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| Meta Title | Progressive Jews Are Deeply Distressed by the Rising Antisemitism on Their Own Side |
| Meta Description | They distrust the right but are pained by the left |
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| Boilerpipe Text | Shutterstock
Discourse about antisemitism in America has become a hopeless, meaningless mess. Particularly in the last few years, pro-Israel and right-wing organizations and politicians have insisted that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism,
minimized
the threat on the right while exaggerating the threat on the left, used the charge of antisemitism to deflect legitimate criticism of Israeli actions, and
weaponized
Jewish fears in their
kulturkampf
against higher education, the press, and progressive activists of all kinds.
It is thus understandable that progressivesâ reflexive response to accusations of antisemitism is to dismiss them. But to do so would be a mistake. Antisemitism does exist on the left; ask any Jewish person active in progressive spaces. Moreover, the failure to condemn and root out real antisemitism enables nationalists, racists, and fascists to defame and delegitimize progressive movements. It is also a betrayal of progressive values.
What is needed is
both
a rejection of the right-wing Antisemitism Industrial Complex
and
of antisemitism itself.
This is easy enough in obvious casesâviolence against innocent Jewish people, overtly antisemitic rhetoric, and so on. Last weekâs
attempted mass murder
at a synagogue outside Detroit might have been politically motivated by the perpetratorâs own sense of personal lossâbut targeting innocent Jewish people is still obviously
antisemitic.
But often itâs not so easy. Is it antisemitic to protest a political (or semi-political) event at a synagogue? When do sharp, legitimate criticisms of Israel and Zionism cross the line into bigotry and bias?
Having written and worked on this subject for nearly 30 years, I intend to offer some provisional answers to these questions. I speak as a rabbi, journalist, American Jew, and longtime LGBTQ+ activist. I also still believe in what I call â
pragmatic Zionism
â based on the fact that two peoples occupy the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean and that the most realistic, imperfect solution is two states for two peoples, equal rights for all Israeli citizens regardless of nationality, and a just peace recognizing the rights of all 16 million people in Israel/Palestine to self-determination, safety, and human dignity.
I also speak as someone witnessing profound mental health crisis within the American Jewish community. Nearly every American Jew I know, on every point along the ideological spectrum, is afraid, burned out, and deeply unsettled by the rise of antisemitism in America. Close friends of mine are afraid to â
look Jewish
â on the streets of New York City. I have personally faced antisemitic attacks since October 2023. None of this excuses the use of antisemitism to deflect criticism or attack others. But it is the emotional reality that underlies this conversationâand if you have Jewish friends, I promise you most are feeling it. We can do better.
AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, the Republican Party, and the Antisemitism Industrial Complex claim that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. They claim that to oppose Zionism is to say that, alone among all the nations in the world, only Jews should not have a state of their own. This, they say, is inherently antisemitic.
This is clearly false. Many anti-Zionists are non-bigotedâin fact, itâs their commitments to human dignity that underlie their anti-Zionism. Moreover, it is reasonable to evaluate Zionism by what it has wrought for Palestinians, not merely what it means in the abstract.
That said, it is worth understanding that most American Jews do indeed define âZionismâ as the movement for Jewish self-determination, not settler-colonialism or Jewish domination. They do not define it as requiring that Palestinian society be eradicated, hospitals in Gaza bombed, or settler thugs allowed to
conduct pogroms
in the West Bank. Of course, it is the official policy of the current Israeli government to do all of these. But to many American Jews that is the result of the Netanyahu regime, not âZionismâ itself. As such, many liberal Zionists and anti-Zionists are
talking past one another
.
One way forward has been proposed by the
Nexus Project
, an initiative which seeks to clarify when anti-Zionism crosses into antisemitism. I will address two of their conclusions here.
First, anti-Zionist rhetoric becomes antisemitic when it makes use of antisemitic motifs. Sometimes these are obvious, like
these
antisemitic caricatures at a pro-Palestine rally in Toronto this past weekend.
Source: B'nai Brith Canada
Other times, the motifs can be more subtle: for example, as the Nexus Project describes it, âcharacterizing Israel as being part of a sinister world conspiracy of Jewish control of the media, economy, government, or other financial, cultural, or societal institutions.â
To take a recent example, observing that Benjamin Netanyahu and his American supporters have been pushing for war against Iran for decades is factually accurate. Claiming that America is merely his puppet,
pushed
into war by the âIsrael Lobbyâ or a
powerful Jewish conspiracy
, is conspiratorial antisemitism.
Here is another example. Jeffrey Epstein well may have been working with the Mossad, though there are more signs he was working with Russia, and probably was working all sides. But this image (
reposted
by the Nexus Project) of Epstein and Netanyahu drinking the blood of dead children is antisemitic and draws directly from the Medieval blood libel.
Source: Nexus Project
This and other such images are no more neutral than racist caricatures; they exist in a lineage and have been used for centuries to attack Jews.
Here is a third example. When Trump invaded Venezuela, some on the left said Israel and Zionists were behind it, despite no non-circumstantial evidence and ample evidence of other motives. This is antisemitic conspiracy-mongering.
In all these cases, the process for avoiding antisemitic rhetoric and imagery is the same as that for avoiding racist stereotypes: learning what the offensive themes and images are and their historyâand checking oneself before reaching for a particular metaphor, image, or symbol.
