Debunking the Myth that Anti-Zionism is Antisemitic

I am becoming increasingly uneasy with the media's coverage of Israel's activities in the Gaza Strip. Even the Guardian has oversimplified this complex issue, failing to distinguish between Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism and this is a confusion Netanyahu's government has used to hide behind and deflect criticism of it's actions in order to buy time to continue it's military campaign.

I recently re-read Peter Beinart's excellent Long Read - "Debunking the Myth that Anti-Zionism is Antisemitic", first published in 2019, and now even more relevant. Beinart points out that many of the same Jewish leaders who call national self-determinism a universal right are happy to deny it to Palestinians. Allowing those threatened by Antisemitism to define Antisemitism is problematic in so far as that in many countries Jewish leaders act as both defenders of local Jewish interests and also as defenders of the Israeli government which wants to define Anti-Zionism as bigotry because by doing so it aids Israel in killing off the two-state solution.

Beinart rightly concludes that Antisemitism isn't wrong because it is wrong to denigrate and dehumanise Jews but because it is wrong to denigrate and dehumanise anyone: which means,  ultimately, that any effort to fight Antisemitism that contributes to the denigration of Palestinians isn't a fight against Antisemitism at all.

Maybe you should consider republishing Beinart's article as he makes the point far more effectively than my paraphrasing.

John Rushton