When are critiques of Israel anti-Semitic?

(1)Discussion of Anti-Semitism (30mn.)

(2)Table Talk: Ateek or Hagee (20mn.)

(3)Plenary: Putting the Categories to Work (20mn.)

(4)BDS: Anti-Semitic or Not? (25 mn.)

Anti-Semitism

The word anti-Semitism was invented in 1879 by Wilhelm Marr (1818-1904).

Term based on race, though its roots lie in religion.

Anti-Judaism

Christian accusation of deicide against the Jewish people as a whole.

Claims to supersessionism

Our Vocabulary

I. Jews are a “State within a State”

(1) Jews refuse to assimilate culturally into a modern nation state.

(2)Their loyalties lie with other Jews (regardless of their national identity)

(3) Jews work against the modern nation-state.

II. Jews and Money

(1) The worldly God of Jews is money.

(2) The most egregious traits of capitalism—greed, oppression, etc.—are attributed to Jews.

(3) Jews attained great wealth and power though capitalism.

III. Excess of Jewish Influence in Public Life

(1) Following the previous two slides, Jews attained a disproportionate amount of influence in public life.

(2) This influence ranges from media to financing political movements.

(3) The goal is Jewish domination of the world.

IV. Jews are Responsible for Modernity

(1) Jews are responsible for the decline in moral, traditionalist, or conservative values.

(2) Jews in entertainment export their unsavory, ungodly values onto traditionalist societies.

(3) Societies decline as a result.

V. The Jewish Conspiracy

(1)Jews conspire against the world.

(2)Jews employ a multilayered attack on societies in order to divide an conquer the world.

VI. Modern Dualism

(1)Jews are ontologically “other;” i.e., they are evil.

(2)They are biologically predisposed to be evil.

(3)This biology can, but not always be vindicated theologically.

From the left: Naim Ateek

“Here in Palestine Jesus is again walking the via dolorosa. Jesus is the powerless Palestinian humiliated at the checkpoint, the woman trying to get through to the hospital for treatment, the young man whose dignity is trampled, the young student who cannot get to the university to study, the unemployed father who needs to find bread to feed his family; the list is tragically getting longer, and Jesus is there in their midst suffering with them. He is with them when their homes are shelled by tanks and helicopter gunships. He is with them in their towns and villages, in their pains and sorrows.”“In this season of Lent, it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. It only takes people of insight to see the hundreds of thousands of crosses throughout the land, Palestinian men, women, and children being crucified. Palestine has become one huge golgotha. The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily. Palestine has become the place of the skull.”

From the right: John Hagee

"Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says - Jeremiah writing 'They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,' meaning there's no place to hide. And that might be offensive to some people but don't let your heart be offended. I didn't write it, Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel."

Even though Ateek’s and Hagee’s theologies and politics stand diametrically opposed to one another, it is important to remember that both leaders publicly decry anti-Semitism. They have argued unequivocally that there is no place for anti-Semitism in Christian theology and politics. Yet Hagee’s support of Israel and Ateek’s critique of it sometimes venture into a precarious place. How can we avoid these pitfalls in our discussions both of Israel and of Jews in general? When thinking about a relationship to Israel and to the Jewish people, do we need to choose between a Palestinian Liberation Theology or a Christian Zionism? Is there a middle way? Should Jews have a stake in this conversation?

Putting the Categories to Work

Desmond Tutu, 2002

“My heart aches. I say why are our memories so short. Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?”

We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa during the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace.

These nonviolent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by: 1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and

dismantling the Wall 2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian

citizens of Israel to full equality; and 3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian

refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

BDS Movement Call, July 9, 2005

At JPV [Jewish Voice for Peace], we fully support efforts to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. This includes American companies like Caterpillar who profit from the wholesale destruction of Palestinian homes and orchards. 

We are not advocating divestment from Israel. We absolutely reject the accusation that general divestment or boycott campaigns are inherently anti-Semitic. The Israeli government is a government like any other, and condemning human rights abuses as many of own citizens do quite vigorously, is in no way the same as attacking the Jewish people.

As the movement to divest from Israel’s occupation grows, we hope that the Israeli government will decide that there is nothing to be gained from sustaining the oppression of four million Palestinians, who live without equal protection under the law. We hope that this movement makes clear also to American representatives in government that American citizens will no longer fund the oppression of Palestinians, and by extension the destruction of Israeli civil society, through our taxes.

Jewish Voice for Peace Statement on Selective Divestment, March 2008