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The Question That Reveals the Antisemite
Palestinian supporters protesting outside a Scotland vs. Israel match at the a UEFA Women’s European Qualifiers at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland on May 31, 2024. Photo: Alex Todd/Sportpix/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
JNS.org – One of the more irritating questions being asked today, as it has been asked for years, is: When does criticism of Israel become antisemitism?
For many of us, this is a question barely deserving of any answer other than: “If you have to ask, you’ll never know.” If you can look upon the masses of frenzied maniacs in the streets and on campus with their shrieking calls for genocide and not understand that they are crossing some kind of line, then you are more or less beyond saving.
Nonetheless, there are times when the question is asked out of simple ignorance. Non-Jews are often genuinely perplexed by the issues of Israel and antisemitism, and there is at least the vague possibility that they are willing to be educated.
I am probably not the person who should undertake this education, given that my opinion on the matter is something of an outlier. I believe that at a time when Jews are being targeted and literally murdered by people who hate Israel, there is no possible way that criticism of Israel is not subjectively or objectively antisemitic. Whether well-intended or utterly scurrilous, such criticism must feed the beast.
I realize that most people—and most Jews—disagree with me. Nonetheless, I think that, for them, the question of when criticism becomes antisemitism is not as difficult to answer as it might seem.
There is, in fact, a fairly simple litmus test for antisemitism. One need only ask of a critic: Are they OK with killing Jews?
This simple litmus test is, ironically, what set me on the path towards Zionism and Israel. In my youth, I was a conformist who adopted the anti-Israel progressive ideology of my surrounding environment to the point that friends accused me of self-hatred (they were right). It was only when the Second Intifada broke out in 2000 that I realized—to my shock and great confusion—that those I considered allies were perfectly fine with killing Jews, and I knew this because they said so. I left the progressive world and never looked back.
This is not just a question of whether someone openly supports killing Jews, however. After all, if they do, there is no question as to their antisemitism. Hence our rage and dismay when shouts of “death to Israel” on university grounds are dismissed as, at worst, overheated rhetoric.
Still, antisemites are not always so forthright. For example, many people will engage in some preliminary throat-clearing by saying things like: “Yes, Oct. 7 was terrible” or “Of course, Israel has a right to defend itself” before they launch into the rant that follows their inevitable “but … ”
What the rant usually amounts to—behind the crocodile tears over civilian casualties, settler-colonialism and other clichés—is a fairly simple if unspoken assertion: When faced with the murder of its citizens, Israel should do absolutely nothing. Moreover, anything Israel does do is by definition a crime.
Despite the fact that the people who make this argument generally consider themselves to be little less than saints, one can only make such an argument by relying on a singular and singularly monstrous principle: Jewish lives are worthless.
That is, the saints are arguing that Jews and the state they created to protect them should forgo all human instinct, morality, dignity and common sense, and just sit there and let themselves be murdered. No one who sees any value whatsoever in the life of a Jew—or, one suspects, any life at all—could possibly believe such a thing, let alone say it out loud. For those who do believe it, “antisemite” is the only viable description.
Sadly, we see saints everywhere these days. They are not just on the campuses or in the classrooms. They are at the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. They have infiltrated innumerable governments around the world, including that of the United States. They are activists and diplomats and journalists. They are professors and philosophers. And they are, sometimes, our friends and neighbors. They profess to a humanistic worship of all life, especially human life, and yet … they are perfectly OK with killing Jews.
Naturally, many of the saints are only dimly aware of their mortal sin. If confronted, they will never admit to it and, quite often, fly into paroxysms of rage at the prospect. Nonetheless, it is not difficult to discern who they are behind the mask of sanctity.
To uncover their true face, we need only demand something rather obvious but also rather radical: actual revulsion, actual horror at the murder of Jews. We must see them repelled by the very thought that it could happen, all over again, in this generation like all the others.
If someone criticizes Israel but still displays such revulsion and horror, then we can at least tentatively assume they are not antisemitic. At the very least, we can grant them the benefit of the doubt. Where we go from there, of course, is what will ultimately decide who is the saint and who is not.