If nothing else, all of these uses of antisemitic motifs harm Palestinians as well as Jews, because they validate the worst claims of the right. As WBAI radio host and podcaster Rafael Shimunov
put it
: âProgressives claiming Israelâs behind Trump crimes in Venezuela seem to have little understanding of Western imperialism, are hitching a ride with the far right, and are handing right-wing Zionists clear examples of actual antisemitism that will be used against Palestinians.â
A second set of elements within the Nexus definition of antisemitism deals with the targeting of individual Jews. The definition defines as antisemitic:
holding individuals or institutions, because they are Jewish ⌠culpable of real or imagined wrongdoing committed by Israel; us[ing] symbols and images that present all Jews as collectively guilty for the actions of the State of Israel; attack[ing] and/or physically harm[ing] a Jew because of her/his relationship to Israel; and convey[ing] intense hostility toward Jews who are connected to Israel in a way that intentionally or irresponsibly ⌠provokes antisemitic violence.
Put another way: any time Jews are targeted
as Jews
, that is antisemitic. Individual Jews cannot be blamed for the actions of the state of Israel, even if the government of Israel asserts that it is acting on behalf of them. It is antisemitic to terrify, intimidate, or threaten Jewish people (who may or may not support the actions of the Israeli state), to vandalize their homes, or
spit on
them on college campuses. It is antisemitic to use the Jewish star as a symbol for Israelâthe entire Israeli flag must be represented. It is antisemitic to unleash violence against Jews as revenge for the hideous acts of violence committed by Israel.
There are many âeasyâ cases of such targeting: a âBring Them Home Nowâ vigil in Boulder
firebombed
because it was perceived to be pro-Israel (though in Israel, that slogan is used by anti-government protesters); multiple synagogue shootings in
Toronto
; the blockade of Jewish students in the
Cooper Union library
in New York, with protesters banging on doors.
But there are more subtle cases, too: Jews presumed to be Zionists and being driven out of arts organizations, or being required to not only disavow Zionism but dutifully raise their hands to acknowledge the genocideâa requirement not imposed on members of other groups (such as Christians who may be Christian Zionists, for example).
And then there are the harder cases. For example, synagogues often host real estate fairs for congregants considering retiring or buying second homes in Israel. These fairs often, but not always, include settlements across the
Green Line
, areas that all but Israeli hardliners believe would legitimately belong in a future Palestinian state. Lately they have become a favorite target of protest: Are they political events meriting protest, or is protesting outside synagogues always antisemitic?
Perhaps the answer really depends on what is meant by âprotest.â At a recent protest outside a synagogue in Queens, antisemitic slurs were shouted and attendees were verbally and physically harassed. The protest also included pro-Hamas shouts (
the real kind,
not the
imagined right-wing variety
). Was this protest really a targeted action against the real estate fair at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, or was it, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.)
suggested
, an act of intimidation against the entire local community? Is there no meaningful distinction between opposing the sale of apartments in Efrat and chanting âwe support Hamasâ?
That STFU in the above post, by the way, comes not from some troll but Mohammed El-Kurd, one of
Time
âs 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2021 and Palestine editor of
The Nation
.
For the record, Januaryâs protest in Queens was
met
by a vicious, racist, Islamophobic, genocidal counter-protest by far-right Jews, which received far less media coverage. And while the anti-Zionists may have frightened some Jewish people in Queens, far-right Israeli Jews are committing horrifying acts of violence against Palestinians throughout the West Bank. Arguably, that
should
be de-normalized but when I am personally afraid to wear a kippa while walking down the street in Brooklynâjust as Iâm afraid to hold my husbandâs hand when we vacation in Floridaâperhaps progressives should check themselves. Do we not see who we resemble, with whom we are âhitching a rideâ? Do we really think that targeting Jewish people and Jewish institutions with ugly iconography, even when their actions are problematic, is the way to advance justice and liberation?
Jews are not even the right constituency to target. First, Christian Zionists and Christian nationalists are more numerous, more influential, and more extreme than are Jewish Zionists. Second, most Jews opposed Israelâs war in Gaza: according to a
Washington Post
poll
conducted last October, 61% of American Jews said Israel has committed war crimes and about 4 in 10 said the country is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians. Yet we have been shunned by the coalitions of which we were once a part, thanks to the maximalist stance against Zionism as such, rather than against the subset of Zionists who support Israeli war crimes, the majority of whom are Christian. Even if it were appropriate to target Jews and Jewish institutionsâwhich it is notâit is simply inaccurate to assume that all Jews are Zionists or that all Zionists support the war crimes in Gaza, the Occupation, or the Netanyahu regime. And it is unconscionable to tolerate the overt, unambiguous antisemitism present at many pro-Palestine actions.
I even wonder if the relentless targeting of Jews as Jews might call for a reexamination of some of the ambiguous rhetoric used in pro-Palestine circles. Clearly, for example, the phrase âGlobalize the Intifadaâ can be interpreted to mean both âglobalize the nonviolent struggle for Palestinian liberationâ
and
âenact violence against Jews.â Might the actual targeting of Jews counsel more hesitation? Iâm not saying the phrase is intentional dog whistling, like the rightâs anti-immigrant and anti-trans
rhetoric
that has inspired stochastic terrorism against immigrants. Iâm saying it is irresponsibleâand disclaiming that responsibility is a form of disregard for the lives of Jewish people who are harmed by those acting on the âwrongâ interpretation of ambiguous words.
