Diversity, Intersectionality, and the Jewish Community

Since October 7^th, countless politicians and media outlets have attempted to misconstrue the Jewish people as a rich, white, homogenous mass, in an effort to capitalize upon the modern onset of ‘identity politics’ and delegitimize the Jewish paradigm, as well as the state of Israel.

However, the Jewish people actually represent one of the most quintessentially diverse and intersectional communities in the world.

For example, India alone is home to three separate Jewish communities: the ‘Bene Israel’, the ‘Cochin Jews’, and the ‘Baghdadi Jews’. In fact, in 2002, a DNA test confirmed that the Bene Israel are direct descendants of the Kohanim, and numerous scholars contend that the first Jews in India were actually members of the ‘Lost Tribes of Israel’ who settled on the Malabar coast 2800 years ago.

Furthermore, the United Congregation of Israelites has remained a fixture in the Caribbean for centuries, and, in 2006, they happily celebrated the 350^th anniversary of continuous Jewish worship in Jamaica. Incredibly, Jamaica’s first synagogue was actually constructed in Port Royal during the 1600’s, and Jamaica is punctuated with over 21 historic Jewish cemeteries that also date from the early 1600’s.

In addition, in China, the Kaifeng Jews have endured since the year ~960.  In fact, the Jewish people have remained such a constant aspect of Chinese society that the Chinese language has developed unique nomenclature, ‘Tiao Jin Jiao’, or the ‘sect that plucks the sinews, in order to refer to the Jewish people. Verily, even until today, any Kaifeng Jews in China can immediately be identified via the last name: ‘Ai’, ‘Shi’, ‘Gao’, ‘Gan’, ‘Jin’, ‘Li’, ‘Zhang’, or ‘Zhao’.

Moreover, the state of Israel itself has consistently remained one of the international community’s foremost exemplars of diversity and intersectionality.

For instance, over 27% of Israel’s population is actually non-Jewish. In addition, modern Jews exhort a wide variety of non-Jewish religious backgrounds, such as Buddhism and Christianity, and 45% of the Jewish population in Israel self-identifies as ‘secular’.

Furthermore, various internationally revered NGOs, such as Freedom House, have repeatedly confirmed that “Women [and other minorities in Israel] generally enjoy full political rights in law and in practice…” and that “Israel is a multiparty democracy with strong and independent institutions that guarantee [its population’s] political rights and civil liberties…”

In fact, the state of Israel is the only democratic state in the Middle East, as well as the only Middle Eastern state wherein every citizen is accorded with identical human rights, regardless of their ethnicity or personal ideology.

As Freedom House emphatically reiterates “Israel hosts a diverse and competitive multiparty system…[wherein any] parties or candidates that….oppose democracy or incite racism are prohibited…Opposition parties control several major cities…and many Arab-majority towns are run by mayors from the Joint List parties.”

And yet, despite the fact that the Jewish people and the state of Israel unequivocally represent one of the international community’s foremost exemplars of diversity and intersectionality, the overwhelming majority of all political actors and pundits within the international political system have remained doggedly committed to the myth that the Jewish community is a monolith and a rich, ultra-white, homogenous mass.

In fact, as the inane dictums of ‘identity politics’ have migrated throughout the international political system, the Jewish nation’s ‘whiteness’ has routinely been invoked in order to justify a plethora of violent antisemitic abuse and delegitimize any pro-Israel perspectives.

Moreover, countless political actors and organizations have explicitly denied the current plight of Jewish people around the world and dismissed the outbreak of anti-Jewish violence and antisemitism that has surged throughout the international political system since October 7^th, simply because the Jewish community does not satisfy their requisite ‘diversity criteria’.

For example, Jenica Atwin, one of Canada’s most violently anti-Israel politicians, has long rejected the plight of the Jewish people and vehemently opposed every aspect of the nation of Israel, due to the fact that the Jewish people do not satisfy her own personal diversity criteria.

Furthermore, organizations like Amnesty International and the United Nations have, for decades, completely ignored the plight of the Jewish people, in order to focus on minorities that ‘pass the eye test’ and are more easily identified as diverse.

Therefore, in order to mitigate against the abortive effects that have accompanied the modern advent of identity politics and safeguard the legitimacy of the Jewish paradigm against the attacks of left-wing politicians and pro-Palestinian apologists, it has become essential for Jewish people everywhere to expose and embrace the vibrant diversity that is inherent to the Jewish community.

Verily, it has become readily apparent that the international community must first accept the diversity that is inherent to the Jewish community and concede that Jews are real people, replete with problems, social needs, and ills aplenty, before mainstream society will truly begin to treat any Jew like a human.