The post The Question That Reveals the Antisemite first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Argentina Busts Terror Cell Plotting Attacks on Jewish Community
Illustrative. The aftermath of the bombing of the AMIA building in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994. Photo: File.
JNS.org – Argentine police have dismantled an “Islamist terrorist organization” planning attacks on the Jewish community in the city of Mendoza, the country’s National Security Ministry announced on Friday.
Seven members of the cell were arrested during raids against their homes that resulted in the seizure of firearms, knives and electronic devices, according to the ministry.
The cell had been disseminating attack plans along with content from terror groups such as Islamic State and the Taliban, added the ministry.
Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said the cell was uncovered after one of the members threatened a Jewish journalist from the local community.
“We are going to get rid of each and every one of these criminals who intend to sow fear in Argentines and they will pay,” Bullrich posted to social media.
7 TERRORISTAS ¡AFUERA!
Planeaban atentados en Mendoza. En 8 allanamientos la PFA desmanteló una peligrosa organización vinculada a un grupo terrorista radical islámico, identificado tras amenazar a un periodista de la comunidad judía. Esta organización usaba las redes para… pic.twitter.com/f0NMhBxwGA
— Patricia Bullrich (@PatoBullrich) August 16, 2024
In January, Argentine police arrested two Syrian and one Lebanese man for plotting to carry out a terrorist attack. The three men, who had arrived separately in the country, were apprehended in Buenos Aires and in the adjacent suburb of Avellaneda.
A 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires blamed on Hezbollah killed 85 people and wounded more than 300 others. Last year, an Argentine federal judge called on Interpol to arrest four Lebanese men believed to be connected to the bombing.
An earlier attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 also attributed to Iranian-backed Hezbollah killed 29 people and wounded 242 others.
In July, Argentina designated Hamas an “international terrorist organization” following the Palestinian group’s Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis.
“The Hamas group has been declared by the Argentine state as an international terrorist organization,” President Javier Milei said, citing “an extensive record of terrorist attacks on their behalf.”
Buenos Aires “has an unwavering commitment to recognize terrorists for what they are,” read the statement by Argentina’s President Javier Milei’s office, adding that “it’s the first time that there is a political will to do so. “Argentina must once again align itself with Western civilization,” the statement continued.
In February, Milei made a wartime visit to Israel, signaling a major shift in Argentina’s foreign policy toward the United States and Israel after decades of backing Arab countries.
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Jewish NGOs to Host Sideline Events at Democratic National Convention
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz hold a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US, Aug. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
JNS.org – While presidential nominee Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz take hits from both right and left for their stances on Israel, the Democratic National Convention will feature a number of events tied to the American Jewish community.
The convention, which runs Monday through Thursday in Chicago, is expected to highlight divisions within the party on the issues of Israel and antisemitism.
Some analysts suggest as many as 100,000 protesters—many of whom support Hamas and have links to terrorist groups—will descend on the Windy City to disrupt the event in an effort to push Harris towards forcing a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas, and to threaten to withhold their votes in November’s election if she doesn’t back an arms embargo on Jerusalem.
The so-called Uncommitted movement, which lodged protest votes in droves for no candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries in Palestinian, Arab and Muslim-heavy states such as Michigan and Walz’s domain of Minnesota, garnered 30 delegates, and various media reports state that Democratic insiders are fearful of a show of dissent to Harris’s Israel policies on the convention floor itself.
Harris reportedly told leaders of the Uncommitted movement recently that she was open to discussing with them an arms embargo, though her office and campaign rejected that interpretation.
Walz, meanwhile, is coming under increasing fire for exposed close ties to radical anti-Israel figures, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Imam Asad Zaman, also from Minnesota, who praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), which is led by Halie Soifer, Harris’s former national security adviser, will hold a series of events on the DNC sidelines throughout the week. A number of members of Congress are scheduled to participate in panel discussions, including Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides will also participate, as will Wesley Bell, a St. Louis prosecutor who upended anti-Israel Squad member Rep. Cori Bush in this month’s Democratic congressional primary.
