IMHO history tells us that ethno nationalism is very dangerous.
Nevertheless if the many contemporary advocates of ethno nationalism are serious then they must consider modern DNA analysis. The evidentiary gold standard of ethnicity must be DNA. Everything else - culture, conduct etc, is merely handwaving. Of course DNA seems to result in all sort of counterintuitive, surprising results. Not always welcome surprises either.
4
Criticize Israeli policies all you want: that's not anti-semitism. What is anti-semitic however is to attack the right of Israel to exist.
21
I’ve never understood the argument that critics of Israel are antiSemitic because they are applying a “double standard” that is applied to no other country. As far as I can tell, most critics of Israel are applying the SAME standards as they apply to all other countries. Are they supposed to list all other countries they have a bone to pick with here or there? Given the fascist slant hovering over so many formerly-democratic countries, that could be a very long list.
8
@JMcF
The UN is prejudiced against Israel.
For example, the UN criticized only one country for its treatment of women. It was not Saudi Arabia where women were not allowed to drive. It was not Egypt or Iraq or Yemen where girls suffer from female genital mutilation. It was not Palestine or Jordan or Iran where women are subjected to honor killings. It was Israel – a country that has had a female prime minister & female fighter pilots.
The 10 worst countries for human rights are: Syria, Sudan, DR Congo, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, Yemen & Nigeria. So why are there more UN Resolutions against Israel than against the 10 worst countries combined?
There is no boycott of China even though China invaded Tibet & transferred millions of Chinese settlers into Tibet.
There is no boycott of Turkey even though Turkey occupies part of Cyprus and Turkish settlers have moved into occupied Cyprus.
There is no boycott of Morocco which occupies part of Western Sahara.
Unlike China, Turkey and Morocco, the Israel's occupation began because Israel was attacked. Also, unlike China, Turkey and Morocco, Israel offered to end the occupation if Palestinians would sign a peace treaty.
27
Judaism is a religion, not an ethnic group. I should know.
Perhaps this action is an isolated indulgence of the Education secretary, like the article suggests. My question for the Times is whether something broader is going on. Is the Education Department now engaging in nuisance actions against educational institutions in order to obtain non-publicized concessions on other matters, such as, for example, weakening of affirmative action programs?
3
@Benjamin Ochshorn
Yes, Judaism is a religion....and Jews are an ethnicity, having a shared genetic profile, culture, language, and identity as Jews. And that applies whether an individual practices Judaism or not.
22
No matter how one unpacks this story, it’s just another exercise in “chutzpah”, which” brings to mind the quote allegedly attributed to Einstein:
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result “
Ironically, Kenneth Marcus is unwittingly doing long-term damage to his own cause by hurling frivolous accusations against Rutgers, specially as it comes on the heels of the US withdrawing charitable assistance to the Palestinians apropos nothing, except caprice The give away of Jerusalem and move of the US embassy. And more importantly, Steven Miller’s racialization of Central American refugees who, as per his operating plan, has been 1) separating parents from their children (an act of human rights violations) Where is Marcus outrage on this?
2) caging and placing people in concentration camps.
All this nonsensical abuse of people’s patience is exhausting.
4
This looks like an instance of some pro-Israel advocacy groups playing the anti semitism card to limit criticism of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. Of course, one of the ironies of defining Jews as a ethnic or racial group is that it makes harder to avoid the conclusion that designating Jews as the dominant and privileged group relative to non-Jews (which, for example, the recent Israeli nation-state law does) is indeed racist.
11
It saddens me that I have to rely on the Trump Administration (which I normally despise) to uphold common sense on our college campuses. Of course the Jewish people are an ethnic group. The vast majority of American Jews are essentially agnostic or atheist, yet they share an untold amount of cultural connections. And one of those connections is a support for our ancestral homeland--Israel. "Zionism" has become a dirty word, which is sad and terrible. All "Zionism" means is that the Jews get a right to a little scrap of territory just like the Poles have Poland (a far larger "scarp") or the Chinese have China (an even larger "scrap"). That's it. It does not entail that Israel must exist at the expense of the Palestinians' legitimate rights. It does not entail that Israel must continue to occupy most of the West Bank. Most Israelis do not want any of this. All they want--as they have always wanted--is to be left alone in their Rhode Island sized country.
23
So would criticizing the Chinese for their actions in Tibet be a form of anti-Chinese bigotry?
14
The Trump administration continues its policies of hate. The treatment of the Palestinian people is a crime and will never lead to peace in the Middle East -- in which case, we all lose. Is Jarrod behind these pro-Israel/anti-Palestinian moves? If he hates Arabs so much, maybe he and his felon dad shouldn't have squeezed Qatar to bail him out of his Park Avenue albatross.
7
@Andy
Self-defense is not a crime.
9
This piece reads like an opinion piece, not a news story.
If you oppose Trump's "Muslim ban," you should similarly oppose BDS, which discriminates on the basis of identity.
There's also nothing at all unusual about seeing Jewishness as an ethnicity. Most Jews today would almost certainly say their identity as Jews is "ethnic" rather than "religious."
If you haven't been on a college campus lately, you should know that there is a lot of anti-semitism out there. Indeed, there are more hate crimes against Jews than any other ethnic group.
And the author provides no evidence that Marcus ever attempted to "squelch" free speech. Free speech must include the right to speak out in favor of an Israeli state, or else it is not free at all.
19
The same is true for CUNY students, in spades. It is acknowledged but nothing is done.
5
So do they now lose their “tax free” religious status if they are an “ethnic” group?
7
@Sara K
Jews are an ethnic group, but Judaism is still a religion & its religious institutions should be treated the same way as any other religious institutions such as Greek Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Dutch Reformed Church, ...
11
Does anyone think this is nothing but pandering to the pro-Israel vote?
10
I believe the issue discussed here was discussed during the French Revolution, and the Assembly ultimately decided to treat Judaism and a religion, subject to the same freedom provided for all religions in France. So we are rehashing an 18th century question generally regarded as settled.
4
France, Great Britan and the United States have traditionally treated Judaism as a religion, and Jews as fully enfranchised citizens. Ironically, Israel labels all its population as citizens, yet Israel uses blood, religion and ethnicity to determine full Israeli enfranchisement privileges.
4
@DCJ In what ways exactly does Israel use blood, religion and ethnicity to determine Israeli enfranchisement privileges? As for the enfranchisement of Jews in France or UK, it was a recent development (1791 in France), and the Dreyfus scandal in 1894 showed how much the enfranchisement had been an illusion - not to mention the rampant anti-semitism in Germany, France, UK and US at least until 1945.
3
@DCJ
Should the USA set an example by abolishing Affirmative Action which discriminates by race, ethnicity & gender?
Ethnicity: the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.
"the interrelationship between gender, ethnicity, and class" · "the diverse experience of women of different ethnicities"
_
National Origin: "National Origin" refers to a person's, or his or her ancestor's, country of birth or because a person has physical, cultural or linguistic characteristics of a national origin group.
+++
The two can intertwine yet be so different.
Anyone who has watched the recently released documentary, “Active Measures” will immediately be trying to figure out how Russian intelligence has acted to cause yet another rift between American democratic groups as they apparently have created rifts between alt right and far left, Trump and NATO, UK and Europe, white supremacists and Black Lives Matter, etc., etc. The current administration has been duped again and a new rift has been created with pleasure by this administration. It seems that the movement of the US embassy to Jerusalem was a first step in creating the new improved rift between Jews and Palestinians, orchestrated by Moscow through minions in Washington. Why does Moscow want to heat up the dispute between Palestinians and Israel? Because it will improve their middle east power and influence. This is not about Jews and Arabs. Its about an puppet administration in the most powerful country in the world. Sound like a conspiracy theory? Watch the film, then judge.
1
This is a dangerous trend.
Make no mistake: Marcus intends this as a crusade to demonize legitimate criticism of the far-right Israeli government.
That government merits criticism for not only its anti-Palestinian actions, but for its far-right policies on a number of domestic issues.
