Hate’s Oldest Question

You may one day find yourself across from a Jew who has asked why you called for

from the River to the Sea,

or what you mean by the phrase

Globalize the Intifada.

You may have your reasons, and you may have rehearsed your arguments. But before you answer, consider one final point:

Do you believe the Jews are free from antisemitism or not?

This is a starting point from which all else follows.

If you do, you must then face the deeply entrenched skepticism of the Jewish people. They have been fooled by too many nations across too many centuries. As the aphorism goes: trust takes years to build and seconds to break. For the Jews, their trust has been broken for millennia, and may take forever to repair. They may not take you at your first word.

If you truly do believe the world can protect them, you must convince the Jews that anti-Zionism is not just another shapeshifting form of antisemitism in a long line of euphemisms and misnomers. They may provide you rebuttals from the Byzantine Empire to the Russian empires. They are deeply jaded by reassurances that “this time it is different.” They may not believe you on your first try.

You may need to explain the simultaneous rise of anti-Jewishness in the diaspora whenever there is criticism of Israel, including the destruction of Jewish property and raping and killing of Jews—not just Israelis, Jews. They may be weary of debates that deliberate the semantics of “is anti-this really anti-that” when, in the end, it is they, not you, who will pay the heavy price for this hair-splitting. Forgive them their cynicism.

You must convince them that the colossal levels of destruction, the long line of shattered and discarded graveyards, abandoned-synagogues-turned-curiosities, eulogy plaques, and museums profiteering off their history—all of which have remained in the wake of their disappearance from every land in which they have lived—have truly come to an end. It might be that you can persuade them that this has all changed, that the lesson has been learned, that this is all history. They may not listen at first.

You must somehow convince them to forgo their liturgy, rituals, holidays, stories, prayers, their yearly Passover call for “next year in Jerusalem,” and their thrice-daily prayer that “our eyes may behold Your return to Zion.” You may perhaps be able to convince them that this is all symbolic, that they must shed their ancient superstitions, cease their stubborn suffering, and just be like the rest of us. This may remind them of previous false promises, so they may not heed your first word.

You may have a harder time with the Jews of Israel. Their antisemitism looks like blood-hungry neighbors, intifadas, Jihad as quoted in Hadith 138, the Hamas Covenant before its palatable rebranding, anti-missile systems on their commercial planes, hostage rescues, and running for bomb shelters. You may also need to explain why the great ‘Palestinian Liberation’ on October 7th equaled rape, beheading, and baby burning, and why, strangely, the world seemed to cheer and support it. You may have to convince them that it is because of their country, not them, that such things happen. They may be reluctant to believe it.

But if you do not believe that the world can protect them, they may have no other choice but to continue fighting for the only respite of protection afforded them since the 1st century—protection granted to them by themselves. They fought for it with the desperation of their Final Solution. You may then face their questions of why they could not simply enter your country, why their many ships were often turned back to the death pits from which they came, or why they were sunk offshore.

And if you cannot convince them that they are safe elsewhere, they will grip their country with the strength of three exhausting and paranoid millennia, and they will not relent easily. Remember, you have not yet earned their trust.

They may fumble hopelessly and desperately while you admonish and referee from the sidelines. They may blunder terribly in their attempt to hold tightly onto their hard-fought strip of treacherous land. They may persevere in their characteristic stubbornness far beyond what may be considered natural or normal. Until recently, their only practice was praying, fleeing, hoping, trembling, and dying. This is their sad truth.

But most importantly, if you do not believe they are guaranteed safety elsewhere, in their land, they are no longer victims. In fact, they never truly were. The promise of tomorrow, of a safe paradise, of next year in Jerusalem was their redeemer and Messiah—the fuel that has kept them going, the secret to their longevity. You may try to convince them to give that up, but they may not listen.

You may draw moral and historical equivalences, quote political philosophies, shout reprimands, protest iniquities and corruption, throw firebombs, and target synagogues. You may choose to boycott, harass, wring your hands, fight, tear down stickers, tussle, or starve. But first, you must understand your assignment. It is not an easy one.