In my view, the destruction of Gaza ought to provoke rage in any human being who witnesses it. Anger is not only justified, but I would argue a necessary part of any moral response. Yet the same rage that motivates the moral conscience can also harm others if not wielded with care. Progressives know this about anger: how it energizes and how it destroys.
When we choose the strongest rhetoric, the most confrontational acts of protest, the most concentrated expressions of rage, and when the target of that hate is a vulnerable population already under attack from the right, this is not a wise use of anger. On the contrary, it betrays progressive commitments to protect the persecuted and the powerless.
For hundreds of years, antisemitism has been the handmaiden of ethnonationalism. And as ethnonationalism rises in a MAGAfied Republican Party and elsewhere in the world, Jews are once again being accused of engaging in global conspiracy, ritual murder, corrupting racial purity, and manipulating finance and the media. Progressives should not contribute to this persecution.
Progressive Jews, including Zionist ones, have long been part of coalitions working for social justice, from protesting ICE and marching with Black Lives Matter to a previous generationâs support for civil rights and LGBTQ equality. Most of us care deeply about the plight of Palestinians, and are outraged both by the Netanyahu governmentâs actions and the rightâs weaponization of antisemitism to vilify the left. But we are trying to tell you something about the hostility, hatred, and condemnation we are experiencing from our former allies. Please hear us.
Š
The UnPopulist
, 2026
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# Progressive Jews Are Deeply Distressed by the Rising Antisemitism on Their Own Side
### They distrust the right but are pained by the left
[](https://substack.com/@jaymichaelson)
[Jay Michaelson](https://substack.com/@jaymichaelson)
Mar 19, 2026
101
70
27
Share
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!02nG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6a9d913-1859-4bb5-b369-593e8209662e_2000x1334.heic)
Shutterstock
Discourse about antisemitism in America has become a hopeless, meaningless mess. Particularly in the last few years, pro-Israel and right-wing organizations and politicians have insisted that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism, [minimized](https://forward.com/opinion/812308/antisemitism-jewish-institutions-left-right-wing/) the threat on the right while exaggerating the threat on the left, used the charge of antisemitism to deflect legitimate criticism of Israeli actions, and [weaponized](https://www.thedailybeast.com/elise-stefaniks-calculated-demagoguery-on-antisemitism-and-free-speech/) Jewish fears in their *kulturkampf* against higher education, the press, and progressive activists of all kinds.
It is thus understandable that progressivesâ reflexive response to accusations of antisemitism is to dismiss them. But to do so would be a mistake. Antisemitism does exist on the left; ask any Jewish person active in progressive spaces. Moreover, the failure to condemn and root out real antisemitism enables nationalists, racists, and fascists to defame and delegitimize progressive movements. It is also a betrayal of progressive values.
What is needed is *both* a rejection of the right-wing Antisemitism Industrial Complex *and* of antisemitism itself.
This is easy enough in obvious casesâviolence against innocent Jewish people, overtly antisemitic rhetoric, and so on. Last weekâs [attempted mass murder](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/us/michigan-synagogue-shooting-temple-israel.html) at a synagogue outside Detroit might have been politically motivated by the perpetratorâs own sense of personal lossâbut targeting innocent Jewish people is still obviouslyantisemitic.
But often itâs not so easy. Is it antisemitic to protest a political (or semi-political) event at a synagogue? When do sharp, legitimate criticisms of Israel and Zionism cross the line into bigotry and bias?
Having written and worked on this subject for nearly 30 years, I intend to offer some provisional answers to these questions. I speak as a rabbi, journalist, American Jew, and longtime LGBTQ+ activist. I also still believe in what I call â[pragmatic Zionism](https://forward.com/opinion/807445/what-is-zionism-historical-reality-theory/)â based on the fact that two peoples occupy the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean and that the most realistic, imperfect solution is two states for two peoples, equal rights for all Israeli citizens regardless of nationality, and a just peace recognizing the rights of all 16 million people in Israel/Palestine to self-determination, safety, and human dignity.
***
[](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/taking-antisemitism-seriously-doesnt)
[Taking Antisemitism Seriously Doesnât Require Downplaying Islamophobia](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/taking-antisemitism-seriously-doesnt)
[Emily Tamkin](https://substack.com/profile/876588-emily-tamkin)
¡
January 18, 2024
[Read full story](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/taking-antisemitism-seriously-doesnt)
***
I also speak as someone witnessing profound mental health crisis within the American Jewish community. Nearly every American Jew I know, on every point along the ideological spectrum, is afraid, burned out, and deeply unsettled by the rise of antisemitism in America. Close friends of mine are afraid to â[look Jewish](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jewish/comments/1g9p4ug/the_war_in_gaza_has_made_me_feel_unable_to_be/)â on the streets of New York City. I have personally faced antisemitic attacks since October 2023. None of this excuses the use of antisemitism to deflect criticism or attack others. But it is the emotional reality that underlies this conversationâand if you have Jewish friends, I promise you most are feeling it. We can do better.
#### **When Anti-Zionism Becomes Antisemitic**
AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, the Republican Party, and the Antisemitism Industrial Complex claim that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. They claim that to oppose Zionism is to say that, alone among all the nations in the world, only Jews should not have a state of their own. This, they say, is inherently antisemitic.
This is clearly false. Many anti-Zionists are non-bigotedâin fact, itâs their commitments to human dignity that underlie their anti-Zionism. Moreover, it is reasonable to evaluate Zionism by what it has wrought for Palestinians, not merely what it means in the abstract.