For example, the Likud is anti-trade union, and regards under-employed workers as "lazy." And Israel's religious laws are anathema to true democracy.
I have no hesitancy about criticizing Zionism. As a born Jew, I'm anything but anti-semitic. Marcus is pursuing a path to demagoguery.
10
@Jerry Engelbach
The Israeli right gained power ‘as a result of’ the ongoing campaign by Arabs and their supporters to demonize and delegitimize Israel. Continuing to demonize and delegitimize Israel under the cover of anti-Zionism will only strengthen that faction of Israel’s government.
14
“In cases such as this, it is important to determine whether terms such as ‘Zionist’ are actually code for ‘Jewish.’”
Sometimes when people say X it really is code for Y, but in general I think we should view a claim that people really mean something other than what they say with skepticism. I hope people in humanities and social sciences departments and law schools will do some hard systematic thinking about when it’s justified to say “When a person says X they really mean Y.” Then I hope they’ll tell us their ideas so we can all consider whether those ideas are cogent, workable, and free of unintended consequences.
2
What is this Palestine? I cannot find it on modern nor ancient maps? Never heard of it in writings from the Romans or even in the bible. Are they like the Canaanites?
And TV doesn't help. ALL I see on TV are ARABS. Where are these people who claim to be from Palestine?
Is Palestine the Atlantis of the middle east?
12
This is ridiculous. Palestine is mentioned in Herodotus. It’s the generic Greek name for the general area between Lebanon and Egypt, the Jordan and the sea. It’s a generally recognized geographic term.
6
@Odyss
Oh education! Without it, as a human race, we are lost. Get thee to a school!
5
In 1970 I interviewed some 40 members of Israel's National Religious party as part of a study of the link between religion and politics. Among the people I interviewed were cabinet ministers of long standing. On more than one occasion my interlocutor made racist comments about Arabs in an easy-going manner that assumed I agreed because I am Jewish. Almost 50 years have passed since those stunning interviews made it clear beyond doubt that the Jewish leadership in Israel, and likely outside Israel, holds sentiments about Arabs that would stand up nicely to the ravings of anti-Semites the world over. In Israel, and in the West in too many places, Judaism has been commandeered by racists. This fact stands alongside the anti-Semitism of Arab and other leaders in many countries. No answer to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians will be found along racist and anti-Semitic lines, for the simple reason that Jewish racists and Muslim racists will drag each other down into the pit of insanity. In fact, any genuine peace must include full throated recognition of the deep racist views of the leaders of all the states in that pitiful region. If not, we'll get more of the same in the next 50 years. Kenneth Marcus behaves as if he is just one more racist nationalist who betrays his Judaism by considering it as anything other than a relationship with God into which any person, in any land, born of any woman, can enter. Haven't you studied Mr Marcus?
4
Yes, we always knew what Obama was about. Now, let's watch America reclaim its true heritage and put an end to this Antisemitic bashing at so called 'institutes of learning'. It's about time, as the University I attended had its own 'Jewish quota'.
10
Zionism is so 20th century! Recognize it for the 21st century "new nationalism" it has been turned into by the right-wing Israeli government: intolerant and exclusivist Jewish fundamentalism.
4
The point here only seems to silence criticism of Israeli policy and that to me is a dangerous possibility. I can and at times do criticize Irish political policy and never think that criticism untoward. Women criticizing Irish policy have made the country a finer place for all the Irish, which was the point.
9
This article is biased against Mr. Marcus.
It claims he is"a longtime opponent of Palestinian rights causes"
He does not oppose Palestinian rights.
He opposes discrimination against Jews, which many Palestinians espouse.
19
"The move by Kenneth L. Marcus, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights and a longtime opponent of Palestinian rights causes..."
That explains why he was appointed to his job by President Trump.
5
The definition and examples of anti-antisemitism provided by the Education Department are grossly miscategorized in this article. The definition and examples used by the Board of Education are from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and were adopted by the European Union and other international organizations. They were designed not to impinge on legitimate criticism of Israel not to interfere with the Palestinian cause. They do prevent denial of Israel as a Jewish Homeland, assertions that Israel is a racist enterprise, and that is OK to hold Israel to a double standard. It would be much more newsworthy for the Education Department choose to deviate from this standard.
As for the view of Arab-American activists that this definition of anti-Semitism is declaring the Palestinian cause anti-Semitic, is very sad indeed if true. There are hopefully many Palestinian activists that do not deny the Jewish people the right to self-determination, claim that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor, or apply a double standard to Israel. I pray the view in this article only represents a small minority of the Palestinian activists, who would legitimately be considered anti-Semitic by the Board of Education and many other international organizations.
14
Sure sounds like a politically motivated decision that Mr. Marcus, due to his personal views, should have recused himself from.
3
Marcus and many other people are purposely conflating two separate issues. Despite the regional differences in language, food and even physical appearance to some extent, most Jews consider themselves ethnically Jewish, as versus Polish, Iraqi, etc. They do have some cultural aspects in common. In many of these countries, the Jews spoke languages amongst themselves distinct from the country they lived in. (Germany, ironically, was a big exception.) Whether the cause of this is discrimination from those they lived amongst or their own parochialism is always up for discussion. BUT ZIONISM is a separate issue altogether. For years, many of the ultra-Orthodox Jews DENIED Zionism. That is less true today. Being an Israeli is not the same thing as being Jewish: there are Israeli Arabs and there are Jews (obviously) who are not Israeli, and who even vehemently disagree with the government of Israel (as so many Israelis). To constantly conflate criticism of either Israeli policies or even Israeli existence with anti-Semitism is a cynical manipulation of public opinion and a dangerous weapon to play with. I am actually one Jewish person who feels that Jews and Palestinians have much culturally in common. Every "ethnically" chauvinist attempt to increase the division between the two groups (especially from someone like Marcus who belittles the civil rights of others) is disgraceful.
45
@sleeve
The issue is the use of the word Zionist to label Jews, and the call to suddenly charge admission to that group.
And in specific response to Sleeve, we Israeli Jews wish collectively that there would be some cultural commonality, but day-to-day reality reveals almost no cultural similarities.
4
So apparently what Marcus and this Administration is attempting to do is lend a legal voice to the long repudiated Euro-centric view (held most recently primarily only by White Supremacists) that schools and colleges which insist their facility and educational programs present an equal and balanced view of culture and world events are presenting a non-European focused curricula and ,in effect, are anti-White. Question: What's next, that the Trumpian's insist that the Civil War be presented in our schools and colleges as having been wrongly decided, and that the Confederate States were only attempting to uphold European values?
1
I identify as ethnically Jewish but not religiously Jewish as do many other Jewish people, including many Jews out here in California who practice Buddhism as their religion aka "JewBoos." So I agree with the concept of being Jewish as an ethnicity. But the basic issue is to put a stop to the carte blanche given to anti-Israel groups, students and professors by colleges to persecute Jewish students on the grounds of "freedom of expression". This blatant hate would not be permitted against any other minority group.
14
Many are missing the target in this discussion.
Whether or not Judaism can be categorized as an ethnicity is debatable, as it has been for milennia. But the fact that Anti-semites have been using BDS as a cover to harass innocent Jewish students is becoming an epidemic on campuses across the country. We must find a way to make all students feel safe walking to their classes without stomping on the rights or free speech.
16
Sounds like Mr. Marcus wants to redefine the term "ethnicity" so that he can make his concern fit the law. He is not doing it for America, but for Israel. I believe that the Jewish, Palestinian, Basque, Catalonians and other "ethnic" groups ought to fight for their right to self-determination in the THEIR own country. Marcus's brazen attitude is what creates divisions in OUR country. What is next, Mormons, Evangelicals, claiming that they are an ethnic group?
35
@euskadi You make a point to counter your argument right in your own post. Basque and Catalonians are not defined by a religion, so why does being Jewish have to be defined by religion?
4
@euskadi If only the Palestinians agreed with you then they would have had a state decades ago.
