to me who these women are and how they fit into your narrative. Continue to keep antisemitism in the forefront of your writing. Great job!
I’m Jewish. This is intentional. Every action israel does is to foment antisemitism abroad so that Jews are pressured to “return” to Israel.
I’ve hated israel since I was 10 years old, when my Zionist Hebrew school made the mistake of teaching about the Warsaw ghetto around the same time I was learning about Gaza (this is back in… 1999). None of the religious teachers could answer me with a straight face why an open aired prison for Jews (Warsaw) was not ok yet one for Muslims was not only ok but necessary.
I’ve only become more “antisemitic” AKA ANTI ZIONIST since I’ve gotten older. Was nearly excommunicated from my family over it.
Just the other day my mom (a Rachel Maddow kind of liberal) said I was right all along about israel. For 27 years I’ve been right about israel. One of my Zionist friends for the past decade came around a few months ago and said I was right about the zionists all along and that she had been tricked (she’s a thrice trump voter to give you an idea).
Israel refers to every generation of young Palestinians they kill as “mowing the grass”. Disgusting, right?
Israel owns 95% of our politicians.
Israel ran a decades long undercover sexual blackmail campaign of our elites and then pressured our lawmakers to give out light sentences for the crimes if any sentence at all (epsteins slap on the wrist in 2008 by Acosta).
Israel intentionally conflates Judaism (5700 year old religion and basis of Christianity and islam) with Zionism, a political extremist movement based on “race science” (same as the Nazis) from the 1880s. Zionism is not Judaism, it is a PERVERSION of Judaism.
Israel wants Jews to feel unsafe in the diaspora so they “return” to Israel (a land I’m not from nor never been - I’m of Russian Jewish descent and my family has been here since the early 1900s) and make babies for the IDF and further the Zionist political project. Israel brainwashed young diaspora jews with “free” trips to Israel when we are in our young teens - theres a wink and a nod that boundless teenage sex with the local teenagers is part of the appeal - it’s disgusting. I refused, I was BDSing israel as a teenager. It was later I found out that the goal was once again to knock up / fall in love with American Jewish teenagers by Israelis so they move there at 18 and join the IDF.
Israel is not our ally, they are our enemy. They have led our leaders noses around by hook or by crook to achieve their geopolitical goals that do not make America safer. Everyday we give them BILLIONS of our tax dollars for their “defense” meanwhile their own people have universal healthcare and education.
AIPAC funded American politicians are ROBBING AMERICANS to give to Israelis. 95% of congress is ISRAEL FIRST. Why are they flying two flags? Imagine this kind of fealty by Catholics to the pope / the Vatican? That would never fly.
But the zionists want Armageddon and the Christian zionists that run american couldn’t be happier to help. They will rob from us while forcing the end of the world as we know it just to fulfil their biblical prophecies and take the whole world down with them. The best part? Those Jews they’re using are destined to go to hell based on Christian prophecy. So the Jewish zionists either will have to accept the forced “messiah” (Jesus’ return according to the christians) or go to hell.
These people are insane and it’s of no surprise that your average person seeking to murder people is going after Jews now. Israel purposefully conflates the two and most synagogues are proudly Zionist and proudly sign off on murdering children. And they’re shocked that they’re targeted now? That’s the price Jews pay for not denouncing Zionism.
I have little sympathy for American Jews, as an antizionist American Jew myself who’s been fighting the good fight at great expense against these murderous racist psychos for decades. I’m glad the rest of the country is waking up. They choose to align themselves with zionists then they can pay the price.
All of today's Zionists do not claim that we are the only ones that can be victims of genocide. You are projecting your crappy experience in Hebrew school onto everyone else and putting your fellow Jews in danger by assuming they sign off on murdering children - are you for real??? I think therapy would be a better option than whatever this is.
You are espousing in your comments here some of the very antisemitism that Yashar is speaking about ...onto your own people! I used to be ignorant of my history, very left of center. I never went to Hebrew school. My family lived in the Pale in diaspora...but where were they exiled from? Where are they now safer than in this country where people think like you and think it's okay for people to be murdered? I'm embarrassed to say I didn't understand my own history until my 30s. But once I realized it was just luck of the draw for me to end up here and for my Israeli brothers and sisters to end up there....Oy vey.
Typical Zionist reply, only Jews can be victims. You don’t know your history or you’d know that Zionism is a perversion of Judaism. My experience in Hebrew school confirms my bias - that most American Jews are perfectly fine with the genocide of Palestinians. It’s a tragedy for Jews to be confined to the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust, yet it’s IDEAL for Palestinians to get the same - actually no, worse - treatment in Gaza. They’re not denouncing it, therefore, they’re complicit. They’re not demanding their politicians stop taking AIPAC money, they’re not demanding their politicians stop sending OUR MONEY to Israel, they celebrate this! They don’t hold Israel’s feet to the fire with illegal settlements, nobody questions dual loyalty of pour political class, sorry but American Jews who are overwhelmingly Zionist have it coming in retribution for 100k murdered Palestinians and now all the lives lost in Iran on both sides are on their hands too. Oh sorry, telling the truth is khamas! It’s antisemitic when a JEW tells other JEWS that they are WRONG!
