Uncategorized
Why Those Fighting for the Jews Should Concede that Anti-Zionism Is Not Antisemitism
Rutgers University students holding an anti-Zionist demonstration on March 19, 2024. Photo: USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, as the latter is typically conceived.
Anti-Zionism is its own libel-spewing hate movement targeting the Jews, and it’s time the Jewish people and their allies recognize this and change our tactics.
We have lost the battle over anti-Zionism on campuses and elsewhere because we have been fighting too hard to identify it with antisemitism. It is time to join the battle against anti-Zionism itself.
A new organization called the Movement Against Anti-Zionism has the mission to make all this clear. Here is just one example that illustrates the need to change tactics.
The widely-made claim that Federal investigations into campus Jew-hatred are “misusing civil rights law to squash political dissent,” as Jessica Corbett recently expressed it, rests on a deep misunderstanding of what that hatred looks like today. It assumes that Jew-hatred still wears its old “antisemitic” uniform: swastikas, slurs, caricatures, and conspiracy theories.
But Jew-hatred manifests differently in different times, and mutates and adapts. The operative Jew-hatred of our era is neither the anti-Judaism of Christian yore nor the antisemitism of late modern race science (though that is on the rise today as well). It is anti-Zionism, a moralized, intellectualized, and socially acceptable hatred of the Jewish collective that masks itself in the language of justice.
Whereas antisemitism treats the Jew as an alien within society, anti-Zionism treats the Jewish state as an alien among nations. The vocabulary has changed, but the underlying impulse remains constant: to mark the Jewish identity of the era as uniquely illegitimate. Anti-Zionism allows (on paper) that Jews may exist as individuals — but not as a people with collective rights, casting their sovereignty not as self-determination but as mortal sin. The hatred that was once expressed through the language of race and religion is now expressed through that of rights and resistance.
The AAUP (American Association of University Professors) and MESA (Middle East Studies Association) report cited by Corbett frames campus antisemitism probes as an effort to silence “criticism of Israel.” Yet its own rhetoric reveals a deeper prejudice. It begins by asserting that Israel is waging a “genocidal war” in Gaza, presented not as argument but as premise. This is not critique; it is anti-Zionist libel, the moral inversion by which Jewish survival is reframed as moral crime. The purpose is not to critique Israel but to isolate it, not to debate policy but to deny legitimacy. Anti-Zionism is not “critique of Israel” any more than antisemitism is “critique of Jews.”
To describe anti-Zionist accusations as “mere criticism” is to misunderstand how modern bigotry operates. Hatred no longer announces itself openly; it hides beneath the cloak of virtue. On university campuses, this takes the form of polite exclusion: the Israeli scholar uninvited from a panel, the Jewish student told that solidarity requires renouncing Zionism, the cultural institution that celebrates diversity except when it includes Jews who refuse to disavow their people’s homeland. Each act seems minor, even principled. Taken together, they constitute the moral architecture of contemporary discrimination.
Anti-Zionism is not identical to antisemitism, but is its direct descendant, a mutation adapted to the moral grammar of the 21st century.
The ongoing Federal civil rights investigations are not an assault on liberty, but an attempt to recognize how hate has changed its form. They do not criminalize dissent, but acknowledge that the boundary between political speech and ethnic animus has blurred — primarily, or only — with respect to the world’s one Jewish state.
To challenge anti-Zionism is not to silence dissent. It is to insist that equality includes Israelis and their supporters too. The refusal to grant Israel what every other nation takes for granted — the right to self-definition and security — is discrimination, whether clothed in theology, theory, race, or virtue. The tragedy of the AAUP and MESA report, and of the article that amplifies it, is that they mistake the exposure of prejudice for its creation. By defending exclusion as conscience, they do not protect freedom — they excuse its perversion.
Anti-Zionism is the hate that learned to pass as justice. To recognize it as such is not censorship. It is moral clarity — the refusal to let an old hatred hide under the banner of a fashionable cause.
If you agree then check out the Movement Against Anti-Zionism–and join the battle.
Andrew Pessin is Professor of Philosophy at Connecticut College and founder of the Institute for the Critical Study of Antizionism.