4
@euskadi. But isnt Marcus fighting in this country because other people such as student Palestinian groups and the BDS movement are fighting about it in this country? So long as the fighting is against israel then it's ok? I'm confused by you're stance.
5
None of the top 10 "anti-Semitic" campuses cited by the Algemeiner cite physical violence. The most egregious was a speech being shut down, which action I condemn. It is dishonest to conflate political protests, including BDS, with anti-Semitism which is based on ethnic/religious hatred.
https://www.algemeiner.com/the-40-worst-colleges-for-jewish-students-2017/
3
So Palestinians are anti-semitic for criticizing Israel? Not mentioned in the article is the fact that Palestinians are also Semites. Would that not indicate that Israel's Palestinian apartheid is also anti-semitic?
Moreover, to claim that being a Jew is an ethnicity indicates that a simple blood test could determine whether someone is Jewish or not. But that doesn't seem to be the case. The definition of Jewishness is hotly debated even within the Jewish community. For instance from what I can tell, Orthodox Jews don't recognize Reformed Jews.
I've yet to understand what it means to be a Jew. Is it a religion? Some Jewish writers I'm reading self identify as Jewish atheists.
Is it an ethnicity? Maybe if one is a Hassidic Jew I suppose.
Is it a nationality? Then it would seem that Arabs who are citizens of Israel or members of the Knesset are Jews but we know that's not the case.
Can one convert to Judaism and be a Jew such as through marriage? Would their children be Jews even if raised as Christians. It depends on who you ask.
In my experience, the answers to these questions are as varied as the person who answers them. I'm not a Jew but greatly admire Jewish culture. Moreover, I was raised in an area where there were no Jews. I met my first Jew during my late 20's and since have come into contact with many Jews and have asked these questions with no definitive answer.
2
@Craig Rhodes
Jews are an ethnicity. Judaism is a religion.
‘Antisemitism’ means ‘hostility to or prejudice against Jews.’
8
@Craig Rhodes
Apartheid in Israel???
Where are the separate bath rooms & water fountains?
Why are there Arabs in the Israeli Parliament & on the Israeli Supreme Court?
7
@m1945
It's a pretty widely held opinion that the treatment by the Israeli government of the Palestinians constitutes apartheid.
Israeli Arabs are not the issue.
There is a lot here that needs separating. The stated reasons for what is being done are being used as part of a divide and conquer tactic to achieve goals other than the ones that have been declared.
If there is such a thing as an ethnic group or, for that matter, races other than human, then all Semites, by definition, are part of an ethnicity that is based on region and language. This would be equally true of Arabs and Jews.
1. It isn't the place of the Department of Education to settle the question: who is a Jew.
2. It isn't the place of the Department of Education to put a muzzle on the BDS movement.
3. It isn't the place of the Department of Education to ask, much less settle, the question of which anti-Zionist speech is also anti-Semitic.
4. It isn't the place of the Department of Education to regulate speech of any kind on university campuses.
5. It isn't the place of the Department of Education to act as the enforcement arm of the Jewish oligarchs who are driving racist policies in Israel and extend them to the United States.
What happened at Rutgers is only the pretext for all of these things. Everything this Department of Education is doing is ethically wrong. This is just one more in a long line of policy reversals that will put a stain on this nation's Jews and make a terrible conflict even worse by bringing it stateside.
James Baldwin was right: Being A Jew In The Age of Trump, Jared Kushner, Neoliberal & Republican Jews
https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-2Id
210
Anti-semitism is racism, islamophobia is free speech, in this Orwellian world.
25
@Rima Regas
It IS the place of the Department of Education to ensure ALL students are able to obtain education in a harassment-free environment.
Non-christians opportunities are constricted in the U.S. due to often being treated differently. Educators sometimes use lop-sided lessons and conflate information (similar to this article), to promote their way of thinking. If more would control against expressing biases when teaching the facts and methods to solve problems, more people would have a better understanding and appreciation for those of differing ethnicity or race or practicing different religions; and fewer people would be distrustful of "the other."
4
@Unapologetic patriot
This is absolute nonsense. This has nothing to do with the curriculum used at Rutgers or what is being taught. The "incident" was an on-campus activity unrelated to what's being taught and none of the DoE's business.
Had this been about admissions, grading of students or the content of a class, then it would be different. But it is none of that and it is the DoE inserting itself where it has no business or authority.
3
This is the first time I have ever seen the federal government see Judaism as an ethnicity, and I find that to be very interesting.
I see some comments here that don't accept the idea of Judaism as an ethnic identity, that it can only be a religious identity.
So it may be worthwhile to mention that I have always seen myself as an ethnic Jew, never as a religious Jew. I grew up in Humanistic Judaism, a nontheistic branch of Judaism which does not buy into the notion of a supernatural authority and sees being Jewish as an ethnic and cultural identity. (You can find out more about HJ on Wikipedia. There is also a terrific book about HJ, "Judaism Beyond God" by Sherwin T. Wine, available on Amazon that explains more about HJ.)
14
I am Jewish. When asked my ethnic identity, I naturally say I am Jewish. No one has ever questioned that my response does not answer the question. I was born in Germany, but I would never identify myself as an ethnic German, nor would the Germans who persecuted my parents and murdered many in my family identify me as an ethnic German. So yes, Jew is an ethnic category, as the unobservant and non-religious like Seinfeld and Woody Allen have made us all understand.
20
Good. It is incorrect to equate Judaism with Zionism. While there are many Jews who support current Israeli government policies, others do not but rather, they support the existence of Israel while not endorsing all of the policies of Israel's current government. Obama had definite anti-Semitic leanings which may explain why some described him as an "undercover" adherent of Islam. That's neither here nor there. This investigation of Rutgers should go forward to discover the facts so that if corrective action is warranted it can be taken.
10
In other words, one more of the clowns who runs about yelling that universities have become hotbeds of left-wing illiberal education wants to shut down even discussing Israel's policies, on behalf of a right-wing political and religious group.
Lovely.
10
@Robert Today universities are hotbeds of...what? Classical liberal education? Right-wing political and religious groups? It's a fact that they have become hotbeds of left-wing illiberal education. Whether that's good or bad is a matter for discussion - but at least own the victory!
4
@Gurval
If you've attended or taught at a number of universities you would know that they are not a "hotbed" of anything except education.
1
The Palestinian movement on campuses are often openly hostile and anti semitic in their behavior. It creates a hostile environment for Jewish students and I'd like so see the author of this article try to write an unbiased article about this issue. How about detailing some of the incidents across the US where these groups have targeted Jewish students? And I am not talking about the reactions to the rabid Zionist groups - they are just as bad. The issue is not whether discussing the politics of the situation is acceptable, it is how these groups are choosing to go about it.
18
I am no fan of the AZA, but it is about time that the world recognize that "Jewish" is, and has always been, an ethnic identity, since biblical times. Zionism is the unifyingl political doctrine concerning the establishment and maintenance of a homeland and refuge for the Jews. Zionism developed in the face of 2000 years of unrelenting persecution of the Jews by both Chritians and Moslems, that persecution reaching its demented crescendo in the Nazi holocaust. Criticizing Israel's current government is neither anti-Zionist nor anti-Semitic. Criticism of the very existence of the State of Israel is tantamount to saying that the persecution of Jews was okay, and weren't the good old days just great. Anti-Zionism is not a political position; it is a thinly veiled justification for the continued persecution of the Jews who have finally had the audacity not only to fight back,but to do so effectively.
24
Very well stated. As an atheist and someone who is ethnically Jewish, I feel the same way.
11
I'm a Jew because my four grand-parents and several uncles were assassinated in Auschwitz, because I'm steeped in Jewish history and Hebrew and Yiddish literature. And while I don't know how to define what is a Jew, and don't care, I know I'll remain a Jew as long as fascism and racism, including but not limited to antisemitism, will remain a threat.
I'm also a Jew who loves the notion of a Jewish State of Israel, despite the abhorrent policies of its current government..