Learn the actual antisemitic history of solving the Europeans “Jewish question” by kicking the Jews out of Europe and having them steal Palestinians homes and land instead for 80 years and then pretend this all began 10/7 🙄🙄🙄🙄
Earlier this week I had to course-correct my neighbors who were regurgitating some "Elders of Zion" kind of crap they saw on TikTok when we were talking about the Epstein files... I am also going a little mad over people who seem to think using anti-Semitic/Jew-hating language is fine if it is about evil people who happen to be Jewish...?
I want to be clear I am not saying that the Epstein stuff is false. I frankly have not kept up with everything related to him as a survivor of sexual violence myself - but I am skeptical of your claim that "all the worst" blood libel is true for these people. What, were they doing dark magic? Eating foreskins? Did they falsify Ann Frank's diary too?
Or, that is what I would say if I had no critical thinking skills and didn't realize you are probably being hyperbolic. That's another thing we are up against.
So, anyway, I think it is important for people to learn dogwhisles. Because most of the time when people say shit like "globalist cabal" they are not a reliable source of information to say the least.
No, they raped and murdered children and engaged in really weird shit. I understand not wanting to look at the evidence to avoid triggering your own trauma but it’s there, out in the open, extremely sick crimes by sick people who BRAG about what they think of the lesser “goyim”. It’s literally in the emails you can read it yourself.
They *are* a global cabal of pedophiles, they control everything, they run everything, they own all the media, all the politicians minus an insignificant handful, and in the land of “freedom of speech” there’s all sorts of laws where you can’t criticize them.
Ridiculous antisemitism being fomented by the ACTIONS of powerful Jews. The lack of Justice against these sickos leads to more antisemitism.
And never forget the dual citizen pedophiles who escape American Justice in Israel.
I generally agree with you here. I also consider myself anti-zionist btw.
I still stand by my original point, too. Anyone who cares about justice should be talking about these things, but we all have a responsibility to avoid inciting hatred, or further disseminate white supremacist language into people's lexicons. *The majority of people who speak like this hate Jews specifically because they are white supremacists.* They do not care if what they say is true or false.
From experience, the anti-zionist movement in the US is not really prepared for this moment. (Not accusing you or anyone here, I am speaking generally) Just saying "hey, anti-zionism isn't anti-semitism" is not useful when we or the people we are trying to reach can't identify the forms genuine anti-semitism takes. That is how spaces get infiltrated.
I am trying really hard to have sympathy but the dead of South Lebanon, Beirut and Gaza send their regards. Trying to separate the deep deep support of the diaspora to the IDF is not only disingenuous, it is dishonest. I expect better from someone who has written some really good work.
Hatred against Jewish people is NEVER not ever ok. It will never be ok but refusing to tie in what is happening with the actions of the IDF / Netanyahu government is ridiculous. I know many people who prior to Gaza would have cut their own tongues out before saying a word about Israel in general. Just like post 9/11 when all Muslims paid the price for a handful of human garbage, all Jewish people are paying the price for the Zionists who gleefully post videos about how much they love what is happening in Gaza, and in Lebanon; for the settlers who can't wait to steal more land. I guess you forgot that side of it too.
In addition, when you have Jewish people in that same diaspora blaming their fellow country men for these issues, is that the same thing?
Unlike the innocent American Muslims (and Sikhs!) that suffered in the wake of 9/11, American Jews ARE complicit in the Israeli genocide. They actively support it and many fight for the IDF as dual citizens.
One of the most insidious dangers of human thinking is the tendency to avoid holding multiple realities about one entity or issue at once. Any lament about the rise in antisemitism which neglects to mention the mountainous responsibility Israel’s government holds for that rise because of its apocalyptic cruelty is falling victim to that danger. Antisemitism is wrong. Genocide is wrong. There is no excuse for either. As cultural analysts and concerned humans we have to consider causes for cultural phenomenons, not look for excuses or justifications through manichaean dichotomies.
Why is it okay to blame Israel for antisemitism? I think this starts to become victim blaming…”they were asking for it” logic. If this post were about Islamophobia it would not be appropriate to jump in the comments to talk about how Afghanistan is run by the Taliban so Muslims deserve discrimination. It’s not ever okay to say any group deserves the discrimination against them.