***
[](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/nationalism-is-driving-the-neo-rights)
[Nationalism Is Driving the Neo Rightâs Virulent Antisemitic Turn](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/nationalism-is-driving-the-neo-rights)
[Ilya Somin](https://substack.com/profile/14954851-ilya-somin)
¡
December 9, 2025
[Read full story](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/nationalism-is-driving-the-neo-rights)
***
That said, it is worth understanding that most American Jews do indeed define âZionismâ as the movement for Jewish self-determination, not settler-colonialism or Jewish domination. They do not define it as requiring that Palestinian society be eradicated, hospitals in Gaza bombed, or settler thugs allowed to [conduct pogroms](https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/15/middleeast/huwara-west-bank-settler-attack-cmd-intl) in the West Bank. Of course, it is the official policy of the current Israeli government to do all of these. But to many American Jews that is the result of the Netanyahu regime, not âZionismâ itself. As such, many liberal Zionists and anti-Zionists are [talking past one another](https://forward.com/opinion/807445/what-is-zionism-historical-reality-theory/).
One way forward has been proposed by the [Nexus Project](https://nexusproject.us/), an initiative which seeks to clarify when anti-Zionism crosses into antisemitism. I will address two of their conclusions here.
First, anti-Zionist rhetoric becomes antisemitic when it makes use of antisemitic motifs. Sometimes these are obvious, like [these](https://x.com/bnaibrithcanada/status/2033689343227805831) antisemitic caricatures at a pro-Palestine rally in Toronto this past weekend.
Source: B'nai Brith Canada
Other times, the motifs can be more subtle: for example, as the Nexus Project describes it, âcharacterizing Israel as being part of a sinister world conspiracy of Jewish control of the media, economy, government, or other financial, cultural, or societal institutions.â
To take a recent example, observing that Benjamin Netanyahu and his American supporters have been pushing for war against Iran for decades is factually accurate. Claiming that America is merely his puppet, [pushed](https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/17/israel-lobby-iran-war-trump-responsibility/) into war by the âIsrael Lobbyâ or a [powerful Jewish conspiracy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tFQ6sfStPM), is conspiratorial antisemitism.
Here is another example. Jeffrey Epstein well may have been working with the Mossad, though there are more signs he was working with Russia, and probably was working all sides. But this image ([reposted](https://www.instagram.com/p/DVhmLhdl4UU/?img_index=1) by the Nexus Project) of Epstein and Netanyahu drinking the blood of dead children is antisemitic and draws directly from the Medieval blood libel.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d2tA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F09fb9765-c14c-4ff6-a3bc-47fae4a3f017_1558x958.heic)
Source: Nexus Project
This and other such images are no more neutral than racist caricatures; they exist in a lineage and have been used for centuries to attack Jews.
Here is a third example. When Trump invaded Venezuela, some on the left said Israel and Zionists were behind it, despite no non-circumstantial evidence and ample evidence of other motives. This is antisemitic conspiracy-mongering.
In all these cases, the process for avoiding antisemitic rhetoric and imagery is the same as that for avoiding racist stereotypes: learning what the offensive themes and images are and their historyâand checking oneself before reaching for a particular metaphor, image, or symbol.
If nothing else, all of these uses of antisemitic motifs harm Palestinians as well as Jews, because they validate the worst claims of the right. As WBAI radio host and podcaster Rafael Shimunov [put it](https://x.com/rafaelshimunov/status/2007586353660493998): âProgressives claiming Israelâs behind Trump crimes in Venezuela seem to have little understanding of Western imperialism, are hitching a ride with the far right, and are handing right-wing Zionists clear examples of actual antisemitism that will be used against Palestinians.â
#### **Targeting Jews**
A second set of elements within the Nexus definition of antisemitism deals with the targeting of individual Jews. The definition defines as antisemitic:
> holding individuals or institutions, because they are Jewish ⌠culpable of real or imagined wrongdoing committed by Israel; us\[ing\] symbols and images that present all Jews as collectively guilty for the actions of the State of Israel; attack\[ing\] and/or physically harm\[ing\] a Jew because of her/his relationship to Israel; and convey\[ing\] intense hostility toward Jews who are connected to Israel in a way that intentionally or irresponsibly ⌠provokes antisemitic violence.
Put another way: any time Jews are targeted *as Jews*, that is antisemitic. Individual Jews cannot be blamed for the actions of the state of Israel, even if the government of Israel asserts that it is acting on behalf of them. It is antisemitic to terrify, intimidate, or threaten Jewish people (who may or may not support the actions of the Israeli state), to vandalize their homes, or [spit on](https://senate.columbia.edu/sites/senate.columbia.edu/files/content/Reports_2024-25/The%20Sundial%20Report_3.31.2025.FINAL_.pdf) them on college campuses. It is antisemitic to use the Jewish star as a symbol for Israelâthe entire Israeli flag must be represented. It is antisemitic to unleash violence against Jews as revenge for the hideous acts of violence committed by Israel.
There are many âeasyâ cases of such targeting: a âBring Them Home Nowâ vigil in Boulder [firebombed](https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/03/us/details-colorado-protest-attack) because it was perceived to be pro-Israel (though in Israel, that slogan is used by anti-government protesters); multiple synagogue shootings in [Toronto](https://www.timesofisrael.com/every-light-is-flashing-after-shootings-at-synagogues-canadas-jews-fear-whats-next/); the blockade of Jewish students in the [Cooper Union library](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/nyregion/cooper-union-jewish-students-lawsuit-antisemitism.html) in New York, with protesters banging on doors.