The American Jewish Committee, headed by former Rep. Ted Deutch, will also sponsor several events in Chicago. Those include a panel discussion featuring Nides, and another talk by a pair of Biden administration officials.
The Israeli-American Council, which has yet to be approved for a counter-protest permit by the city of Chicago, will host a Hostage Square display on Tuesday in an effort to draw attention to the condition of the remaining captives held in Gaza.
The public display, pieced together by a half-dozen Israeli artists, is being held on a private lot in the shadow of the United Center—the convention’s host arena—and therefore does not require a permit.
In contrast to last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which highlighted the party’s relationship with Israel and featured a number of speakers discussing the state of antisemitism, the Democrats have not announced any focus on Israel for Chicago.
Doug Emhoff, Harris’s Jewish husband, is set to keynote on Tuesday. Republican nominee Donald Trump recently denigrated Emhoff’s Jewishness, calling him a “crappy Jew,” while critiquing American Jews who vote Democratic.
The Republican Jewish Coalition has issued a “Praise Israel” challenge, saying it would donate 1,800 trees to the Jewish state in honor of anyone who would address the Democratic convention from the main stage and ask the crowd to cheer for Israel.
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Trump Warns US Jews in Most Danger Since Holocaust
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump raises his fist from the stage on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
JNS.org – Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Saturday that Jews in the United States are facing their greatest threat since World War II.
“What’s happening with Israel and Jewish people, there has never been a more dangerous time since the Holocaust if you happen to be Jewish in America,” the former president told supporters at a rally in Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania.
He made similar remarks on Thursday at a “Fighting Antisemitism” event with Miriam Adelson at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“What’s going on now is exactly what was going on before the Holocaust,” he said.
The New Jersey event, featuring prominent Jewish supporters, took place the day the Trump campaign launched an initiative to reach out to Jewish voters.
The former president announced Jewish Voices for Trump, which the GOP campaign describes as “a coalition of thought leaders, business trailblazers, former administration officials, authors, influencers and those within the Jewish community.”
According to the group’s mission statement, it seeks to stand up against “radical antisemitism.”
“While the world has fallen into chaos with [presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala] Harris, President Trump’s Abraham Accords chartered new territory in regional stability, not just for Israel, but for the world,” it states.
At the Wilkes-Barre rally, Trump also accused his opponent of not choosing the governor of the Keystone State, Josh Shapiro, as her running mate because he is Jewish, a charge that Shapiro has denied.
“They turned him down because he’s Jewish,” said Trump. “They turned him down for other reasons, but the primary reason is because he’s Jewish.”
Trump also said during his nearly two-hour campaign event at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza that “any Jewish person that votes for [Harris] or a Democrat has to go out and have their head examined.”
At the New Jersey event, Trump claimed that “instead of aggressively confronting these venomous antisemites in her party, Kamala Harris has maneuvered for their support.”
Pennsylvania is a critical swing state, with fierce competition to secure its 19 electoral college votes. The latest New York Times/Siena and Quinnipiac polls show a slight lead for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was announced in Philadelphia earlier this month.
Trump tapped Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance for the vice presidential nominee at the Republican convention in Milwaukee last month. The Democratic convention takes place in Chicago from Monday to Thursday.
The battleground states also include Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia.
Trump’s comments come amid a surge in antisemitism in the United States and globally after Hamas started a war against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. According to the 2023 Antisemitism Worldwide report, released on May 1 by Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League, last year saw the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the United States ever recorded by the ADL.
Antisemitism has run rampant on college campuses, including pro-Hamas rallies featuring calls for genocide against Jews.
In the United States, the ADL recorded 7,523 incidents in 2023 compared to 3,697 in 2022. The number of assaults increased from 111 in 2022 to 161 in 2023, and incidents of vandalism rose from 1,288 to 2,106, per the ADL.
In New York, the city with the largest Jewish population in the world, the New York Police Department recorded 325 anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023 in comparison to 261 in 2022.
In Los Angeles, the city’s police department recorded 165 antisemitic incidents, up from 86, and in Chicago, there were 50 up from 39.
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