This idea that Israel is to blame for the rise in antisemitism holds two false ideas: 1. That antisemitism isn't as old as time itself...Jew hatred as been around for thousands of years and so have pograms and genocides against them. 2. You are victim blaming. The antisemites are to blame for antisemitism and no one else.
But todays zionists claim only they can be victims of genocide, that “never again” is explicitly just about Jews.
Mind you I went to a Jewish Zionist religious school on top of American public school and this is not what we were taught when we were taught “never again” - never again for anybody.
I don’t think any Jew has ever said genocide can only be done against Jews? That sounds like a projection or misreading. A Jew might explain why they think the situation in Gaza is not a genocide but that doesn’t mean they’re saying it’s impossible for other groups to experience it? Im really not sure what you’re implying here….that it’s okay to be prejudiced against zionists bc they view the Holocaust as worse than the war in Gaza? Are zionists actually saying that you can only genocide Jews or is that just a projection of what you think they’re saying?
By denying and continuing the clear genocide against Gaza and crying antisemitism when the world condemns it, that’s exactly what they’re saying. This is an argument that has been settled. At this point if you’re still fighting it your mind and conscience are probably beyond saving.
Okay so you’re just making up what you think Jews are saying. I don’t think its okay to put words in people mouth instead of addressing the concerns they are raising. Just as I don’t think it’s okay for people to paint all of Palestinian nationalism as calling for the genocide of Jews, it’s a strawman argument. I don’t think the twisting of words and looking for secret evil motives on the other side is getting us to a solution.
I forget which prominent Zionist was saying it but it’s a common enough refrain.
I’ll look it up for you since I’m so angered by this Zionist bullshit.
Ah, yes. The LA Holocaust museum was forced to take down a post referencing “never again” regarding the situation in gaza because it was “controversial” with a lot of uproar by zionists. 🙄
My husband went to Yeshiva and never learned that. Zionist do not state that, so not sure where you got that from. There was one Shoah or Holocaust but neither Judaism nor Zionism says that only Jews can be genocided!
This doesn’t prove shit. So one Holocaust museum deleted an Instagram post during the Gaza war that might have suggested that Israel needs to be wary of committing genocide in Gaza. That does mean that Jews or Zionists have ever said that only Jews can be genocided like you claimed.
Your claim was not whether there was a genocide or not in Gaza. That’s a whole different issue. (Of which I do not believe there was a genocide, but that both sides possibly did commit some war crimes.)
You don’t think what happened is a genocide in Gaza? LOL get fucked. Genocider. You’ll make a great “Jew” you can’t even follow the Ten Commandments. Does converting these days come with a promise of oceanfront property developed by Jared kushner (Gaza in the near future) that was promised to you 3000 years ago?
Sure, after Oct.7, 2023, I watched mommy bloggers who never spoke about the Middle East become obsessed with Israel/Palestine. Much was merely empathy for the Palestinians and just sadness for all of the destruction, however a good amount was outright denial or excusing of the Oct. 7 attacks. A few prominent momfluencers went full on with touting anti-Jewish conspiracies. In my local mommy Facebook groups, Candace Owens has been cited as someone worth listening to. I will end by saying the online circles I dabble in represent a wide range of political views, ethnic backgrounds, religious (belief or non-belief) and locations
I don't hate or despise Jewish people for any reason whatsoever.. never have. I utterly despise Netanyahu the war criminal, and his self indulgent evil Iranian war and Gaza genocide ...with a flaming passion. I offer no apology for that whatsoever. Just for the record.
I think a lot of what is happening is anti-Netanyahu Israeli hate, which has come about from Israel relentlessly attacking Palestinians and countries all over the Middle East. Offense is not defense, though it often framed that way. Terrorism begets terrorism and violence begets more violence. I am not Jewish or Muslim, but American, and expect more terrorism also directed at Americans, due to Trump and Netanyahu’s terrorism. Peace is the only answer.
BTW, Yashar, thank you for what you do. It has been a little difficult for me to find resources/news related to Iran /or/ Jewish anything that are not drip-feeding propaganda, or flagrantly prejudiced. I am Jewish, so the latter often puts me in a stressful position. I don't want to unknowingly peddle anti-Iranian or anti-Muslim garbage either.
I'm really not sure what else to say. Please take care of yourself.
Thank you so much. This means a lot.
Just know that there’s a 2000 year old continuous Jewish settlement in Iran and they’re also being bombed.
I doubt very much that they are being bombed, since the US and Israel are targeting the regime infrastructure (even that school was embedded within an IRGC compound)
However no doubt the Iranian Jewish community is in danger until the regime falls
I hate that you are right.