***
[](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/tucker-carlson-is-resurrecting-christianitys)
[Tucker Carlson Is Resurrecting Christianity's Ugly Tradition of Antisemitism](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/tucker-carlson-is-resurrecting-christianitys)
[Mark Tooley](https://substack.com/profile/51398798-mark-tooley)
¡
November 3, 2025
[Read full story](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/tucker-carlson-is-resurrecting-christianitys)
***
But there are more subtle cases, too: Jews presumed to be Zionists and being driven out of arts organizations, or being required to not only disavow Zionism but dutifully raise their hands to acknowledge the genocideâa requirement not imposed on members of other groups (such as Christians who may be Christian Zionists, for example).
And then there are the harder cases. For example, synagogues often host real estate fairs for congregants considering retiring or buying second homes in Israel. These fairs often, but not always, include settlements across the [Green Line](https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/green-line), areas that all but Israeli hardliners believe would legitimately belong in a future Palestinian state. Lately they have become a favorite target of protest: Are they political events meriting protest, or is protesting outside synagogues always antisemitic?
Perhaps the answer really depends on what is meant by âprotest.â At a recent protest outside a synagogue in Queens, antisemitic slurs were shouted and attendees were verbally and physically harassed. The protest also included pro-Hamas shouts ([the real kind,](https://www.adl.org/resources/article/pro-hamas-chant-queens-synagogue-protest-signals-further-normalization-terror) not the [imagined right-wing variety](https://nypost.com/2026/01/20/us-news/nyc-campus-activists-peddle-propaganda-directly-from-hamas-terrifying-report/)). Was this protest really a targeted action against the real estate fair at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, or was it, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) [suggested](https://www.timesofisrael.com/protesters-chant-we-support-hamas-near-new-york-city-synagogue-jewish-school/), an act of intimidation against the entire local community? Is there no meaningful distinction between opposing the sale of apartments in Efrat and chanting âwe support Hamasâ?
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oujC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F95ec169b-2630-46b7-9509-72f72b97f68e_876x498.heic)
[Source](https://x.com/m7mdkurd/status/2009798285670662457)
That STFU in the above post, by the way, comes not from some troll but Mohammed El-Kurd, one of *Time*âs 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2021 and Palestine editor of *The Nation*.
For the record, Januaryâs protest in Queens was [met](https://shaulmagid.substack.com/p/the-righteousness-indignation-of) by a vicious, racist, Islamophobic, genocidal counter-protest by far-right Jews, which received far less media coverage. And while the anti-Zionists may have frightened some Jewish people in Queens, far-right Israeli Jews are committing horrifying acts of violence against Palestinians throughout the West Bank. Arguably, that *should* be de-normalized but when I am personally afraid to wear a kippa while walking down the street in Brooklynâjust as Iâm afraid to hold my husbandâs hand when we vacation in Floridaâperhaps progressives should check themselves. Do we not see who we resemble, with whom we are âhitching a rideâ? Do we really think that targeting Jewish people and Jewish institutions with ugly iconography, even when their actions are problematic, is the way to advance justice and liberation?
Jews are not even the right constituency to target. First, Christian Zionists and Christian nationalists are more numerous, more influential, and more extreme than are Jewish Zionists. Second, most Jews opposed Israelâs war in Gaza: according to a *Washington Post* [poll](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/06/jewish-americans-israel-poll-gaza/) conducted last October, 61% of American Jews said Israel has committed war crimes and about 4 in 10 said the country is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians. Yet we have been shunned by the coalitions of which we were once a part, thanks to the maximalist stance against Zionism as such, rather than against the subset of Zionists who support Israeli war crimes, the majority of whom are Christian. Even if it were appropriate to target Jews and Jewish institutionsâwhich it is notâit is simply inaccurate to assume that all Jews are Zionists or that all Zionists support the war crimes in Gaza, the Occupation, or the Netanyahu regime. And it is unconscionable to tolerate the overt, unambiguous antisemitism present at many pro-Palestine actions.
***
[](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/yoram-hazonys-national-conservatism)
[Yoram Hazonyâs National Conservatism Wants to Abandon Liberal Democracy so that the Jewish People Maintain Hegemony in Israel](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/yoram-hazonys-national-conservatism)
[Michael G. Holzman](https://substack.com/profile/189167283-michael-g-holzman)
¡
August 10, 2025
[Read full story](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/yoram-hazonys-national-conservatism)
***
I even wonder if the relentless targeting of Jews as Jews might call for a reexamination of some of the ambiguous rhetoric used in pro-Palestine circles. Clearly, for example, the phrase âGlobalize the Intifadaâ can be interpreted to mean both âglobalize the nonviolent struggle for Palestinian liberationâ *and* âenact violence against Jews.â Might the actual targeting of Jews counsel more hesitation? Iâm not saying the phrase is intentional dog whistling, like the rightâs anti-immigrant and anti-trans [rhetoric](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/yes-tucker-carlsons-popularization) that has inspired stochastic terrorism against immigrants. Iâm saying it is irresponsibleâand disclaiming that responsibility is a form of disregard for the lives of Jewish people who are harmed by those acting on the âwrongâ interpretation of ambiguous words.
#### **A Dark Mirror**
In my view, the destruction of Gaza ought to provoke rage in any human being who witnesses it. Anger is not only justified, but I would argue a necessary part of any moral response. Yet the same rage that motivates the moral conscience can also harm others if not wielded with care. Progressives know this about anger: how it energizes and how it destroys.
