Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Saturday condemned Israel as a racist state, warning activists that there is an organized opposition against progressive critics of Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.
The sharp criticism from the lawmaker from Washington state marks among the highest-level condemnations of Israel, as several members of her caucus plan to boycott Israel President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress later this week.
Speaking on a panel at Netroots Nation, an annual progressive activist conference in Chicago, Jayapal was addressing pro-Palestinian attendees interrupting the session.
I am firmly anti-Russia, but I don’t hate Russians. I am anti-China, but I don’t hate Chinese people. I am anti-Israel, but I don’t hate Israelis or Jewish people.
I doubt the vast majority of Americans would bat an eye at the first two statements. Why is the third one somehow more problematic than the first two?
As a secular Jew in the diaspora, I do wish Zionists would keep me out of their political games, but frankly, there’s a contingent of people who conflate diaspora Jews, or Jews in general, with the Israeli state. I encounter this frequently with a Pakistani friend of mine, but the mindset is widespread among religious and political dogmatists of many stripes. This type of thinking long predates the establishment of Israel, and has flared throughout history in some terrible ways, so it’s understandable why Jews would be sensitive to it, and Jews who support Israel would be just as incapable of separating their religious identity from Israel as antisemitic conspiracy theorists are. The land is part of our identity, and the Zionist project is (for many) a triumph of Jewish national identity and a beacon of hope for safety from antisemitic violence. The fact, then, that Zionism has always, since the latter half of the 19th century, gained at the violent expense of Palestinian Arabs, is a cruel irony, and utterly unconscionable for any Jew with a shred of ethical fortitude.
In short, it’s hard for many reasons and for many people, Jewish and otherwise, to separate Israel from Jewish identity. When Jews do it, it’s counterproductive to the cause of eliminating antisemitism. When non-Jews do it, it provides Jews with another reason to continue to be on high alert. One reinforces the other.
It’s a bit of a conspiracy theory, maybe, but I definitely feel that Israel and Zionists don’t necessarily do absolutely everything they could to prevent people conflating Jews and Israel.
I’ve heard other diaspora Jews complain before that they feel Israel is a bit too presumptuous in speaking for them.