I was hopeful that October 7th would lead to a new understanding of the challenges the Jewish people face. Instead, it lead to the precise opposite
Deservedly so - like 9/11 they LET IT HAPPEN and had detailed intel shared to them by the Egyptians three days ahead of the attack and they chose to ignore it. Reported in the times of Israel a few days after 10/7.
I’m so tired of Zionist victimhood. You’re not victims you’re terrorists.
Edit: Receipts for the zionists (and it was 10 days prior and Netanyahu was personally called):
https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-intelligence-official-says-israel-ignored-repeated-warnings-of-something-big/
I just heard someone In the Security business say the other day that it’s never a problem of not enough information. It’s a problem of too much information.
Those who counter your warning with “well look what Israel has done” have fallen victim to the very same Jew hatred you are talking about.
Zionist genocider.
What a child. Are you writing from your mama’s basement?
You’re the best independent journalist working today imho and not only for covering this topic.
This is the scariest of all points in your post:
“Candace has an enormous, dedicated, and loyal audience — made up mostly of normie moms, or perhaps women who were once normies.”
The kids they are raising are gonna be BrownShirts
You're Stuck in an Infinite Loop
I have a Jewish friend who thinks just like you. We've talked about this. A lot. And we've had to stop, because we reach a point where our arguments simply don't meet. It's not that one of us is right and the other is wrong. It's that we're speaking from paradigms that don't connect.
I can't speak from having lived through the Holocaust up close. That wound isn't mine, and I respect it. But I do know what it means to be a people without a state. I'm Catalan. I know what it means to have your language, your culture, and your right to exist as a people permanently questioned. They're different wounds, but both teach you things.
And here's what I'm trying to say:
As long as you refuse to recognize that your paradigm is part of reality, but not all of reality, the loop won't break. As long as you won't see that there's another way of looking at the same thing—a way that doesn't deny your pain but adds more pieces to the puzzle—we'll keep talking without ever hearing each other.
What I see, from my paradigm, is this: the suffering of the Palestinian people is not the result of some ancient hatred finding a new host. It is the direct consequence of concrete political decisions, made over decades by the governments of Israel. Governments that have acted from a logic of survival, yes, but that have ended up believing something deeply absurd: that only by being omnipotent, only by dominating and subduing all their neighbors, will they achieve the stability and the peace they've dreamed of.
But that's not a dream. It's a nightmare.
And I know this because real stability—the kind that lasts—isn't built with walls and bombs. It's built by recognizing the efforts of all those who are already doing something different. The Jewish and Palestinian doctors working together in hospitals, saving lives without asking about nationality. The Jews and Palestinians who have chosen to build equal communities, where they live together and share. The people who sit down to negotiate as equals, looking at the other for what they are: a human being with a past, a present, and a future that they hope will be better than the past.
These people aren't naive. They're the only ones who've understood that peace isn't won—it's built. And it's built together.
I suggest you read some unbiased history. You cannot blame the Israeli governments over the years without also blaming England, France, the Ottomans, the Arabs, especially Germany and the Axis Powers, the Arab Nations that formed after the two world Wars, the UN, UNWRA and the Palestinians themselves.
Read about the Balfour Agreement, read about the UN partition plan, the White Paper, the 1948 war that the Arabs started and lost; the refusal of those who fled or were expelled due to violence to return under a banner of peace, the refusal of the Arabs to accept not only Israel but any Jews in the Middle East; the expulsion of Jews from MENA countries, the refusal of any Arab country other than Jordan to accept Arabs from Palestine as citizens; the refusal of of The refugees to become citizens and loose their refugee status because that would mean accepting Israel and Jews living next to them; the change in status of UNRWA from mainly humanitarian assistance to radicalized education; the formation of the PLO and many terrorist acts to follow, the Itifadas and the Oct. 7.
I can't fully grasp what your people have been through, that's true. That wound isn't mine. But I can see where the dynamics I'm observing are leading.
Maybe you choose omnipotence because you think it's the only way out. I understand that: when you've spent centuries as the victim, the temptation to finally be the strongest is immense.
But I think you're wrong. Omnipotence isn't a way out. It's a prison. A prison where you'll have to live always afraid, always watching for the enemy's return. And in this logic, enemies never end.
That's just what I see.
First of all, I’m not Jewish. You do not need to be Jewish to stand against antisemitism or to understand the harm of it or to see that Israel is used as an excuse for it.
Secondly, self-defense isn’t omnipotent nor even powder, it’s simple survival.
You’re not Jewish yet you call me - a Jew - antisemitic? Shut up.
And one last thing: the Netanyahu-Trump duo clearly expresses a direction for the future of humanity that makes me deeply sad. It's not just Israel or Palestine. It's the model: the strong leader who only understands power as domination, who despises international law, who feeds fear to perpetuate himself. And when I see this, and see it being applauded, I wonder what world we're leaving for those who come after.