When we choose the strongest rhetoric, the most confrontational acts of protest, the most concentrated expressions of rage, and when the target of that hate is a vulnerable population already under attack from the right, this is not a wise use of anger. On the contrary, it betrays progressive commitments to protect the persecuted and the powerless.
For hundreds of years, antisemitism has been the handmaiden of ethnonationalism. And as ethnonationalism rises in a MAGAfied Republican Party and elsewhere in the world, Jews are once again being accused of engaging in global conspiracy, ritual murder, corrupting racial purity, and manipulating finance and the media. Progressives should not contribute to this persecution.
Progressive Jews, including Zionist ones, have long been part of coalitions working for social justice, from protesting ICE and marching with Black Lives Matter to a previous generationâs support for civil rights and LGBTQ equality. Most of us care deeply about the plight of Palestinians, and are outraged both by the Netanyahu governmentâs actions and the rightâs weaponization of antisemitism to vilify the left. But we are trying to tell you something about the hostility, hatred, and condemnation we are experiencing from our former allies. Please hear us.
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#### Discussion about this post
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[Brian Wroten](https://substack.com/profile/74659768-brian-wroten?utm_source=substack-feed-item)
[Mar 20](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/progressive-jews-are-deeply-distressed/comment/230479613 "Mar 20, 2026, 4:38 AM")
The difference between Antizionism and antisemitism is mostly an academic one. Irl itâs a get-out-of-jail-free card for progressives who want to justify something anyone would plainly understand as antisemitic.
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[David Pincus](https://substack.com/profile/186838044-david-pincus?utm_source=substack-feed-item)
[Mar 20](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/progressive-jews-are-deeply-distressed/comment/230544737 "Mar 20, 2026, 10:30 AM")
Just the fact that you would suggest âglobalize the intifadaâ means âglobalize the non-violent struggle for Palestinian liberationâ in any possible case makes me extremely dismissive of much else that you have to say. No self-respecting Palestinian in Gaza or the West Bank (or London or New York) would EVER agree with your interpretation, except in English to gullible westerners.
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Discourse about antisemitism in America has become a hopeless, meaningless mess. Particularly in the last few years, pro-Israel and right-wing organizations and politicians have insisted that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism, [minimized](https://forward.com/opinion/812308/antisemitism-jewish-institutions-left-right-wing/) the threat on the right while exaggerating the threat on the left, used the charge of antisemitism to deflect legitimate criticism of Israeli actions, and [weaponized](https://www.thedailybeast.com/elise-stefaniks-calculated-demagoguery-on-antisemitism-and-free-speech/) Jewish fears in their *kulturkampf* against higher education, the press, and progressive activists of all kinds.
It is thus understandable that progressivesâ reflexive response to accusations of antisemitism is to dismiss them. But to do so would be a mistake. Antisemitism does exist on the left; ask any Jewish person active in progressive spaces. Moreover, the failure to condemn and root out real antisemitism enables nationalists, racists, and fascists to defame and delegitimize progressive movements. It is also a betrayal of progressive values.
What is needed is *both* a rejection of the right-wing Antisemitism Industrial Complex *and* of antisemitism itself.
This is easy enough in obvious casesâviolence against innocent Jewish people, overtly antisemitic rhetoric, and so on. Last weekâs [attempted mass murder](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/us/michigan-synagogue-shooting-temple-israel.html) at a synagogue outside Detroit might have been politically motivated by the perpetratorâs own sense of personal lossâbut targeting innocent Jewish people is still obviouslyantisemitic.
But often itâs not so easy. Is it antisemitic to protest a political (or semi-political) event at a synagogue? When do sharp, legitimate criticisms of Israel and Zionism cross the line into bigotry and bias?
Having written and worked on this subject for nearly 30 years, I intend to offer some provisional answers to these questions. I speak as a rabbi, journalist, American Jew, and longtime LGBTQ+ activist. I also still believe in what I call â[pragmatic Zionism](https://forward.com/opinion/807445/what-is-zionism-historical-reality-theory/)â based on the fact that two peoples occupy the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean and that the most realistic, imperfect solution is two states for two peoples, equal rights for all Israeli citizens regardless of nationality, and a just peace recognizing the rights of all 16 million people in Israel/Palestine to self-determination, safety, and human dignity.
[](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/taking-antisemitism-seriously-doesnt)
I also speak as someone witnessing profound mental health crisis within the American Jewish community. Nearly every American Jew I know, on every point along the ideological spectrum, is afraid, burned out, and deeply unsettled by the rise of antisemitism in America. Close friends of mine are afraid to â[look Jewish](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jewish/comments/1g9p4ug/the_war_in_gaza_has_made_me_feel_unable_to_be/)â on the streets of New York City. I have personally faced antisemitic attacks since October 2023. None of this excuses the use of antisemitism to deflect criticism or attack others. But it is the emotional reality that underlies this conversationâand if you have Jewish friends, I promise you most are feeling it. We can do better.
AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, the Republican Party, and the Antisemitism Industrial Complex claim that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. They claim that to oppose Zionism is to say that, alone among all the nations in the world, only Jews should not have a state of their own. This, they say, is inherently antisemitic.
This is clearly false. Many anti-Zionists are non-bigotedâin fact, itâs their commitments to human dignity that underlie their anti-Zionism. Moreover, it is reasonable to evaluate Zionism by what it has wrought for Palestinians, not merely what it means in the abstract.
