Tackling leftist antisemitism to prevent world war
With a far-left post-October 7th world doubling down even more than usual on framing (particularly Ashkenazi) Jews as white people oppressing both Palestinians in Israel as well as minority groups in the West, we could learn a thing or two from fellow minority groups in how to tackle this. Consider Arabs and Latinos living in America – both groups have plenty of white presenting members, with many Latinos even having Spanish (European) ancestry. Further, thanks to an immigrant mindset shared by many Jews and Asian groups since the 20th century, many Arabs are quite socioeconomically successful in the United States. Yet, despite this similarity, the Jewish tendency to assimilate into whiteness in the West sets them apart and not in a positive way.
When considering the Arab-American series “Ramy” as well as numerous articles written by both Arabs and Latinos, many examples arise employing terms such as “light-skinned” or “white passing”, while avoiding identification as full-on white. Conversely, as seen with left-wing Jewish outlets such as Jewish Currents, many Jews identify as full-scale white. Whether due to an earlier, greater extent of assimilation or a sense of guilt thanks to the “white colonizer” imposed upon Ashkenazim, this discrepancy proves especially dangerous at a time of tenuous Israeli-US ties.
Instead, Jews can follow in the footsteps of our fellow minority groups by acknowledging light-skinned privileges apparent in various settings while avoiding the conflation of Ashkenazim as white people indistinguishable from the European mainstream. Ashkenazi roots in the Middle East mean even Jews with a history in Europe and considered the most assimilated in America today can adopt phrasing such as “not Black”, rather than “white”, to denote white presenting privilege while not losing sight of unique Jewish status and non-Western ancestry.
Moving from the diaspora to an Israeli context, Jews everywhere can continue to empower their uniqueness as a separate entity from America and the West. Given the rhetoric painting Israel as an outpost of Western colonialism despite Zionism’s lack of expansionist goals (especially compared to Islamism), Zionist Jews can oppose this misinformation by emphasizing Middle Eastern history and embracing contemporary Middle Eastern culture. While still valuing Ashkenazi diaspora experiences, Jews with diaspora history in Europe can prioritize Levantine identity rather than portray themselves as “white Jews”. By and large, the merging of the main diaspora branches – namely Ashkenazim and Mizrahim – in Israel now that Jews have returned home remains paramount.
The present political atmosphere of “oppressed versus oppressor” extends beyond just Israel-Gaza, Israel-Palestine, and even Jews, at large. Indeed, this binary underlies narratives ranging from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative to intersectionality to the goal of decolonization, in general. This victimhood prism could inform how world opinion has come to view Gazan lives lost as not worth the lives of far fewer Israelis, especially in the perceived emotionally infused context of an oppressor West versus an oppressed “other”.
On today’s international front, the anti-Western sentiment of players such as Iran could leverage the longstanding anti-Israel sympathy ploy rendered by Israel-Palestine to justify provoking war with America. Beginning with an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel, this conflict could be followed up by reinforcement from fellow anti-Western powers, China and Russia. Israel could thereby help to avoid such a cascade by practicing more self-reliance for self-defense as opposed to heavy dependence on the US. From a regional political standpoint, a moderate party such as Yesh Atid could help balance the need for Israeli security and efforts toward a Palestinian state.
As a minority group forced to reckon with their roots in a region considered oppressed today (the Middle East) and even in diaspora (the Shoah) versus a relatively recent conflation with the “oppressive West”, Jews can help highlight the importance of nuance in an often-shifting paradigm of oppression that most recently pits several large nuclear powers against each other. For instance, despite the democratic emphasis on freedom, the increasingly influential far left presence on university campuses across the West have cast democratic entities like the US as inherently malevolent due to capitalism. In this way, Jews in both Israel and the diaspora can continue to practice democracy while at the same time take pride in a Middle Eastern culture that emphasizes community and equal distribution over capitalism, reflective of the kibbutzim that first founded the modern Jewish State. Combined with a moderate free economic spirit to prevent the shortcomings of socialist states alongside decreased dependence on US-supplied weapons, lifting the Western shroud could mitigate the view of diaspora and Israeli Jews as oppressors.
Shirking this association with the West and “whiteness”, including for Jews with diaspora history in Europe, could make it harder for far-left critics and Islamists alike to maintain the moral high ground used to accuse Israel of genocide and diaspora Jews of supporting the same. After all, a country and people viewed as less capitalist and “Western” could be held to lower standards as far as tactics used for self-defense from terror. This distinction from conventional Western entities long associated with neo-imperialism since the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could perhaps help make world Jewry less subject to skepticism by more moderate and liberal allies.