I think people often project what Jewish people are saying in a very maximalist and extreme way. How many Jews actually applaud Netanyahu? Not many. I don’t think it’s fair to portray that Jews or Zionists support the direction he has taken the country. Israel has large and popular anti government protests.
When Jews call out antisemitism in various criticism of Israel, they are NOT saying all criticism is inherently antisemitic. In many cases, Jews may agree with the sentiment being expressed but are uncomfortable with the antisemitic tropes that it plays on. I wish people would try to understand what Jews are saying, rather than projecting their beliefs about who they are onto them.
Reducing the genocide to Netanyahu is ridiculous. Even the so called “left” in Israel support the genocide of Palestinians.
The whole country needs to be thrown out.
While I’m no fan of either (never ever voted for Trump or any other Republican), but I’m much more concerned about Putin, the IRGC, Hamas, Taliban, and all radical and political Islamists, North Korea, and the many non-democratic governments around the world who kill and imprison their own citizens for the privileges we Westerners take for granted.
I criticize certain ways of doing things—that doesn't make me antisemitic. I made that clear in my very first intervention. I have a Jewish friend in Tel Aviv, and talking to him shows that there are things beyond both of us. And yes, let's be clear: the West has historically acted as a counterweight to Putin’s Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes in Asia. But now, with Trump, we’ll see—if he gets his way—whether the West has effectively erased itself, leaving the door open for dictatorships to settle in for the long haul.
Maybe you should focus on trump if you’re concerned about killing an imprisoning citizens for “privileges” the west takes for granted.
The suffering of the Palestinians is purely because of real estate and an illegal land grab, not some long time hatred. The Muslims historically were better to the Jews for a thousand years than the Christians were.
This comment shows how little you know about history.
You’re not a Jew you’re a pretender who just wants “free land” shut up Zionist trash
This is ridiculous. There is not a rise an anti-semitism or a pandemic of Jew Hatred. There is a calling out of the harmful racist non-religious ideology that is Zionism. If you identify as a Zionist then so be it, but know that Zionism and Judaism are not one in the same. Trying to pretend that they are is harmful to Jewish people everywhere. The atrocities that the Zionist Israeli government are perpetuating on the Palestinians and now trying to do to the Iranian people is disgusting and is and should rightly be called out. Any sane person who cares about humanity would be doing the same.
Well with Gaza and now Iran it's hard to say Israel's anti Muslim stance is any better. You can't do horrible things and then expect people to like you. I don't hate anyone but it does bother me when innocent people are being ravaged because of it
You don’t seem to mind the innocent people of October 7 or the tens of thousands killed by the IRGC being ravaged too much though.
Perception is everything. You perceive Jew hatred, others see people playing the victim while enjoying US taxpayer money without any rewards for the US besides war. Essentially users, not friends. The newest perception that does Israel no favor, is this joint war against Iran. Sure there is no love lost between the US and the Khomeini regime, but these are an ocean and continent away from the US. People are wondering wtf we are even doing there, our government has not presented any convincing casus belli or end-game, then people see the US doing exactly what Netanyahu has been goading the US to do for at least two decades under threat of nuclear Armageddon and Israel happily bombing along, meanwhile the idiot US president was elected on the premise that he would put America first, and not involve the US in new wars. So now it appears that Israel is the tail wagging the US dog, and Americans are not loving it. Billions and American lives gone in a matter of days, meanwhile the American dream keeps slipping away for so many. Do you think Americans will blame ourselves for this? Perception is everything.
Trump: “no, new wars!”
While I deeply appreciate your unwavering commitment to the Jewish people, I was taken aback by your attack on a group of “normie moms” and the role they play in perpetuating antisemitism. It wasn’t clear to me who these women are and how they fit into your narrative. Continue to keep antisemitism in the forefront of your writing. Great job!
Oh I could tell you all about those "normal moms."
Yes, please. Tell me more.
I’m Jewish. This is intentional. Every action israel does is to foment antisemitism abroad so that Jews are pressured to “return” to Israel.
I’ve hated israel since I was 10 years old, when my Zionist Hebrew school made the mistake of teaching about the Warsaw ghetto around the same time I was learning about Gaza (this is back in… 1999). None of the religious teachers could answer me with a straight face why an open aired prison for Jews (Warsaw) was not ok yet one for Muslims was not only ok but necessary.
I’ve only become more “antisemitic” AKA ANTI ZIONIST since I’ve gotten older. Was nearly excommunicated from my family over it.
Just the other day my mom (a Rachel Maddow kind of liberal) said I was right all along about israel. For 27 years I’ve been right about israel. One of my Zionist friends for the past decade came around a few months ago and said I was right about the zionists all along and that she had been tricked (she’s a thrice trump voter to give you an idea).