[](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/nationalism-is-driving-the-neo-rights)
That said, it is worth understanding that most American Jews do indeed define âZionismâ as the movement for Jewish self-determination, not settler-colonialism or Jewish domination. They do not define it as requiring that Palestinian society be eradicated, hospitals in Gaza bombed, or settler thugs allowed to [conduct pogroms](https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/15/middleeast/huwara-west-bank-settler-attack-cmd-intl) in the West Bank. Of course, it is the official policy of the current Israeli government to do all of these. But to many American Jews that is the result of the Netanyahu regime, not âZionismâ itself. As such, many liberal Zionists and anti-Zionists are [talking past one another](https://forward.com/opinion/807445/what-is-zionism-historical-reality-theory/).
One way forward has been proposed by the [Nexus Project](https://nexusproject.us/), an initiative which seeks to clarify when anti-Zionism crosses into antisemitism. I will address two of their conclusions here.
First, anti-Zionist rhetoric becomes antisemitic when it makes use of antisemitic motifs. Sometimes these are obvious, like [these](https://x.com/bnaibrithcanada/status/2033689343227805831) antisemitic caricatures at a pro-Palestine rally in Toronto this past weekend.
Source: B'nai Brith Canada
Other times, the motifs can be more subtle: for example, as the Nexus Project describes it, âcharacterizing Israel as being part of a sinister world conspiracy of Jewish control of the media, economy, government, or other financial, cultural, or societal institutions.â
To take a recent example, observing that Benjamin Netanyahu and his American supporters have been pushing for war against Iran for decades is factually accurate. Claiming that America is merely his puppet, [pushed](https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/17/israel-lobby-iran-war-trump-responsibility/) into war by the âIsrael Lobbyâ or a [powerful Jewish conspiracy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tFQ6sfStPM), is conspiratorial antisemitism.
Here is another example. Jeffrey Epstein well may have been working with the Mossad, though there are more signs he was working with Russia, and probably was working all sides. But this image ([reposted](https://www.instagram.com/p/DVhmLhdl4UU/?img_index=1) by the Nexus Project) of Epstein and Netanyahu drinking the blood of dead children is antisemitic and draws directly from the Medieval blood libel.
[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!d2tA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F09fb9765-c14c-4ff6-a3bc-47fae4a3f017_1558x958.heic)
Source: Nexus Project
This and other such images are no more neutral than racist caricatures; they exist in a lineage and have been used for centuries to attack Jews.
Here is a third example. When Trump invaded Venezuela, some on the left said Israel and Zionists were behind it, despite no non-circumstantial evidence and ample evidence of other motives. This is antisemitic conspiracy-mongering.
In all these cases, the process for avoiding antisemitic rhetoric and imagery is the same as that for avoiding racist stereotypes: learning what the offensive themes and images are and their historyâand checking oneself before reaching for a particular metaphor, image, or symbol.
If nothing else, all of these uses of antisemitic motifs harm Palestinians as well as Jews, because they validate the worst claims of the right. As WBAI radio host and podcaster Rafael Shimunov [put it](https://x.com/rafaelshimunov/status/2007586353660493998): âProgressives claiming Israelâs behind Trump crimes in Venezuela seem to have little understanding of Western imperialism, are hitching a ride with the far right, and are handing right-wing Zionists clear examples of actual antisemitism that will be used against Palestinians.â
A second set of elements within the Nexus definition of antisemitism deals with the targeting of individual Jews. The definition defines as antisemitic:
> holding individuals or institutions, because they are Jewish ⌠culpable of real or imagined wrongdoing committed by Israel; us\[ing\] symbols and images that present all Jews as collectively guilty for the actions of the State of Israel; attack\[ing\] and/or physically harm\[ing\] a Jew because of her/his relationship to Israel; and convey\[ing\] intense hostility toward Jews who are connected to Israel in a way that intentionally or irresponsibly ⌠provokes antisemitic violence.
Put another way: any time Jews are targeted *as Jews*, that is antisemitic. Individual Jews cannot be blamed for the actions of the state of Israel, even if the government of Israel asserts that it is acting on behalf of them. It is antisemitic to terrify, intimidate, or threaten Jewish people (who may or may not support the actions of the Israeli state), to vandalize their homes, or [spit on](https://senate.columbia.edu/sites/senate.columbia.edu/files/content/Reports_2024-25/The%20Sundial%20Report_3.31.2025.FINAL_.pdf) them on college campuses. It is antisemitic to use the Jewish star as a symbol for Israelâthe entire Israeli flag must be represented. It is antisemitic to unleash violence against Jews as revenge for the hideous acts of violence committed by Israel.
There are many âeasyâ cases of such targeting: a âBring Them Home Nowâ vigil in Boulder [firebombed](https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/03/us/details-colorado-protest-attack) because it was perceived to be pro-Israel (though in Israel, that slogan is used by anti-government protesters); multiple synagogue shootings in [Toronto](https://www.timesofisrael.com/every-light-is-flashing-after-shootings-at-synagogues-canadas-jews-fear-whats-next/); the blockade of Jewish students in the [Cooper Union library](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/nyregion/cooper-union-jewish-students-lawsuit-antisemitism.html) in New York, with protesters banging on doors.
