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GUEST COMMENTARY - Israel shares blame in the rise of anti-Semitism. The scourge of anti-Semitism has been erupted with a 400% increase in incidents since the Hamas-Israeli War commenced. Even before this event, anti-Semitism had been rising throughout many parts of the world. Israeli tropes about Jews and Israel have fueled this fire.
In the West, nations have a long history of separation of church and state. The United States has enshrined this principle in its constitution and nearly all other Western countries have embraced secularism. In the Middle East, countries such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran openly embrace a religion as part of their national identity. While Israel often proclaims to be secular, its activities belie this claim. Israel dispenses political and social rights based upon religion. For example, and perhaps most chillingly, Israel allowed Jews displaced by the 1948 conflict to return to the newly formed State of Israel, but Israel denied and continues to deny this right to the Christians and Muslims seeking to return from conflict. In its public pronouncements, Israel portrays itself constantly as the Jewish nation. When the horrific acts of October 7 unfolded, the Israeli Prime Minister claimed it was an attack on “Jews”, despite the fact that Hamas attacked and killed Israelis of all religions including Muslim Israelis. Israeli leaders have a long and sorry history of conflating the Israeli political body with the Jewish religion.
This Israeli trope of claiming its action on behalf of Jewish people is anti-Semitic. These actions of Israel bear witness to the fears of Edwin Montagu, the sole Jewish member of the British Cabinet and the most ardent critic of the Balfour Declaration, which sought to legitimize the colonization of Palestine for a Jewish homeland. In 1917, Montagu warned that the Balfour Declaration was “anti-Semitic in result [and] will provide a rallying ground for anti-Semites in every country in the world.” His words have proven prescient.
With nearly every Israeli attack on indigenous people, such as the current attack on Gazans, Israel proclaims its actions on behalf of Jews rather than Israelis. Netanyahu even invoked a comparison of the deaths from the October 7 attack to the deaths from the Holocaust. In every step, Israel shrouds its state-sponsored religion with false claims of secularism.
Israel acts as though its actions reflect the voice of a singular Jewish people. Israel does this despite the fact that Jewish people make their home in nearly every country in the world. In fact, less than half of all Jewish people live in Israel. As in all religions, Judaism includes many points of view. The expression and practice of Judaism does not rely upon the political actions of Israel.
Israel must realize the adverse consequences it places upon all Jewish people by claiming to act for Jewish people. Thus far in Gaza, Israel has killed over 9,000 people through attacks on hospitals, mosques, UN facilities, refugee camps and other obviously civilian targets. To give perspective, this would represent the same proportion as Israel killing over 1.3 million American in less than 30 days of conflict. In the entirety of World War II, the United States lost 420,000 Americans. While the crimes of October 7 were horrific, these crimes were not nearly on the scale of World War II. Yet, Israel has killed in one month at a rate triple the American the total loss of life in all the years of World War II. The scale of Israel’s disproportionate and unnecessary killing in Gaza is staggering. Every day, millions of people throughout the world express shock, dismay and horror at the shear scope and magnitude of Israeli killing in Gaza. For obvious reasons, the Israeli rampage in Gaza stuns the conscience of the most callous observer.
Yet Israel claims that it commits this savagery on behalf of Jews. No one can be surprised by the backlash Israel has unfairly created against many Jews. Jews themselves have begun to push back on Israel’s use of this anti-Semitic trope. Several days ago, the group “Not in Our Name” held a Jewish-led protest over the actions of Israel in Gaza. The protest resulted in the arrest of 400 people. Their message was clear. Israel does not speak for all Jewish people and the carnage in Gaza must stop. Many Jewish intellectuals have long been critical of Israeli colonialism. Perhaps the best know of these Jewish intellectuals is Noam Chomsky, who said “Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism.”
Israel’s anti-Semitic actions are not unique. The rise in Islamophobia results from the same abusive combination of religion and politics. Iran, Isis, Hamas, and others commits their misdeeds in the name of Islam. The results mirror those of Israel with Jews: Muslims are unfairly tarred with blame for the horrific actions Isis, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and other similar groups. The results can be tragic. Joseph Czuba has been arrested for stabbing six-year-old Wadea Al Fayoume 26 times. Czuba is also alleged to have stabbed Wadea’s mother 12 times in the same attack. Ironically, Wadea’s parents moved to the United States to escape Israeli apartheid. Their freedom from persecution was short-lived, and those committing crimes in the name of Islam bear some responsibility for the infliction of this hate crime.
Far too often, taking political actions in the name of any religion carries adverse consequences for innocent adherents to that religion. The recent rise in anti-Semitic attacks demonstrates all too clearly that innocent members of a faith can be unfairly targeted because political leaders elsewhere hide behind the cloak of religion in undertaking criminal political acts. Israel must accept responsibility for its acts as a political body and cease spreading claims of responsibility to Jewish people.
(J. George Mansour was born and raised in Missouri and has long been a student of political science and international relations. Mr. Mansour is now based in Austin Texas, where he remains an active investor in a variety of businesses.)