Israel refers to every generation of young Palestinians they kill as “mowing the grass”. Disgusting, right?
Israel owns 95% of our politicians.
Israel ran a decades long undercover sexual blackmail campaign of our elites and then pressured our lawmakers to give out light sentences for the crimes if any sentence at all (epsteins slap on the wrist in 2008 by Acosta).
Israel intentionally conflates Judaism (5700 year old religion and basis of Christianity and islam) with Zionism, a political extremist movement based on “race science” (same as the Nazis) from the 1880s. Zionism is not Judaism, it is a PERVERSION of Judaism.
Israel wants Jews to feel unsafe in the diaspora so they “return” to Israel (a land I’m not from nor never been - I’m of Russian Jewish descent and my family has been here since the early 1900s) and make babies for the IDF and further the Zionist political project. Israel brainwashed young diaspora jews with “free” trips to Israel when we are in our young teens - theres a wink and a nod that boundless teenage sex with the local teenagers is part of the appeal - it’s disgusting. I refused, I was BDSing israel as a teenager. It was later I found out that the goal was once again to knock up / fall in love with American Jewish teenagers by Israelis so they move there at 18 and join the IDF.
Israel is not our ally, they are our enemy. They have led our leaders noses around by hook or by crook to achieve their geopolitical goals that do not make America safer. Everyday we give them BILLIONS of our tax dollars for their “defense” meanwhile their own people have universal healthcare and education.
AIPAC funded American politicians are ROBBING AMERICANS to give to Israelis. 95% of congress is ISRAEL FIRST. Why are they flying two flags? Imagine this kind of fealty by Catholics to the pope / the Vatican? That would never fly.
But the zionists want Armageddon and the Christian zionists that run american couldn’t be happier to help. They will rob from us while forcing the end of the world as we know it just to fulfil their biblical prophecies and take the whole world down with them. The best part? Those Jews they’re using are destined to go to hell based on Christian prophecy. So the Jewish zionists either will have to accept the forced “messiah” (Jesus’ return according to the christians) or go to hell.
These people are insane and it’s of no surprise that your average person seeking to murder people is going after Jews now. Israel purposefully conflates the two and most synagogues are proudly Zionist and proudly sign off on murdering children. And they’re shocked that they’re targeted now? That’s the price Jews pay for not denouncing Zionism.
I have little sympathy for American Jews, as an antizionist American Jew myself who’s been fighting the good fight at great expense against these murderous racist psychos for decades. I’m glad the rest of the country is waking up. They choose to align themselves with zionists then they can pay the price.
All of today's Zionists do not claim that we are the only ones that can be victims of genocide. You are projecting your crappy experience in Hebrew school onto everyone else and putting your fellow Jews in danger by assuming they sign off on murdering children - are you for real??? I think therapy would be a better option than whatever this is.
You are espousing in your comments here some of the very antisemitism that Yashar is speaking about ...onto your own people! I used to be ignorant of my history, very left of center. I never went to Hebrew school. My family lived in the Pale in diaspora...but where were they exiled from? Where are they now safer than in this country where people think like you and think it's okay for people to be murdered? I'm embarrassed to say I didn't understand my own history until my 30s. But once I realized it was just luck of the draw for me to end up here and for my Israeli brothers and sisters to end up there....Oy vey.
Typical Zionist reply, only Jews can be victims. You don’t know your history or you’d know that Zionism is a perversion of Judaism. My experience in Hebrew school confirms my bias - that most American Jews are perfectly fine with the genocide of Palestinians. It’s a tragedy for Jews to be confined to the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust, yet it’s IDEAL for Palestinians to get the same - actually no, worse - treatment in Gaza. They’re not denouncing it, therefore, they’re complicit. They’re not demanding their politicians stop taking AIPAC money, they’re not demanding their politicians stop sending OUR MONEY to Israel, they celebrate this! They don’t hold Israel’s feet to the fire with illegal settlements, nobody questions dual loyalty of pour political class, sorry but American Jews who are overwhelmingly Zionist have it coming in retribution for 100k murdered Palestinians and now all the lives lost in Iran on both sides are on their hands too. Oh sorry, telling the truth is khamas! It’s antisemitic when a JEW tells other JEWS that they are WRONG!
Learn the actual antisemitic history of solving the Europeans “Jewish question” by kicking the Jews out of Europe and having them steal Palestinians homes and land instead for 80 years and then pretend this all began 10/7 🙄🙄🙄🙄
With Jews like you, who needs enemies?
Zionists are the enemies of the real jews.
Oh sorry only zionists can be “real jews” according to zionists.
Nevermind the 2000 year old continuous Jewish settlement in Iran 🙄
Edit - I see in another reply YOURE NOT EVEN JEWISH.