Finally, I happen to be a Rutgers faculty, and am full of admiration for the support my University has given and continues to give to Jewish students, culture and institutions, including an excellent Department of Jewish Studies.
And as a Jew who teaches at Rutgers, I say that the lies uttered and the step taken by Trump's new thug at the Department of Education are typical of a fascist government, and indicates a racist view of both the Jewish and the Palestinian peoples.
My only response is to vote in November, I would. I hope all normal America Jews will do the same. The sooner the current Washington horror disappears, the better for all, Jews included.
50
@EM Very well put.
6
@EM Bravo!
5
By Mr. Marcus's standards some of Israel's greatest heroes would be considered apologists for antisemitism. When the British said they going to create a Jewish state in Palestine close to 90% of the people in Palestine were not Jewish. Zionist movement leader V. Jabotinsky wrote that of course the 90% was going to resist.
Well, according to Mr. Marcus, no one can criticize forcing a minority regime onto the Palestinians. It's antisemitic to do so. Jabotinsky acknowledging that people would resist is apologizing for antisemitism.
7
@Kevin McCloy
The part of Palestine the UN designated for the Jews was majority-Jewish & would soon become even more Jewish because Israel would take in the hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors imprisoned in displaced persons camps & then hundreds of thousands of additional Jews fleeing persecution in the Arab world.
7
@m1945
Utterly false, the population of Mandate Palestine in 1917 was over 90 percent Palestinian Arab
Is Judaism a religion & a ethnicity, depends on what branch of Judaism you belong to.I am a proud Jew who does not take the scriptures literally & does not consider judaism an ethnicity.However, I respect those Jews that believe that Judaism is more than a religion,but a way of life.I will protect their way of life & their right to believe that all of Palestine is land given to the Jews by God.Having said all of the above, I would support a two State solution, not that I think the Palestinians deserve it, but more than anything else i yearn for peace between the Jews & Muslims.Not all members of BDS
are Anti Semites, but many use Israel as a cover for blatant Anti Semitism, & for that reason I am vehemently against them.They should be banned from all College Campuses.
11
The handprint of AIPAC is all over this. The biggest lobbying group in DC and the biggest supporters of the Trump administration, with a wink and a nod to PM Netanyahu and the Israeli right wing i.e. Lieberman, Bennett, Shaked and Regev have been pushing the idea for years that any criticism of Israel is anti-semitism, poppycock. The occupation, home demolitions and denying return of refugees are legitimate topics for debate.
5
Disgusting. They can push but there can also be consequences. Americans don’t like religious groups acting like this...not at all. Disgusting and very provocative. Try not making enemies?
2
The situation of the Palestinians is not well covered in US media including the NY Times.
Are readers aware that the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington, DC has been shut down and its staff ordered to leave?
Do you know that the US has defunded almost all aid to the Palestinians to the tune of several hundred million dollars?
UNWRA, the only UN organization dedicated to serving a single group, in this case all Palestinian refugees who left Israel in 1948 ( a few tens of thousands) and their descendents ( almost five million) has been defunded. The Palestinian regime ( illegal since their terms of office expired long ago) claims that all Palestinians who descend from the original refugees should be considered eligible to return to Israel.
The moving of the US embassy to Jerusalem has now taken Jerusalem off the table for any future Palestinian state.
Many college campuses in North America and Europe have now seen attacks on Jewish student groups which have increased over the last few years. Look at any youtube video on Jews and you will note the predominance of anti-Semitic comments.
Marcus is doing what is long overdue. Jews, too, deserve to feel protected.
Jeremy Corbyn-, a vicious anti Semite and head of the Labour Party is likely to be the next UK Prime Minister.
I have no use for Trump but he is the first President in years to support equal rights for Jews and Israel.
We are grateful for that.
14
Family roots of US Jews may be the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or the Russian Empire, or France, or Russia - but their ancestors were not citizens of these Empires for a very, very long time. Until 1791 in France, and until Emperor Franz Joseph I in Austria. What were these people before then? Reducing Jewish identity to a religion was the offer European leaders made to Jewish communities during the Enlightenment: "We give you rights as citizens; you give up peoplehood." "We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals", writes Clermont-Tonerre during the French Revolution. It's not just Nazis that called Jews an ethnic group, it is a basic historical fact and Jewish Law, which has no religious test for being a Jew: somebody is Jewish because a person is born from a Jewish mother, not because he/she goes to Shul or believes in Hashem (unless you convert). Israel was built by socialist Jews, and the vast majority of them were secular. Many reduce Jewish identity to a religion in order to deny Jews the right to self-determination, and to a State, which according to international law is a right for peoples, not religious groups.
15
American citizens -- college students -- who happen to be Jewish should not be subject to threats of violence and intimidation because opponents of the State of Israel dislike the latter's policies toward the Palestinians.
14
This issue requires discernment.
It does appear that the Rutgers case is being used as a Trojan horse for pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian activism by the Education Department.
However, the recognition of Judaism as "not only a religion but also an ethnic origin" should not be considered controversial in itself. The age-old conflict between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East is not about religious beliefs or practices; it's a tribal conflict. No one can look at the European anti-Semitism that culminated in the Holocaust or the American anti-Semitism that one finds side-by-side with white supremism in the Ku Klux Klan and seriously call it religious discrimination. Anti-semitic slurs often refer to physical stereotypes or socioeconomic contentions, but never to religious doctrines.
The desire to declare solidarity with Palestinians or to criticize the state of Israel should not draw one into the pernicious view that characterizes discrimination against or harassment of Jews as a religious protest.
5
Fantomina's husband here: Hateful, violent racist nationalism is surging around the world, overwhelmingly directed against Muslims and other refugees. A far-right and openly racist anti-Arab government in Israel is allied with the Trump Administration, together encouraging racist (including anti-Semitic) and anti-refugee movements across Europe. Now the Trump Administration is cutting off aid to Palestinian refugees and simultaneously pushing to squelch political mobilization on behalf of Palestinian rights by equating opposition to the Israeli government with racism against Jews. As an American and as a Jew, I am appalled by the Orwellian authoritarian hostility to free speech and dissent, and by the outrageous hypocrisy of the Trump Administration and its allies.
9
Kenneth Marcus is critical of those who exhibit anti-Semitism and rightly so but he does not hesitate in denying human rights to the Palestinian people. How can he in good conscience be against a people who have every right to exist in peace and fairness? This sounds like hypocrisy to me. Speaking out against this injustice is not anti-Semitism but just stating the truth. Freedom of speech is still a right for all people.
57
@WPLMMT Yes, but "freedom of speech" refers to a Constitutional prohibition on governmental restriction of speech. If "freedom of speech" guaranteed a right to publish in the NYT one's comments about, for example, this article, you'd see a more vigorous debate.
2
@WPLMMT Why and how is he "denying human rights to the Palestinian people" by calling out Jew hatred against college students?
5
@WPLMMT in what way is he against the rights of the Palestinan Arab people? Within Israel Arabs have full rights. Go to Tel Aviv or Haifa and you will be standing in a multicultural environment: Muslim,Christian and Jewish people, working, studying and riven earring side by side. By contrast, within the Arab governed areas of the West Bank and Gaza, Jews cannot exist at all.
Marcus is not denying rights to anyone. He is respecting the local Arab population's stated independent sovereignty. The Arab citizens of the West Bank and Gaza have whatever rights their government gives them. Their "right" to enter Israel depends on their government's relations with Israel, and whatever agreement can be arranged.
If it is all one state, then there is no justification to say that Jews cannot exist outside of the "Green Line" (aka "1967 Lines"). And if one wants to declare those lines as borders (which was repeatedly rejected by the Arab League), then one cannot demand that the Arabs on the non-Israeli side of the border be given the rights of Israeli citizenship. But this is the confusion that BDS (and its founder Omar Barghouti) rely on. He protests developments that are "over" the Green Line, but simultaneously condemns Israel for not giving citizenship to the Arabs living there.
