The pro-Israel community is struggling to figure out a strong response to the frightening rise of anti zionism. Should we call out the libels? Should we describe it as a hate movement? A racist movement? Should we find legal ways to shut them down under the guise of hate speech? How best to neutralize the impact of such a dangerous movement?
These are urgent questions because real incidents keep occurring and require a response. How should the Zionist community react to the pro-Palestinian mobs assaulting our synagogues, as we saw earlier this week at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, with protesters chanting “Baby Killers,” “Zionist Pigs,” and “Occupation no more”?
Or to an outrageous campaign led by Hollywood luminaries to secure the release of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian terrorist serving five life sentences for orchestrating deadly terror attacks against Israeli civilians? The petitioners describe Barghouti as a “powerful symbol of unity and a long-time advocate for freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people” and claim that he has been “illegally held by Israel” for more than two decades.
Who is calling for “freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people”? High-profile actors like Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Ruffalo, and some 200 other public figures, who must surely know that bashing Israel is a smart and safe choice for one’s career.
Evidently, no one pays a price for hating Israel. The latest Pew survey shows that “most people across 24 surveyed countries have negative views of Israel,” including in America, where 53 percent of respondents have a negative view, up 11 points versus 2022.
As Charlotte Lawson writes in The Dispatch, “It’s now mainstream to identify as an anti-Zionist, particularly among young people. In a Harvard Harris poll conducted in August, 60 percent of respondents aged 18 to 24 said they supported Hamas over Israel in the war. In other words, the majority of Gen Z Americans have sided with a terrorist group that espouses an explicitly genocidal ideology— and acts on it.”
This is partly why it’s so hard to defend Israel these days. Fair or not, in the wake of the Gaza war too many people simply hate the idea of Zionism. We can rightfully call antizionism a hate movement, but for a world that sees Zionism itself as worthy of hate, antizionism is actually a good thing.
In other words, if a hater feels his hate is justified, telling him he’s part of a hate movement is like giving him a compliment.
Given all that, how best to respond to the haters who assault our synagogues on behalf of the Palestinian cause? Beyond the obvious calls for greater physical security and the usual condemnations of antisemitism, what can we say to suck the life out of antizionists?
Focusing on “what’s good for the Jews” is logical and predictable, but it’s hardly enough. If we hope to make a real impact, we must add: What’s good for the Palestinians?
Do we ever ask ourselves: What have any of these pro-Palestinian groups and Hollywood protesters ever done for the Palestinians? The ones who understand this best are Palestinians themselves.
“The best thing to happen to Palestinians is the defeat of the terrorists,” Nuseir Yassin, also known as ‘Nas Daily,’ said in a recent interview.
Yassin, a Palestinian vlogger with 5 million followers, is a citizen of Israel. “By far the worst thing for a Palestinian is not Israel. It is our fellow countrymen,” he said, describing Hamas as “terrorists” and asserting that Palestinians with weapons “are the worst threat to our own society.”
It’s been true for a long time that the biggest enemies of the Palestinian people are their own corrupt leaders. No “peace plan” can undo the ingrained mission to annihilate the Jewish state.
It’s one thing for Jewish activists to challenge the accusation of apartheid; it’s another when it comes from an Arab citizen. It’s baloney, Yassin said, citing his own experiences with employment, voting, and freedom of movement to show that “inside Israel, there is no place I cannot go as a Palestinian-Arab Muslim.”
Yassin’s identity as a Palestinian and Israeli came into focus following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, after he shared a statement identifying as “Israeli-Palestinian,” rather than “Palestinian-Israeli” and claimed that “I do not want to live under a Palestinian government … Israeli first. Palestinian second.”
Americans rarely hear such words from Palestinian voices. They would only confuse the common narrative that anything bad that happens to Palestinians is the sole responsibility of Israel.
But these voices hold a truth that has been suppressed for too long: the so-called “pro-Palestinian” movement in America is a scam. Whether it’s vicious mobs on college campuses screaming “Free, free Palestine” or virtue-signaling Hollywood types calling for “freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people,” the truth is that these people haven’t lifted a finger to help Palestinians.
This is not only true, it’s also a winning message for Jews. Instead of contorting ourselves trying to defend Zionism when its popularity is at a low point, it’s a lot more effective to call out the hypocrisy of all those who claim to care for the Palestinian cause.
Next time a mob attacks a synagogue, I wouldn’t mind seeing a Jewish organization release a statement like this one:
“These protestors have never done a thing to help Palestinians. They’re cowards and hypocrites. They pretend not to know that the biggest enemies of Palestinians have been the terrorists from Hamas who hide behind their own people to get them killed so they can win over public opinion.
“They pretend not to know that corrupt Palestinian leaders, who have refused every Israeli peace offer, are most responsible for keeping their own people in misery, indoctrinating them in Jew-hatred and glorifying terrorists.
“Instead of yelling their hate-filled messages in front of synagogues, if they really want to help Palestinians, these protesters should go in front of Palestinian leaders at the United Nations and yell, ‘Stop killing your people!’
“The Jewish community refuses to live in fear. We are a proud and resilient people. No matter how much abuse these haters will throw at Jews and at Israel, they will keep losing and we will keep winning.”
This won’t change the world, but it may strengthen our messaging.
Jewish Journal