Just shut up. Zionists are trash. Zionists actively harm Jews. LEARN. LISTEN TO ANTIZIONIST JEWS!
My husband is Jewish and I’m converting. Every Jew I know is a Zionist. So maybe you are the outlier, if you really even are a Jew.
I’m an outlier for 27 years because all zionists do is LIE. You’re a convert not a real Jew. You’re converting to Zionism, not Judaism.
I’d respectfully suggest getting therapy for your type / level of self-hatred. There may be things from your past which talking about might help.
Earlier this week I had to course-correct my neighbors who were regurgitating some "Elders of Zion" kind of crap they saw on TikTok when we were talking about the Epstein files... I am also going a little mad over people who seem to think using anti-Semitic/Jew-hating language is fine if it is about evil people who happen to be Jewish...?
Look, everybody else reading this, let's learn about dogwhistles, okay? You won't see them coming if you don't know them. https://www.dogwhistles.org/dogwhistle-library
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9q6RUUwtJ0L3AUwvDxEPX0EUjPWzuT97
How do you think it feels - as a Jew - that the worst blood libels of the past few thousand years have been proven to be true by the Epstein class?
Well, I am Jewish, so, bad.
I want to be clear I am not saying that the Epstein stuff is false. I frankly have not kept up with everything related to him as a survivor of sexual violence myself - but I am skeptical of your claim that "all the worst" blood libel is true for these people. What, were they doing dark magic? Eating foreskins? Did they falsify Ann Frank's diary too?
Or, that is what I would say if I had no critical thinking skills and didn't realize you are probably being hyperbolic. That's another thing we are up against.
So, anyway, I think it is important for people to learn dogwhisles. Because most of the time when people say shit like "globalist cabal" they are not a reliable source of information to say the least.
No, they raped and murdered children and engaged in really weird shit. I understand not wanting to look at the evidence to avoid triggering your own trauma but it’s there, out in the open, extremely sick crimes by sick people who BRAG about what they think of the lesser “goyim”. It’s literally in the emails you can read it yourself.
They *are* a global cabal of pedophiles, they control everything, they run everything, they own all the media, all the politicians minus an insignificant handful, and in the land of “freedom of speech” there’s all sorts of laws where you can’t criticize them.
Ridiculous antisemitism being fomented by the ACTIONS of powerful Jews. The lack of Justice against these sickos leads to more antisemitism.
And never forget the dual citizen pedophiles who escape American Justice in Israel.
I generally agree with you here. I also consider myself anti-zionist btw.
I still stand by my original point, too. Anyone who cares about justice should be talking about these things, but we all have a responsibility to avoid inciting hatred, or further disseminate white supremacist language into people's lexicons. *The majority of people who speak like this hate Jews specifically because they are white supremacists.* They do not care if what they say is true or false.
From experience, the anti-zionist movement in the US is not really prepared for this moment. (Not accusing you or anyone here, I am speaking generally) Just saying "hey, anti-zionism isn't anti-semitism" is not useful when we or the people we are trying to reach can't identify the forms genuine anti-semitism takes. That is how spaces get infiltrated.
I am trying really hard to have sympathy but the dead of South Lebanon, Beirut and Gaza send their regards. Trying to separate the deep deep support of the diaspora to the IDF is not only disingenuous, it is dishonest. I expect better from someone who has written some really good work.
Hatred against Jewish people is NEVER not ever ok. It will never be ok but refusing to tie in what is happening with the actions of the IDF / Netanyahu government is ridiculous. I know many people who prior to Gaza would have cut their own tongues out before saying a word about Israel in general. Just like post 9/11 when all Muslims paid the price for a handful of human garbage, all Jewish people are paying the price for the Zionists who gleefully post videos about how much they love what is happening in Gaza, and in Lebanon; for the settlers who can't wait to steal more land. I guess you forgot that side of it too.
In addition, when you have Jewish people in that same diaspora blaming their fellow country men for these issues, is that the same thing?
Also, who takes Candace Owens seriously?
Unlike the innocent American Muslims (and Sikhs!) that suffered in the wake of 9/11, American Jews ARE complicit in the Israeli genocide. They actively support it and many fight for the IDF as dual citizens.
Honestly, I feel so bad for Sikhs. They got caught up in something they had nothing to do with because people are too stupid to know the difference.
And yes, you are correct.
How many? Give us facts Ash!
One of the most insidious dangers of human thinking is the tendency to avoid holding multiple realities about one entity or issue at once. Any lament about the rise in antisemitism which neglects to mention the mountainous responsibility Israel’s government holds for that rise because of its apocalyptic cruelty is falling victim to that danger. Antisemitism is wrong. Genocide is wrong. There is no excuse for either. As cultural analysts and concerned humans we have to consider causes for cultural phenomenons, not look for excuses or justifications through manichaean dichotomies.