Which is it to be? Should Israel give citizenship to the whole Gaza, West Bank and Israel region, or is it to be two states? Because of that is not made clear, then all conversation is meaningless.
3
Let's think out of the box for a moment here in the "land of the free and the home of the brave." I urge the leaders of both adversarial groups to stop fighting for one full week and during that week to arrange a series of reconciliation conferences to achieve the following goals:
1) Define common ground no matter how slim;
2) Define major differences;
3) Discuss specific, practical ways to deal with those differences fairly;
4) Agree to work together for six months on those fair and practical ways to deal with difference;
5) Create a standing committee composed of five representatives from each side to implement those fair and practical resolutions;
6) After the resolutions have been in effect for one year the members of the standing committee should present them to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the Middle East to help resolve differences there.
2
“Liz Hill, a spokeswoman for the Education Department said that the Office for Civil Rights does not have jurisdiction over religious discrimination, the office ‘aggressively enforces’ civil rights law, ‘which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin.’”
I hope this means that public education nation-wide will now be funded equally for all children: black, white, Latino, Asian, rich, poor and whoever. Sounds like Mr. Marcus is on the edge of undoing outright ugly divisive policy that has strangled minorities in this country for over 200 years. Should I be hopeful?
2
Limiting the application of the term Jew to religion is at least legal sophistry, or at worst evidence of a legal strategy to strip Jews of rights and protections as an ethnic group. The easy and obvious answer is that Jew represents both religion and ethnic group. The more nuanced answer has been the subject of parlor discussion for a long time. It's an ambiguity, the clarification of which may not rise to a level of priority, and it should not matter, except if this legal distinction is used as a tool to strip Jews of protected civil rights as members of an ethnic group. Legal sophists pounce on these kinds of ambiguities to further their client's causes. So the ambiguity needs to be clarified, the obvious status of Jewish as ethnicity validated (just ask any DNA testing company), and ultimately legal protections should be applied equally.
11
@Jack Many who comment here refer to jews as an ethnic group, but they seem to consider only Eastern Eurpean ashkenazy as 'ethnic jews'. I visited Fez a few years ago, where a jewish community has existed for more than 500 years side by side with berber muslims. Maimonides lived there, and his library is still there, and I can assure you there are no visible signs of anti-semitism. Do you think the jews of Fez have much in common with the jews of Eastern Europe besides their religion? Or, for that matter, the jews who have lived in Rome for the past two thousand years? Your view of judaism, which seems 'obvious' to you, is ethnocentric.
3
I'm a Jew and I support Palestianian rights to sovereignty. Does that make me anti-semitic, or a racist Jew?
18
In centuries passed anti-semitism was based on contrived false-hoods that Jews were an inferior race, killed Jesus, caused the Black Death, controlled the world’s money, and used children’s blood in religious rituals. All of that is now debunked and rejected by most of the world.
In the past century a new form of Anti-Semitism has arisen, and ironically, it is based on the very values Jews cherish: freedom and equality. The “Jewish State” of Israel, intended as a safe haven for Jews after centuries of pogroms, expulsions, forced conversions and genocide, is now rejected by many as oppressive and anti-democratic.
Never mind that the Palestinians rejected at least four offers for their own state (in 1937, 1948, 2001 and 2008); never mind that in 1948, just as thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from Israel, thousand of Jews fled or were expelled from neighboring Arab countries into Israel; never mind the wars, airplane hijackings, intifadas, attacks on civilians, suicide bombings and missile launches intended to destroy Israel.
Make no mistake, they may call it anti-Zionism, but it’s the new form of Anti-Semitism. Bottom line, it’s a subversive attempt to delegitimize and eventually destroy the Jewish State in the name of “modern progressive” values. It’s the twenty first century brand of anti-semitism and it’s incredibly dangerous.
16
@Steven Roth
Make no mistake, next up is Evangelical Christianity is the ethnicity of the United States. And everyone else is a second class citizen
I am a Jew. I am an American- that is my nationality.
2
It has become impossible to have an honest discussion about the endless dispute between the Jewish State and the Arab World.
Anything approaching criticism of Israel is dismissed as being antisemitic.
That this Zionist is going to force the tax payers of NJ to defend our State University against specious claims is the story here.
15
"definition of anti-Semitism...[a] “denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination” by, for example, [b]“claiming...existence of a State of Israel is...racist..” and [c] “applying double standards by requiring of” Israel “a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
Israel is a theocracy--rights and privileges are granted to Jews and denied to non Jews--including god story based rights claims to the land. Zionism is defined in terms of religion.
[a] Self determination in this case means Jews determine the fate of Jews.
[b] Race (like breed classifications for non humans) is a matter of biology. Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews are recognized as a gene pools--showing up in ancestry searches. Those genes do not make you a religious Jew. They are irrelevant to Zionism.
Israel does not discriminate on the basis of genes. "Racism" doesn't apply. It discriminates on the basis of god story identity.
[c] "Democracy" is more mythos than logos--even etymologically. Was it power to people organized by demes (counties)? Or power to the demes--as in powers of cities, towns, states.
The US form of government is more of a bureaucracy--separation of powers and personnel, multi levels of relatively autonomous government (like demes!). It is not majority rule--well known as tyranny.
Bureaucracy and Rule of Law are essential to the "democracy-mythos" including equality in and before the law. It's secular; that excludes theocracy and thus Israel.
10
Ironically Israel could be considered anti-semite. Look it up.
'Semite'
Date:1848
1 a : a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs b : a descendant of these peoples.
Furthermore--given the gene-pool meaning of 'Jew', Palestinians would surely qualify.
2
When will we see action for discrimination against Palestinians? This is a good example of it, misuse of our legal system to abuse a disfavored ethnic group.
20
As a practicing Reconstructionist and lifelong admirer of Mordecai Kaplan, I am saddened by this revival of ethnic-specific religious advocacy by the DOE. Mr. Marcus has returned to playing the ethnicity card used by anti-Semites for centuries. New flash: Catholics are not an ethnic group, nor are Protestants or Methodists. Reduce Jews to an ethnic group and they no longer belong anywhere but, perhaps, Israel. Gee, the last time this happened on a large scale, identifying Jews as ethnic invaders, we got the Holocaust.
Israel is not Judaism. Israel is a nation with a Jewish population. The anti-Zionist activities are, in many ways, sometimes used as a cover for acts against Jews, but the Obama administration was correct to toss out the complaints.
My guess is that this has more to do with the pro-administration Evangelical mania over bring about the End Times by having Israel emerge strong and having all the "ethnics" (Jews) return to the homeland so the Rapture can begin.
In this instance, as in so many other instances, the Trump administration is using the issue of anti-Semitism for its own warped purposes.
425
@Tom Dont agree with the Trump admin on anything. But being a Jew, unless you are a convert, has always been both a religious affiliation and a n ethnicity. Its why all the holy texts refer to "the People of Israel" It is kind of odd, given that there are multiple ethnicities within this rubric, from Morrocan to Iranian to Polish, but still, the religious ideology of the Jews as a people is there. When you convert, you become one of those people. And the DNA markers are also there....
17
But we are, also, a people. Some Jews are free to see their heritage as only a religion. But the very foundation of Zionism is that some of us feel very much otherwise.
All are free to criticize Israel and it's gov' freely. I do so daily (and I am shocked to find myself defending anything from this administration.)
But to forcefully reduce us to a belief in a deity, while millions of us demand more, is a denial of our right for self identification.
We share much more than a religion. We share DNA, a language, a culture and a tradition. We share the horrors of the holocaust, the dreams of our ancestral home, and the joy of *our* recreation of our nation's after 2000 years of forced removal. All, without god.
I'm also an American, much the same as other Americans are Irish, German or Chinese (That's what's special about America, no?)
I served in the IDF as a secular person - my people's army, not a religion's army. And it is though this army, and this state, that we will guarantee that we will never again be mass-murdered. Not by shrinking ourselves to someone else's definition of us. Never.
