Last week, the Biden administration released the first U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. It marks a historic moment, with the U.S. government vowing to take more than 100 new actions. In the letter that opens the 60-page document, President Biden wrote, "Together, we must acknowledge and confront the reality that antisemitism is rising, both at home and abroad. Loud voices are normalizing this venom, but we must never allow it to become normal."
This new guidance comes at a frightening time. The Anti-Defamation League tabulated 3,679 U.S. antisemitic incidents last year, up 36 percent from the year before and the highest number since it began counting in 1979.
The strategy, of course, is not perfect. Some critics have noted that while it importantly states the U.S. government has "embraced" the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, it also "welcomes and appreciates'' other efforts to define what is and is not antisemitic.
The IHRA definition, adopted by many nations and U.S. states, does by far the best job of encompassing the myriad ways Jew hatred shows up. It includes "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor," comparing Israeli policy to that of Nazis, and "applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation." These actions are standards of antisemites who call themselves "anti-Zionists," and their deluded followers. Fortunately, a close reading of the U.S. strategy's text shows that it deals a blow to them.
"When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism," the strategy says. It points out that this is happening many places, including on college campuses. It also vows that the government "will continue to combat antisemitism abroad and in international fora—including efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel."
It notes that free expression and speech are of course protected—which helps dispel the myth that Jews cry wolf and routinely call legitimate "criticism of Israel" antisemitic. (As I've noted before, this myth is designed to prevent people from listening when we call out bigotry.) The strategy says the United States maintains "an unshakable commitment to the State of Israel's right to exist, its legitimacy, and its security. In addition, we recognize and celebrate the deep historical, religious, cultural, and other ties many American Jews and other Americans have to Israel."
It also calls for another step that could be especially powerful in dismantling "anti-Zionist" antisemitism. It says that in addition to the horrors of the Holocaust and the history of U.S. antisemitism, "students should learn about global histories of antisemitism. This should include histories of antisemitism experienced by Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews—who trace their ancestry to Spain, the Middle East, and North Africa—and their stories of exclusion, persecution, and expulsion."
Like other hate movements, "anti-Zionism" is based on lies. One of these involves who Jewish people are—in the minds of many "anti-Zionists," a group of "white" Europeans. In fact, we are a tiny, global group of people, of all skin colors, who do not proselytize or force people to be like us. So, we remain a minority. And humans scapegoat minorities.
In addition to having a religion, we are a nation that experienced expulsions and was scattered across the world. We're also known as Israelites, Hebrews, and people of Zion (a term some use in calling for our annihilation).
Some Jewish people who lived under Arab Muslim rule (including governments established through conquest) are Mizrahis. In the 20th century, they survived pogroms and had to flee for their lives in mass expulsions, losing land and property. Most fled to Israel, the Jewish homeland, which had been overtaken by a long series of empires until it became one of many nations to gain independence. Arab armies tried and failed to exterminate Israel through multiple wars.
There were about a million Jews in Arab lands; nearly all are gone. This is part of what makes the growing, positive relationships between Israel and several Arab nations so significant—and the recent first celebration of Israel's Independence Day in the UAE so moving.
The Mizrahis' history is largely ignored as part of an effort to demonize Zionism, the recognition that Jewish people have the right to self-determination in our tiny homeland, in which we can fight for our existence. A former leading "anti-Zionist" says learning about the Mizrahis helped him discover that he had served as a "useful idiot" for people who had no interest in peace.
With only 15 million Jewish people in the world, there will always be more people who hear lies about us than who know anyone Jewish. This is why educating people about our global history is so important -- and can serve as a pillar in building a national strategy against antisemitism.
Josh Levs is a consultant, entrepreneur, and author, and a former journalist for NPR and CNN.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
