Crying antisemitism drowns out the real problem

This article is a response to Deborah Stone’s article Lived experience, paranoia and slippery antisemitism.

Dear Deborah,

Like you I am worried about rising antisemitism, but unlike you I am unwilling to accept that criticism of Israel's status as a defined Jewish state is itself antisemitic.

The idea of defining a state in this way—which applies equally to the Islamic Republic of Iran—marginalises the 25% of Israelis who are not Jews. And the examples given in the IHRA definition include a prohibition on calling Israel a racist state. It is ironic that in a country in which it is very frequent to hear supporters of Indigenous Australians define ours as a racist state, it is somehow improper to state this of Israel​.

My grandfather, Aaron Patkin, was a leading Australian Zionist; he died when I was six, so I only know of his views second hand. But I understand why he came to this position after the Holocaust.

Eighty years later Zionism has become for some people a sort of ethnic superiority which denies equal claims to recognition by Palestinians. If we are unable to talk about this within the Jewish community we are doing a great disservice to both Palestinians and Israelis.

It is particularly depressing to hear Israeli spokesmen deny that there is a Palestinian nation, when this was the jibe thrown at Zionists who argued for a Jewish state. Maybe the first step is to stress what the two peoples share, rather than to support a situation where one is apparently to be kept permanently under the yoke of the other.

Last week I spent a very moving few hours at the Holocaust Museum. I defy anyone who has watched the regular footage coming from Gaza not to draw parallels, a view that many of our community peak bodies would claim is antisemitic. I would counter that it is the opposite, that precisely because of our own history we should be able to feel the pain of Palestinians and face up to the reality of policies that equate a Jewish homeland with the dispossession of people with an equal claim to a homeland.

I am horrified by the apparent disinterest of Hamas in protecting its own citizens by using schools and hospitals as military bases, but I am equally horrified by reports that IDF forces will destroy civilian infrastructure with considerable loss of life in the hope of killing a small number of terrorists—and, quite likely, some of the Israeli hostages as well.

I, too, am troubled by chants of 'From the rivers to the sea". But let us be honest and acknowledge that this is also the intent of the Netanyahu government, which clearly is determined to maintain control of the entire area of Israel/Palestine. Life in the occupied territories of the West Bank is reminiscent of life for Jews in the old Russian Pale, from which so many of our ancestors fled. 

I have no magic solution to the conflict; whatever the rights and wrongs of the argument, it is indisputable that the growth of Jewish settlements on the West Bank makes the Oslo Peace proposals no longer viable. But the idea that Israel can continue to deny recognition of the rights of seven million Palestinians is equally delusional. 

In Australia, the Opposition has seized on antisemitism as a stick to beat Albanese with and is now demanding an Inquiry into antisemitism on Australian Campuses. My own campus is an outer-suburban one, probably more typical of Australian universities than either Melbourne or Sydney. We had a small pro-Palestinian encampment, but from what I can see the vast bulk of students were unaffected and not very interested. If there are clear examples of antisemitism they need be dealt with, but grandstanding by Liberal politicians will not address the root of the problem.

My own experience suggests that many students come from cultural backgrounds where a low-level antisemitism is rife, and universities need to address this, a more complex problem than wiping out offensive graffiti.

Antisemitism has multiple roots, and the current conflict has allowed hidden hatreds to surface. I am less worried by the crazy end of the Palestine supporters [in my experience often not Arab] than by the rise of neo-Nazi groups and a resurgence of Nazi-style rhetoric on the dark web.

There is clearly antisemitism being preached in some Muslim gatherings, and I hope these will be dealt with under existing Australian law. But to conflate this with attacks on Israel is to make a great mistake. Fatima Payman and Mehreen Faruqi are not our real enemies; the bands of young men, chanting Nazi-inspired slogans are.

It would be a great mistake to assume that criticism of Israel is antisemitic, even if that criticism appears offensive and exaggerated. Instead of claiming accusations of ‘apartheid’ and ‘genocide’ are antisemitic, we need listen to them and engage with the debate. That the International Criminal Court has ruled against both Hamas and Israeli leaders should lead us to a far more critical stance towards Israel than our major community organisations are prepared to countenance.

I live in the federal electorate of Cooper, which was named after William Cooper, who led an Indigenous protest against Nazi Germany after the horrors of Kristalnacht. His ability to empathise with others who were margnalised and persecuted should be an inspiration for those Jews who want both to save the people of Israel and do so while also saving the people of Palestine.

regards
Dennis