Thanks to the acceptance of critical race theory ideology, American liberals who rightly worry that contradicting any idea connected to the Black Lives Matter movement will lead to false accusations of racism are increasingly willing to believe that Muslims dedicated to Israel’s destruction are morally equivalent to the cause of promoting civil rights in the United States. Under the influence of toxic myths like “white privilege,” Islamists can claim to be fellow “people of color” and therefore members of a victim class, while Jews and Israel are dishonestly labeled as oppressors.
Though many liberals have been reluctant to view antisemitism as something that can arise on both sides of the aisle, the realization that the BDS movement and other anti-Zionist agitation is expressed in the tropes of traditional Jew-hatred is telling. And whereas the antisemitic far right is politically isolated, the growing influence of progressives and the congressional “Squad” within the Democratic Party cannot be ignored. Indeed, even someone as determined to demonize political conservatives as Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt recently gave a speech emphasizing the fact that anti-Zionism is antisemitism and barely mentioned Trump.
https://www.jns.org/opinion/islamist-antisemitism-is-flying-under-the-jewish-communal-radar/
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Questions for discussions include:
- How can Jews effectively address the issue of Islamist anti-Semitism?
- In what ways can the intersectionality movement unintentionally contribute to the mainstreaming of Islamist anti-Semitism and the delegitimization of Zionism and Israel?
- How can American Jews and Jewish organizations better educate the general public and raise awareness about the specific nature and dangers of Islamist anti-Semitism, particularly in light of its intersection with progressive movements and ideologies?