7
@Tom. You state that Jews have been using “the anti-semitism” card for centuries. You mean, like every time there was a pogrom in Europe or Russia, or when Jews were not permitted to join guilds throughout Europe?
You’ve got to be kidding!
Do you really believe the Holocaust just happened in a vacuum? Isn’t it more plausible it was the culmination of centuries of anti-Semitism that Hitler was able to tap into to mobilize his cause?
6
Let's not confuse anti-Semitism with legitimate criticism of the sometimes openly racist discourse and policies of the government of Israel.
128
But let’s also recognize that people who repeatedly criticize Israel while ignoring the much greater evils of its neighbors are often virulent Jew haters who use BDS and other anti-Israel rhetoric as a dog whistle. Being anti-Israel and being anti-Semitic are hardly mutually exclusive.
10
@Ajax lets not have double standards for Israel too, and use Israel to deflect from significantly worse problems elsewhere.
6
@Andy The big difference is that Israel gets all the perks that go with membership of the select group of liberal democracies of the world (excellent trade deals with Europe, participation in EU scientific research funding and many other things that the UK can only dream of after Brexit, visa free travel and more, such as unprecedented financial and military support from the US) while its behavior falls squarely outside of the norm set for such liberal democracies. Of course Israel is not compared to the many countries with far worse records in human rights, but with the group that claims to belong to. When you look at it that way, Israel is actually getting away with far more than any other western democracy.
2
The author spends the first half of her article disparaging Mr Marcus before she even talks about the merits of the Case. It's clear from the start what her view is and the remainder of her incredibly slanted article (not op-ed) exists to support her opinion.
Fact is Jewish students on Campuses around the country have to endure violence and threats of violence that no other group does. All under the false banner of social justice. It is antisemitism pure and simple.
122
@AV That no other group does? I'm glad to hear that life for Blacks, Latinos, Indians (east and Native American), Asians, everyone else has finally calmed down. This makes me happy indeed, despite all the news to the contrary.
8
@AV That is not the case at Rutgers. Rutgers is the most ethnically diverse public University in America. RU has always had a vibrant Jewish community that is very active on campus. The idea that RU is in any way antisemitic is absurd.
9
@AV
Muslim and other religious groups as % endure more threats, especially if they dress according to their faith. The fact that 150 people show up at peaceful protest to harass the participants shows a well-organized attempt to establish a narrative that promotes their efforts to take Palestinian land from them.
Israel should stop playing the anti-Semite card, and all thoughtful and fair-minded Jews should welcome peaceful protest over violent protest. Eventually the truth will rise to the top. It always has.
4
Congratulations, Mr. Marcus! You have officially made us nonwhite again! I am sure everyone from David Duke and Steve Bannon to Victor Orbahn and Andrezj Duda are happy to hear that even he U.S. government has given up the fantasy that we Jews are white. Although I personally missed the announcement, white people in the U.S. determined that we were white, or close enough for their purposes, in 1967. I. for one, am perfectly happy tht that the federal government has dropped this thinly veiled curtain on what has always been the truth lurking just below the surface - a majority of white America has never believed that we are white.
Mr. Marcus thinks he has some how given us an advantage. I hope isn't surprised when he sees what comes next, including increasingly stringent public outcries from whites that we don't belong here any more than other nonwhites and public policies based on that belief. other nonwhites
.
3
My problem with the pro-Israel" Jews is to deny that only the Jews who did not convert to Islam or Christianity are Jews. I am from India and its 15% mulsims are not "foreigners" but genetically as Indian as Hindus. who converted to Islam for whatever reason. I contend that most palestnians in Palestine are genetically as Palestinians as the Jews who decided to leave. Jews are not any different than INdians and Chinese and thers around the world. Jews are not the only oppressed religion.
7
Anti-semetic incidents surged by 57% in 2017. Many of those were campus based, with a well financed (where is the money coming from?) tidal wave of anti-semetic and anti-Israel activity. Jewish students need protection. The well financed BDS movement admits that it's goal is the eradication of the one Jewish state in the world, to be replaced by the 47th Muslim state (and 23rd Arab state) in the world. Mr. Marcus is protecting the small, embattled Jewish minority.
96
@Chazak Mr. Marcus is supposed to work for the US government, not the Israeli government. It's foreign loyalty like this that earns Jews distrust.
3
@Chazak One good thing could come from this investigation. It will expose the rank hypocrisy of progressives who support the BDS movement while conveniently ignoring it's close association with Holocaust deniers. Many of the BDS movement's founding goals, along with several of the strategies employed in BDS campaigns are anti-Semitic. Many individuals involved in BDS campaigns are driven by fierce opposition to Israel’s very existence as a Jewish state. The predominant drive of the BDS campaign & its leadership is not criticism of Israeli policies, but the demonization & delegitimization of Israel. Guess what? Holocaust deniers share the same goals. It should surprise no one the BDS finds it it's strongest support in the Middle East which is also the most receptive audience for those who deny the Holocaust. In 2006 an international cast of established Holocaust deniers & implacable foes of Israel were given an open forum by Iran to support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's contention that the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis was a "myth". Among the attendees: David Duke former KKK member. In May 2018 Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, was pressured to apologized after he suggested that historical persecution of European Jews had been caused by their conduct, not by their religion. A quick glance at Arabic social media, however, shows it’s not just Abbas – Holocaust denial is widespread in the Arab world. This close association with the BDS movement can't be denied any longer.
8
In US, one can debate anything and criticize any country in the world about its’ policy except Israel. As soon as one starts a debate about Israel policy, he/she will be labeled as “anti-Semitic”. This is so powerful that political candidates are scared to be labeled as “anti-Semitic” and often use the term to smear theirs opponents. As a result, this creates a dangerous path forward...
110
I agree with Cathy. Also, experience has taught me that one cannot have the view that the Palestinians have reasons to complain without being laeled an anti-semite even among Jews one has known for a long time. Moving our embassy to Jerusalem along with Mr. Marcus's agenda can only fan the flames of hatred toward America by Muslims.
10
@Cathy There is a difference between legitimate criticism of Israel, and discrimination against and intimidation of Jewish and other students that support Israel.
2
@Cathy
There is nothing wrong about debate if only the truth is
being debated.
It's the type of debate.
The people who are called anti Semites make claims about Israel that are not based on truth.
They will say the Arabs in Israel are oppressed.
I've been to Israel and from first hand experience I know that is a lie.
There are people who will condemn Israel for doing
things no other country gets condemned..
Israel had to defend themselves from attack when people in Gaza shot rockets at them.
There is no reason to condemn Israel but that doesn't stop people from doing it.
They don't just condemn Israel they will say Israel has been guilty of war crimes when in fact not only were they defending themselves they took measures that no other country has taken after being attacked to not injure people who might be civilians on the other side.
I say might because the fighters who are attacking Israel
do not wear uniforms and can not be distinguished from the people who are not fighting.
Why does Israel gets criticized for doing things that no other country gets criticized for or if those other countries do get criticized it doesn't happen very often.
The answer is because the criticism is being made by anti Semites because if these people really cared about justice they would boycott most of the Arab world.
So your assumption is wrong.
It's only when Israel is being criticized unfairly is that the criticism is called anti Semitic.
6
My concern is for the freedom of speech. I am so very worried about this these days. It is being chipped away at and now with Trump in office we have no leader who will really defend it.
I would also like to point out that "Zionist"can mean any nationality, there are plenty of none Jews who are Zionists. What they should have said in the email was there was a significant number of "possible protesters" expected at the talk, and that would be Zionists, of any ethnic group.
PLEASE all my Jewish friends voice your concern for our freedom of speech! This can have much broader harmful implications to all.
27
Bottom line here remains that for the Muslim World Israel
does not and never has had the right to exist. Makes little
difference who's, right or left, in control of its government.