Uncategorized
Contributor to Drop Site News Says Israelis Should ‘Be Removed From Our Planet’
Abubaker Abed reporting from Gaza. Photo: Screenshot
Abubaker Abed, a self-described Palestinian journalist and contributor to the far-left news outlet Drop Site News, has come under intense scrutiny following the circulation of social media posts in which he called for the “wiping out” of Israel and said that Israelis “mustn’t feel safe.”
The remarks, which quickly spread across multiple online platforms, have prompted widespread condemnation and renewed skepticism over the credibility and coverage of Drop Site News, a controversial publication fiercely critical of Israel and US foreign policy in the Middle East.
“Wiping out Israel off the planet is not enough revenge. Israelis mustn’t feel safe anymore. Haunt them and go after them where they go. These terrorist parasites must be removed from our planet,” Abed posted on an Instagram story.
Drop Site co-founder Ryan Grim responded to the incident by clarifying that Abed’s comments do not reflect the editorial position or institutional stance of his publication. Grim, a far-left investigative reporter who has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza, did not condemn the statements by Abed.
“We also are never going to police the language of anyone who survived a genocide,” Grim posted on X.
Abed, a social media influencer from Gaza who evacuated to Ireland during the Israel-Hamas war, has previously suggested that attacks on Jewish institutions might be justified if they signal support for Israel.
Following the recent attack on the Temple Beth Israel Synagogue in Michigan, Abed resurfaced a photo from the synagogue featuring an Israel soldier. Abed wrote that the attempted mass casualty event was justified because the assailant defended himself.
“A person is not criminally responsible if they act reasonably to defend themselves against an imminent and unlawful use of force,” Abed wrote in a since-deleted post on X. “Israel murdered his relatives and is illegally bombing and invading his country.”
The FBI said last week that the attack on the largest Jewish temple in Michigan was an “act of terrorism” inspired by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction.
Drop Site, a new media organization which debuted in July 2024, has found itself under immense criticism over its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the broader Middle East. The outlet has consistently characterized Israel as a “genocidal” aggressor stoking chaos and violence throughout the region.
Meanwhile, Drop Site depicts internationally recognized terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in a far more favorable light. Drop Site lead reporter Jeremy Scahill routinely refers to Hamas as “the resistance” and has given softball interviews to Hamas leaders.
Drop Site has also defended the Iranian regime from accusations of terrorism, asserting that Tehran’s goals “center on national sovereignty.” The site contends that Iran has “sought to project influence regionally through allied governments and forces (Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi, Iraqi Militants, etc.) what’s often called the ‘Axis of Resistance.’”
Some observers have raised alarm bells over the outlet’s growing popularity among establishment mainstream liberals. Ben Rhodes, a former Obama administration official and co-host of the popular “Pod Save America” podcast, has praised the outlet on his social media profile and confirmed he is a subscriber.
Drop Site’s expanding influence does not seem to be confined to left-wing or liberal ideological circles. Right-wing media personality Mike Cernovich contended on X that young conservatives are increasingly reading Drop Site “for Israel news.” Joe Kent, the former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, over the weekend reposted a Drop Site article pushing Iranian regime propaganda falsely claiming the US was actually trying to kill a downed American airman — just hours before he was dramatically rescued.
Uncategorized
Frankfurt cinema declines to participate in Jewish film festival, spurring backlash
(JTA) — A Frankfurt cinema’s decision not to participate in the local Jewish film festival is spurring allegations of antisemitism, even as its manager says the move was financial.
The Jewish Community of Frankfurt announced last week that the Astor Film Lounge did not wish to host movies during Jewish Film Days this year. The cinema, it said, had cited its workers’ reluctance to staff movies that are part of the biennial festival, as well as concerns about the security required to host Jewish events.
“The decision unequivocally signifies that Jewish life, Jewish people, and a Jewish media presence are no longer welcome at the Astor Film Lounge,” the community said in a statement.
“This line of reasoning is not only disappointing, but sends a devastating societal signal: If Jewish life and Jewish presence are suppressed out of fear of potential reactions, then this effectively amounts to a capitulation to antisemitic pressure,” the statement continued. “The fact that Jewish life can only take place under police protection is already shameful. That this necessity for police protection is now being used as a pretext to completely prevent Jewish events is a scandal.”
But the cinema’s managing director, Tom Flebbe, contested the Jewish Community of Frankfurt’s interpretation of events. In a statement cited in a leading local newspaper, he said the theater had withdrawn this year for economic reasons, as only 40 to 50 guests had come to screenings last year.
