3 min read
ByShoshanna Keats Jaskoll, Shoshanna Keats Jask0ll
As Jews we seemingly have to choose between our political opinions and the accusation of antisemitism, says Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll.
July 8, 2019 12:03Lately, Jews are finding themselves in a crafted Catch-22 where we must choose between defending fundamental parts of our identity or ceding them to be appropriated or misrepresented by non-Jews for political point scoring. We can express no hurt or pain, lest we be accused of weaponising antisemitism and disdaining human rights. All of this creates a discourse where Jews are centred and forced to choose.
This choice pits us not only against those using us as political pawns, but also against our fellow Jews. This may just be the most successful part of the strategy, pitting Jew against Jew, and against their own identities. It’s insidious — and it’s working.
At the Washington, DC Dyke March, Jews were welcome, Jewish pride flags were not. The flag, which consists of a rainbow flag overlaid with a Jewish star, was considered too close to the Israeli flag, banned under the no “nationalist symbols,” rule. Palestinian flags, however as symbols of oppression, were totally kosher.
At the University of Essex, Amnesty International’s campus group told its members to vote against establishing a Jewish society on campus, since it would celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. Once again, Jews are welcome, Jewish pride is not.
These things are not antisemitic, we are assured. In a video posted on Twitter, George Galloway informs Jews what is and what is not antisemitism. He then warns that antisemitism has been weaponised against those simply seeking Palestinian human rights and claims criticising Israel has nothing to do with Jews.
Funny then, that bestselling author, Richard Zimler says two event co-ordinators terminated negotiations on publicising his new novel, because they “feared his Jewishness would alienate Palestinian sympathisers among their clientele.”
What is a Jew to do when our identity is constantly thrown in our face out of context, when politicians bring Jewish history and symbols into irrelevant conversations forcing the choice: stand with us and allow us to appropriate your history, define what is and what is not antisemitism, or risk being condemned?
Two weeks ago, the Democrat Representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke out against migrant detention centres on the US border, calling them concentration camps — and added “Never again”.
The use of Holocaust language was intended to evoke the powerful image of human suffering, and the Jewish battle cry to never let it happen again. Her purpose was to bring attention to the plight of migrants, yet … While Holocaust comparisons aren’t new, Trump has been called a Nazi plenty, directly comparing the migrant camps to Auschwitz left many Jews feeling punched in the gut.
Those who tried to point out the differences in camps were called racists who didn’t care about children separated from their parents. We were treated to history lessons of the various concentration camps used throughout history and given dictionary definitions of “areas where people are concentrated.” We were shamed with: “If you’re more outraged over the use of the words concentration camps than the conditions at the camps, you’re the problem.”
What a position to be in, to want to scream for the families at the border, and at the same time not want the worst event in the history of our people to be appropriated and wielded as a political cudgel.
Two weeks later, despite being asked not to by individuals, Holocaust educators and institutes, Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly uses the phrase while telling us its not a problem. Similar to Corbyn and Galloway, she lets us know that the choice to speak against the use of Jewish identity and symbols in political battles will do us no good.
I will go further and say that the use of these things in political discourse does us harm. When Jews are used in the battle between right and left, when the right comes to our aid in righteous indignation, screaming about the antisemitic left, it only adds fuel to the fire.
Political debates shouldn’t revolve around Jews, or force us to choose between our identity and belonging to the “right side.” We are all of two per cent of the world’s population. The disproportionate attention fuels actual antisemitism —the one we aren’t allowed to speak of. The more that is centred on us, the more negative attention we get and, as history has proven again and again, being the centre of political debate has never ended well for us.
Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll is a writer and activist