This does not obviate that the occupation is wrong, and I've
opposed it from the start. But this also doesn't change the fact that from the failure of Camp David 2 and the vicious second intifada followed by Israeli total evacuation of Gaza and its takeover by Hamas, the Palestinians have rejected almost every reasonable Israeli offer prior to Netanyahu, and most Israelis still reject their maximalist demands. It was also during this period that the Jewish population of the territories increased almost 100%.
11
It is long past time for this approach. The Trump Administration gets this perfectly right.
11
From the Dictionary definition of “ethnicity”: an ethnic group; a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like.
Jews easily meet this definition - it is completely anti-historical to ignore the common culture of Ashkenazi or Sephardic Jews - they were considered distinct by both themselves and the larger communities around them. The common religion is obvious. The common languages are Yiddish & Hebrew (biblical) or Ladino & Hebrew, the common literature is the Bible - or in more modern times- IB Singer, etc. - the common cuisine is obvious (Kosher, and the notion of a common cuisine dates back to Roman times).
Being a religion AND an ethnicity is not mutually exclusive - it’s only if one were to adopt the Christian conception of a universal religion that would make these concepts exclusive to each other. But Judaism was meant to be a “light unto the nations,” an example.
It’s amazing the ignorance of both the Journalist and some commentators- these concepts are not difficult to grasp or to find.
16
Anti-Semitism?
I always learned that both Arabs and Jews were Semitic peoples. So are Palestinians.
Don't the actions of Netanyahu's Israel against the Palestinians constitute anti-Semitism?
Don't the Trump administration's myriad actions against Palestinians constitute anti-Semitism?
Accusations of racism bounce squarely back on to the current administration. They are choosing sides based upon an ignorant evangelical mindset that all Jews are the chosen people of God and should be supported no matter their behavior.
Palestinians are people, too.
33
Well said!
4
If being a Jew is ethnic, that implies DNA traits, an inherited characteristic. I thought that's how Nazis defined Jews, an inherited racial condition. Does Marcus and his cohort of fanatics want to go that route in claiming Jews are being persecuted in America?
11
@SF
No, inherited traits are racial, in the popular sense of the term.
Ethnicity is cultural.
For examples, Mexicans are full-blooded Spanish, part Spanish and part Indigenous, or completely indigenous.
But most all share the same ethnicity.
3
A number of Israeli peace organizations would be considered anti-Semitic under this definition.
20
I recently searched for work and typically had to complete a racial self-identification form with my on-line applications (I’m white). Can we now expect that “Jewish” will now have to be added to these forms since the Trump administration is now defining being Jewish as an ethnicity? Gee, when hasn’t that turned out well? Oh, right, Germany 1933 - 1945. Great work DOE.
17
@IrishRebel98
"White" is what is popularly referred to as a race, not an ethnicity.
Ethnicity is not racial, but cultural.
According to Vox (Miriam Berger, 7-31-18), the section of Israel’s new nation-state law that declares that the right to exercise national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people means “…only Jews have the right to determine what kind of state and society they live under. Which means that by default, non-Jews — such as Palestinian citizens of Israel, some of whom are Muslim and some of whom are Christian — don’t have that same right.”
About twenty percent of Israel’s citizens are Arab Israelis.
Is discussion of this kind of topic offensive to Mr. Marcus? Is this the type of speech he wants to suppress?
28
It is very discouraging these days to be a liberal American Jew (the sub group which conservatives in the US and Israel would love to see disappear). First, to have potentially one's ethnicity randomly changed, and second to have legitimate criticism of Israel being equated with anti semitism where our fundamental constitutional right to free speech and protest is being shredded.
Israel, AIPAC and the Christian right in the US, are trying their best to bring about Armageddon, where they should be much more concerned with the resurgence of fascism and neo-Nazism in the world; the true threat to Jews everywhere.
15
Exactly!
5
More neocon lunacy, instigating world war 3 to hasten the "second coming".
Time to end tax exemption for religion.
23
The Nazis called Judaism an ethnic group, too. History shows where that led.
Under Trump and the collaborating GOP, this can boomerang for political expediency, especially if GOP economic policies continue to create a trillion-dollar deficit to be used to shorten the lives of the sick, the elderly, people of color, LGBTQ people and Muslims by malign neglect (“We can’t afford it!”)—all in order to enrich the top 1%.
Jews CAN be added to that list easily. We are less than 2% of all Americans. Those in the fortunate 1% economically could become “honorary Americans) while the rest are left to twist in the wind.
6
So, U.S. government now agrees with historical Nazi Germany - and Likud Israel - that 'Jew' denotes ethnicity/race, not religion?
7
Remarkable how the knee jerk Trump haters have characterized this. It is not free speech, it is hate speech. If these colleges permitted attacks on Africans like this, the Times and its readers would all move to Finland.
16
College and university is a hostile environment for people who don't want to be educated.
For example, when I went to a secular college, I was a born-again, fervent, Bible-thumping rabid evangelical.
I complained bitterly about professors in history, sociology, life and earth sciences, who were so cruel and mean as to point out that what I learned at church about the world wasn't true.
I went to the administration and whined, claiming persecution.
After a couple of years, I realized that the truth can be hostile to ignorance.
And when "Judaistic" ethnicity students complaint that they don't want to hear about what Israel is doing to Palestinians, they too need to learn what I learned: the truth.
Trump and his ilk are against free speech and academic honesty.
12
Characterizing Mr. Marcus as " a longtime opponent of Palestinian causes" frames this move as anti Palestinian. In fact, "He says" "They're trying to silence me" while "She says" the very same thing. it would be much more helpful of this item were reported that way.
5
@Solomon
Mr. Marcus is motivated by anti-Palestinian animus, therefore this move is anti-Palestinian.
2
Conservatives have an unhealthy world view. They desire separation from the "others" and promotion of their "own". This view is detrimental to happiness in general, and promotes hatred.
4
Being Jewish was never just a religion. When I was a child I
lived in a Yiddish speaking home, I ate Jewish food, I danced to Jewish music(Klezmer) and I sang Jewish folksongs. Also, is the Hebrew language also a myth? All of these markers--language, music, food --are clearly ethnic identifiers not just 'religious'.
The denial of an ethnic identity to Jews has long been the excuse for destroying or preventing the existence of aJewish state while at the same time preventing Jews from fully benefitting from full citizenship in the countries they lived in. When I experienced ugly anti-Semitic attacks throughout my public school experience it wasn't only my religion that was attacked. (In fact, my tormenters knew little about Judaism).It was my ethnicity--my speech was ridiculed, my facial appearance--and I was also even taunted about the foods I ate. The denial of ethnic identity to Jews is just another form of anti-Semitism. It is also a total denial of truth to say that pro-Israel students on college campuses are allowed to express their support openly and freely. The record of intimidation and hostility is there for all to see.
116
You are describing Jew as Eastern European. Others come from the desert. They are no less Jew but don’t eat the same foods, do the same dances, etc.
6
@Harry R Wachstein Look into it and you will find that the record of intimidation and hostility is enhanced and supported by those like yourself who are opposed to free speech and open dialogue on these issues. Read some of America's foremost intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky or Norm Finkelstein if you want some truth in these matters. Both are banned from setting foot in Israel or Palestine.
5
Not all Jews are from Eastern Europe but the group includes several ethnicities: Sephardic, Ethiopian, Arab.within each ethnic group there are also minor difference; for example from Sepharad, in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, this group emigrated to different parts of the world such as Turkey, Italy, Holland, Greece. Later on in the 19th and 20th century, most moved once again to the Americas, France and Israel. During WWII- today some went back to the Iberian Peninsula.
For those of us who see this as a religion, it makes a lot more sense or perhaps we shoul look at this issue as Jews identify with a religion plus origin or ethnicity. I am 100% azquenazi Jew who is bicultural and bilingual, Spanish and English. As I result my identity is not very clear.
4
There are anti-semites, anti-Zionists, anti-Israelis; there are anti-Christians, anti-Muslims, anti-Arabs, the list is as inexhaustible as the number of people who will never welcome brotherhood. Jewishness is clearly not an ethnicity any more than atheism or nationalism is a religion. The issue being decided in this case is whether freedom of speech should be made capable of manipulation both foreign and domestic jurisprudence.