Flebbe said a lower-level manager had made unauthorized and inaccurate remarks about security concerns.
“Economic viability is a legitimate and necessary basis for business decisions — regardless of the thematic context of an event,” Flebbe said, adding that other joint projects with the Jewish community will continue as planned.
“The ASTOR Film Lounge MyZeil views Jewish life as a natural and welcome part of this society,” the statement concluded. “The decision against participating in the 2026 Jewish Film Days is not against Jewish people, Jewish culture, or Jewish presence. It is the result of a careful consideration of economic factors. We regret that our reasoning has been interpreted in this way and stand by our decision.”
During the 2024 festival, a half-dozen venues hosted screenings as part of Jewish Film Days. The Astor Film Lounge hosted one screening, of the film “March ’68,” a love story set during the Polish government’s antisemitic campaign following Israel’s Six-Day War.
Film festivals have emerged as a frontier for tensions over Israel and antisemitism. Germany’s largest film festival, the Berlinale, was roiled by tensions this year as its jury head fended off calls to criticize Israel. A major Toronto film festival, meanwhile, ruffled feathers last year by first canceling and then screening a documentary about the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. And a Jewish film festival was canceled in Malmo, Sweden, last year because too few cinemas would agree to show movies for it.
Flebbe’s explanation for why Astor Film Lounge would not participate in this year’s Jewish Film Days did not satisfy everyone who heard it. The Berlin-based German-Jewish Values Initiative, a non-partisan think tank, in an open letter called the economic justification a “mere pretext.”
“To the best of our knowledge, the Jewish Community of Frankfurt was prepared to guarantee a minimum revenue” for the film festival, the letter said. By apparently giving in to “threats and antisemitic pressure,” it added, the cinema has capitulated “to the very forces seeking to drive Jews out of the public sphere.”
The post Frankfurt cinema declines to participate in Jewish film festival, spurring backlash appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Israeli, Serbian leaders denounce antisemitic statements at Belgrade protest
(JTA) — Israeli and Serbian officials are denouncing antisemitic comments made by demonstrators during a clash between Serbian students and police at a protest last week.
“Death to Vučić and all the Jews around him,” one protester said in a televised interview, referring to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. “Long live Serbia.”
The protest last Tuesday marked the latest flashpoint in a series of anti-government protests that have erupted across the country over the past year after 16 people died in an accident at a railway station in November 2024. Hundreds of students participated in the protest, which came as Serbian police searched the offices of the University of Belgrade as part of an investigation into the death of a female student. The school’s leadership claimed that the investigation was an “attack on the university” for its support for the student-led protest movement.
Serbia and Israel first established diplomatic relations in 1948, and Vučić told the Jerusalem Post last year that the country “will always appreciate, respect, and like the Jewish people and Israel.”
Nemanja Starović, the Serbian minister of European integration and the chair of Serbia’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, called on the protest leaders to “unambiguously condemn these antisemitic incidents and to immediately remove all antisemitic messages and slogans from university premises.”
“On multiple occasions over the past months, we have warned about the widespread antisemitic ideology within the so-called blockade movement at universities in Serbia,” Starović wrote in a post on X. “Ignoring this dangerous threat has allowed it to escalate into open calls for murder, which now appear as a logical and inevitable outcome.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned the demonstrator’s comments in a post on X.
“Israel strongly condemns the reprehensible antisemitic calls made yesterday in Belgrade,” the post read. “Israel appreciates the Serbian government’s immediate condemnation of these calls and its firm and consistent stance in the fight against antisemitism.”
Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Israel Office and Eastern European Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, also condemned the antisemitic rhetoric in a Times of Israel op-ed.
“One gets the impression that this is a politically motivated to harm President Aleksandar Vučić, who has close ties with the State of Israel, key Jewish organizations such as AIPAC and the Serbian Jewish community,” Zuroff wrote. “That is completely unacceptable! If these things are not stopped, they will end up in dangerous violence, and therefore cannot be ignored.”
The controversy over the protest comes as antisemitism has surged in Europe in recent years. Last September, Serbia arrested 11 individuals accused of perpetrating hate-motivated acts in France and Germany, including throwing green paint on the Holocaust Museum, several synagogues and a Jewish restaurant in Paris.
The post Israeli, Serbian leaders denounce antisemitic statements at Belgrade protest appeared first on The Forward.