David N. Myers writes:

Many Jews, in Israel and abroad, are unable or unwilling to recognize the depths of suffering in Gaza.

Rather than confront the profound moral failings of a brutal campaign that former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert recently called “a war of extermination,” they engage in acts of deflection, fastening attention on antisemitism (whose real existence they highlight to the exclusion of other factors), as well as on critics of Israeli policy whom they accuse of being among its leading fomenters. Not only is it often wrong-headed to make such claims; it is irresponsible and potentially dangerous as a source of incitement.

The uncomfortable fact is that Israel’s relentless assault is an ethical disaster. It is an accelerator of global antisemitism, and, in the eyes of many sober observers, a genocidal campaign “to destroy, in whole or in part,” as articulated by the United Nations’ Convention against genocide, the Palestinian population in Gaza. The appropriate response for Jews at this moment is not to accuse critics of the war of complicity but rather to do all within their power to bring it to an immediate end.

Simultaneously, Palestinian activists should not only take the logical and humane step of condemning the murders of Milgrim and Lischinsky [in Washington DC], but also address the question of where political violence fits in their vision of ending the war and advancing the cause of Palestinian freedom.

If people on both sides of the divide are prepared to engage in deep and fair-minded introspection, there could be an opening to acknowledge and embrace shared interests. It would be most welcome given that the Trump administration seeks to weaponize antisemitism and criminalize pro-Palestinian sentiment in order to achieve its own authoritarian goals. [Continue reading…]