[](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/tucker-carlson-is-resurrecting-christianitys)
But there are more subtle cases, too: Jews presumed to be Zionists and being driven out of arts organizations, or being required to not only disavow Zionism but dutifully raise their hands to acknowledge the genocideâa requirement not imposed on members of other groups (such as Christians who may be Christian Zionists, for example).
And then there are the harder cases. For example, synagogues often host real estate fairs for congregants considering retiring or buying second homes in Israel. These fairs often, but not always, include settlements across the [Green Line](https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/green-line), areas that all but Israeli hardliners believe would legitimately belong in a future Palestinian state. Lately they have become a favorite target of protest: Are they political events meriting protest, or is protesting outside synagogues always antisemitic?
Perhaps the answer really depends on what is meant by âprotest.â At a recent protest outside a synagogue in Queens, antisemitic slurs were shouted and attendees were verbally and physically harassed. The protest also included pro-Hamas shouts ([the real kind,](https://www.adl.org/resources/article/pro-hamas-chant-queens-synagogue-protest-signals-further-normalization-terror) not the [imagined right-wing variety](https://nypost.com/2026/01/20/us-news/nyc-campus-activists-peddle-propaganda-directly-from-hamas-terrifying-report/)). Was this protest really a targeted action against the real estate fair at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, or was it, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) [suggested](https://www.timesofisrael.com/protesters-chant-we-support-hamas-near-new-york-city-synagogue-jewish-school/), an act of intimidation against the entire local community? Is there no meaningful distinction between opposing the sale of apartments in Efrat and chanting âwe support Hamasâ?
That STFU in the above post, by the way, comes not from some troll but Mohammed El-Kurd, one of *Time*âs 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2021 and Palestine editor of *The Nation*.
For the record, Januaryâs protest in Queens was [met](https://shaulmagid.substack.com/p/the-righteousness-indignation-of) by a vicious, racist, Islamophobic, genocidal counter-protest by far-right Jews, which received far less media coverage. And while the anti-Zionists may have frightened some Jewish people in Queens, far-right Israeli Jews are committing horrifying acts of violence against Palestinians throughout the West Bank. Arguably, that *should* be de-normalized but when I am personally afraid to wear a kippa while walking down the street in Brooklynâjust as Iâm afraid to hold my husbandâs hand when we vacation in Floridaâperhaps progressives should check themselves. Do we not see who we resemble, with whom we are âhitching a rideâ? Do we really think that targeting Jewish people and Jewish institutions with ugly iconography, even when their actions are problematic, is the way to advance justice and liberation?
Jews are not even the right constituency to target. First, Christian Zionists and Christian nationalists are more numerous, more influential, and more extreme than are Jewish Zionists. Second, most Jews opposed Israelâs war in Gaza: according to a *Washington Post* [poll](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/06/jewish-americans-israel-poll-gaza/) conducted last October, 61% of American Jews said Israel has committed war crimes and about 4 in 10 said the country is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians. Yet we have been shunned by the coalitions of which we were once a part, thanks to the maximalist stance against Zionism as such, rather than against the subset of Zionists who support Israeli war crimes, the majority of whom are Christian. Even if it were appropriate to target Jews and Jewish institutionsâwhich it is notâit is simply inaccurate to assume that all Jews are Zionists or that all Zionists support the war crimes in Gaza, the Occupation, or the Netanyahu regime. And it is unconscionable to tolerate the overt, unambiguous antisemitism present at many pro-Palestine actions.
[](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/yoram-hazonys-national-conservatism)
I even wonder if the relentless targeting of Jews as Jews might call for a reexamination of some of the ambiguous rhetoric used in pro-Palestine circles. Clearly, for example, the phrase âGlobalize the Intifadaâ can be interpreted to mean both âglobalize the nonviolent struggle for Palestinian liberationâ *and* âenact violence against Jews.â Might the actual targeting of Jews counsel more hesitation? Iâm not saying the phrase is intentional dog whistling, like the rightâs anti-immigrant and anti-trans [rhetoric](https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/yes-tucker-carlsons-popularization) that has inspired stochastic terrorism against immigrants. Iâm saying it is irresponsibleâand disclaiming that responsibility is a form of disregard for the lives of Jewish people who are harmed by those acting on the âwrongâ interpretation of ambiguous words.
In my view, the destruction of Gaza ought to provoke rage in any human being who witnesses it. Anger is not only justified, but I would argue a necessary part of any moral response. Yet the same rage that motivates the moral conscience can also harm others if not wielded with care. Progressives know this about anger: how it energizes and how it destroys.
When we choose the strongest rhetoric, the most confrontational acts of protest, the most concentrated expressions of rage, and when the target of that hate is a vulnerable population already under attack from the right, this is not a wise use of anger. On the contrary, it betrays progressive commitments to protect the persecuted and the powerless.
For hundreds of years, antisemitism has been the handmaiden of ethnonationalism. And as ethnonationalism rises in a MAGAfied Republican Party and elsewhere in the world, Jews are once again being accused of engaging in global conspiracy, ritual murder, corrupting racial purity, and manipulating finance and the media. Progressives should not contribute to this persecution.
Progressive Jews, including Zionist ones, have long been part of coalitions working for social justice, from protesting ICE and marching with Black Lives Matter to a previous generationâs support for civil rights and LGBTQ equality. Most of us care deeply about the plight of Palestinians, and are outraged both by the Netanyahu governmentâs actions and the rightâs weaponization of antisemitism to vilify the left. But we are trying to tell you something about the hostility, hatred, and condemnation we are experiencing from our former allies. Please hear us.
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