Thanks to the far-left and far-right, U.S. Jews are trapped in a political no man's land
I think my beliefs are pretty moderate, pretty reasonable. But in leftist social justice spaces, to be accepted as a “good Jew” and to have your experiences of antisemitism taken seriously, you must be flat-out against Israel. There’s no room for nuance here, which I found out the hard way after Students for Justice in Palestine defaced the article I wrote for my school paper about the experience of being gay and Jewish. An article I was really proud of, focusing mainly on American rabbis and queer American Jews, was scrawled with “STOP PINKWASHING APARTHEID.” As one of the paper’s editors, I invited the SJP branch to submit their own op-ed. They declined. That was the first and last time I ever spoke of my Jewishness on campus.
In another instance, I attended the Decolonize This Place tour of the Natural History Museum on Columbus Day in 2016. I enjoyed learning about the history of the museum from an alternative perspective and agreed with a lot of what was being said about the exploitation of certain cultures and theft of artifacts on display. The majority of the tour focused on the plight of Native Americans in the United States, and how Columbus Day should be Indigenous Peoples Day instead (a sentiment I completely agree with). But after the tour, when we all gathered outside as the leaders put a giant plastic bag over the monument of Teddy Roosevelt, a chant of “Free, Free, Free Palestine!” broke out. Not relevant to the immediate topic at hand, I instantly felt unwelcome and like I didn’t belong. I was confused as to why a movement about indigenous rights and decolonization would have such a narrow understanding of the history of the land that is now Israel.
While many leftists in the West view the world in a very simplistic fashion of oppressed vs. oppressor (with white skinned people being the oppressor), this way of thinking doesn’t apply to all the nuances and complexities of the Middle East. This is why I cringe when I hear anyone refer to Israel as “settler-colonial.” They’re under the impression that all Jews are white European settlers displacing the Palestinians. This is inaccurate on multiple levels.
For one, Jewish people — all Jewish people — are indigenous to the Levant (the region that is now Israel). We do not have any real ties to Europe, and in fact, about 90% of European Jews don’t feel safe or welcome in their respective countries anymore.
While right-wing antisemitism is definitely more directly frightening, left-wing antisemitism is more existentially terrifying… these are people who are meant to be my allies, so why am I being held to a different standard because I’m ethnically and culturally Jewish?
https://deadstate.org/opinion-thanks-to-the-far-left-and-far-right-u-s-jews-are-trapped-in-a-political-no-mans-land/
A long read but very much worth it in my opinion. I've snipped the portions posted here.
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