Why is it okay to blame Israel for antisemitism? I think this starts to become victim blaming…”they were asking for it” logic. If this post were about Islamophobia it would not be appropriate to jump in the comments to talk about how Afghanistan is run by the Taliban so Muslims deserve discrimination. It’s not ever okay to say any group deserves the discrimination against them.
They WERE asking for it with 80 years of genocide against the Palestinians and counting.
Screw the Israelis.
This idea that Israel is to blame for the rise in antisemitism holds two false ideas: 1. That antisemitism isn't as old as time itself...Jew hatred as been around for thousands of years and so have pograms and genocides against them. 2. You are victim blaming. The antisemites are to blame for antisemitism and no one else.
But todays zionists claim only they can be victims of genocide, that “never again” is explicitly just about Jews.
Mind you I went to a Jewish Zionist religious school on top of American public school and this is not what we were taught when we were taught “never again” - never again for anybody.
I don’t think any Jew has ever said genocide can only be done against Jews? That sounds like a projection or misreading. A Jew might explain why they think the situation in Gaza is not a genocide but that doesn’t mean they’re saying it’s impossible for other groups to experience it? Im really not sure what you’re implying here….that it’s okay to be prejudiced against zionists bc they view the Holocaust as worse than the war in Gaza? Are zionists actually saying that you can only genocide Jews or is that just a projection of what you think they’re saying?
By denying and continuing the clear genocide against Gaza and crying antisemitism when the world condemns it, that’s exactly what they’re saying. This is an argument that has been settled. At this point if you’re still fighting it your mind and conscience are probably beyond saving.
Okay so you’re just making up what you think Jews are saying. I don’t think its okay to put words in people mouth instead of addressing the concerns they are raising. Just as I don’t think it’s okay for people to paint all of Palestinian nationalism as calling for the genocide of Jews, it’s a strawman argument. I don’t think the twisting of words and looking for secret evil motives on the other side is getting us to a solution.
Thank god someone with sense.
I forget which prominent Zionist was saying it but it’s a common enough refrain.
I’ll look it up for you since I’m so angered by this Zionist bullshit.
Ah, yes. The LA Holocaust museum was forced to take down a post referencing “never again” regarding the situation in gaza because it was “controversial” with a lot of uproar by zionists. 🙄
https://www.timesofisrael.com/la-holocaust-museum-deletes-post-saying-never-again-cant-only-mean-never-again-for-jews/
My husband went to Yeshiva and never learned that. Zionist do not state that, so not sure where you got that from. There was one Shoah or Holocaust but neither Judaism nor Zionism says that only Jews can be genocided!
https://www.timesofisrael.com/la-holocaust-museum-deletes-post-saying-never-again-cant-only-mean-never-again-for-jews/
This doesn’t prove shit. So one Holocaust museum deleted an Instagram post during the Gaza war that might have suggested that Israel needs to be wary of committing genocide in Gaza. That does mean that Jews or Zionists have ever said that only Jews can be genocided like you claimed.
Your claim was not whether there was a genocide or not in Gaza. That’s a whole different issue. (Of which I do not believe there was a genocide, but that both sides possibly did commit some war crimes.)
You don’t think what happened is a genocide in Gaza? LOL get fucked. Genocider. You’ll make a great “Jew” you can’t even follow the Ten Commandments. Does converting these days come with a promise of oceanfront property developed by Jared kushner (Gaza in the near future) that was promised to you 3000 years ago?
It seems you are a real black and white thinker. Too bad.
Sure, after Oct.7, 2023, I watched mommy bloggers who never spoke about the Middle East become obsessed with Israel/Palestine. Much was merely empathy for the Palestinians and just sadness for all of the destruction, however a good amount was outright denial or excusing of the Oct. 7 attacks. A few prominent momfluencers went full on with touting anti-Jewish conspiracies. In my local mommy Facebook groups, Candace Owens has been cited as someone worth listening to. I will end by saying the online circles I dabble in represent a wide range of political views, ethnic backgrounds, religious (belief or non-belief) and locations
I don't hate or despise Jewish people for any reason whatsoever.. never have. I utterly despise Netanyahu the war criminal, and his self indulgent evil Iranian war and Gaza genocide ...with a flaming passion. I offer no apology for that whatsoever. Just for the record.
I think a lot of what is happening is anti-Netanyahu Israeli hate, which has come about from Israel relentlessly attacking Palestinians and countries all over the Middle East. Offense is not defense, though it often framed that way. Terrorism begets terrorism and violence begets more violence. I am not Jewish or Muslim, but American, and expect more terrorism also directed at Americans, due to Trump and Netanyahu’s terrorism. Peace is the only answer.