27
@Ronald Keeperman Of course there is a Jewish ethnicity. You even refer to the larger supergroup in your post -- Semites. That is an ethnicity. There are a Jewish language, Jewish eating customs, Jewish cultural rituals... There is even a set of so-called Jewish features which bigots seize upon in their propaganda -- those features belie a common DNA, and thus an ethnicity. Converts to Judaism do not immediately acquire these features through a divine act of YHWH. They are inherited. You are factually incorrect.
The fact that Judaism is a religion of the same name as well does confuse things a bit, but there most definitely is a Jewish ethnicity and culture which is outside religion.
7
@Dan F.
Common DNA does not prove ethnicity. Don't confuse ethnicity with what we call race.
Go back far enough, and everyone belongs to the same DNA group.
Ethnicity denotes a common language and culture.
I'm ethnically an American, as I don't practice anything in the Judaism of my ancestors.
1
Israel could be called, using The Times' own standard, a "predominantly Jewish state". And the same implications would apply -- that is, that it is being targeted because of it.
Anyone who denies the Middle East's hatred of Jews is not to be taken seriously.
30
Of course Israel is widely hated across the Middle East. However, for most of the thousand years before 1948, Jews lived far more comfortably in the Moslem Middle East than in Christian Europe. If Israelis were a little more discerning about why that changed with the creation of the state of Israel, they might be more imaginative in working toward acceptance by their neighbors. To dismiss Arab attitudes as simple anti-Semitism on the European model is lacking in nuance, to say the least.
4
@AACNY Truth. But that doesn't absolve Israel of its faults, sins, or wrongdoings.
2
Th Palestinian cause is anti-Semitic. Some 60 muslim countries in the world and 1 small , difficult to defend Jewish country and that is what the Palestinian cause hopes to destroy. All of Israel's actions, those considered bad and especially those that are considered good are never fairly evaluated against the brutality of the regimes that surround Israel. US college campuses should have student groups or outsiders intimidate their Jewish students by the kind of protesting that we see on campus from BDS groups. Thes is Trump vs Democrats, its the right move to stop importing a conflict into our campuses that is dishonest to the core.
23
@LeeThere are millions of houses in America. I would be plenty angry if someone came and took mine.
8
That move is nothing else than an objective endorsement of essentialisation, the very intellectual process any sane individual refuses.
Is it necessary to explain why?
Fighting anti-semitism by using thought processes that lead to the worst for, among others, Jews, is a flabbergasting sign of total unawareness. Sign of the times in today's United States.
2
Here is the IHRA definition of anti-semitism - “hotly contested” by Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas & Jeremy Corbyn - but by nearly no one else:
“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.”
“Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
14
@Alan
That's not anti-semitism. It's a political critique.
That definition has been refuted by many Jewish scholars, as it seeks to restrict legitimate criticism of Israel and its policies.
This perfectly captures the idiocy of the Trump "administration" (a profoundly inappropriate term that implies some modicum of organizational skill). An uniformed POTUS becomes the unwitting instrument for all sorts of fringe agendas, with implications he neither understands or particularly cares about.
The problem with the strategy for Trump is that it will continue alienating small groups of people until he finally pushes his approval rating down into the mid-20's … and even the most gutless Republicans in Congress start abandoning ship.
6
In other words, an assault on the First Amendment disguised as a civil rights case. A perfect instance of the true Trumpist "we shouldn't allow protests" agenda.
31
If Ethnicity is based on “national origin” exactly what nation is is the OCR contending is the origin of the Jewish people. And no I do not support any distinction between Jew and Jewish along political/religious lines.
If the nation of origin for the Jewish people is Israel based on antiquity, then the Jewish and Palestinian students are of the national origin since we both hail from the lineage of Abraham in what was then known as the land of Canaan. By this logic Germany and Italy are of the same national origin since they were both part of the Holy Roman Empire
On the other hand, if the OCR wants to use a more modern national interpretation of national origin, then Russia, Germany, Poland, Lithuania are more appropriate. Is the OCR mean to say that there was an issue with a violation of rights for those of Eastern European ancestry?
Zionism is a geopolitical movement pertaining to support for the modern nation of Israel. Judaism is a religion, regardless of the individuals level of observance. They are not the same. Is anti Zionism sometimes a mask for anti Semitism, yes. But not always.
This move is a political stunt pure and simple.
24
I abhor the right wing movement here and in Israel.However anyone who says Israel is not held, by the world, to a standard higher than any other nation is not rational. Think about being non-Muslim in Saua Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, any Arab (religion based state) Compare being an Arab woman in Israel proper to a woman in any Arab state- the Israeli-Arab woman can actually go places without a male sponosor, wow! Name all the other countries with right of return of land etc. after acwar—by that reasoning the European Jews in Israel desege lots of land hones and money in Europe. And Separdic jews should get their respective land/himes back in yemen, iran, egypt etc. MORE JEWS were wxpelled from ARAB lands than palestinians who left Israel.
29
You are right and that is why supporting Israel should be a policy of the US. Unfortunately the prior administration let their dislike of Netanyahu poison sound decision making.
10
@honeybluestar
Comparing Israel to the repressive dictatorships of the Muslim world is setting low standard.
Compare it to the secular democracies that do not have religious laws on the books and don't hold an entire other nation in a state of apartheid.
1
Some Jewish groups are pro-First Amendment and anti-censorship until their proverbial ox is gored, and then they make a 180-degree turn on the issue. As a high school English teacher I showed 20 minutes of Minister Louis Farrakhan's "Million-Man March" speech to my students, comparing his oratory to Mark Antony's funeral oration in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." A Jewish teacher complained on the grounds that Farrakhan was an anti-Semite, and even though he never mentioned Jews in that speech the school administration forbid my use of it. I filed a grievance and went to the ACLU. Their director happened to be Jewish, and he said this was a clear violation of the First Amendment. It was willing to sue on my behalf, so the school department gave up and I showed the speech again. At that point the Jewish Federation in my city conducted a six-month campaign against me in the press and on the radio and by writing letters and making phone calls to the school superintendent. A year later they were still meeting clandestinely trying to find a way to stop me from using that speech. I prevailed, but it demonstrated how obsessive people like Mr. Marcus in the article can be.
18
As much as I fervently support protection for the State of Israel and for Jews throughout the world against antisemitism, I cannot agree with the Trump Administration's definition of Judaism as an "ethnic" status. IT IS A RELIGION and, as such, is definable just as is Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc.
Israel, the STATE of Israel, is unique. It was established post-WWII as a refuge for persecuted Jews from all over the world, from EVERY ethnic background. They came from everywhere. If one defines ethnicity as a national trait, Judaism fails to meet this criterion. Much of Israel is, in fact, secular, and many of its citizens are Palestinians.
Trump is, I suspect, mindlessly (as he does with everything else) promoting this status due to Kushner and some unholy quid pro quo with Netanyahu. He has provoked the inevitability of another, probably nuclear, war in the middle east because of his stupidity and arrogance. A peacemaker Trump is not, just as a "businessman" he fails to be.
If I were Israel, I would handle Trump with a very long leash and seek a lasting peace without depending upon his very temporary, and toxic, presence.
21
@RealTRUTH - In English we use the words Jewish and Judaism almost interchangeably - to mean both someone who practices Judaism and someone who is a descendent of the 12 Tribes of Judah. There is no doubt in my mind that anti-Semitism has a clear ethnic component, as discrimination against Jews is not limited only to those that practice Judaism.
10
@RealTRUTH
I know people who consider themselves & are considered by others to be Jews even though they are atheist because their parents & grandparents were Jews. The Torah talks about "the children of Israel," not about a community of believers. Being a Jew is ethnic as well as religious.
5
@RealTRUTH
The real truth is that the Balfour Declaration came well before WW II, and that the Palestinians were made to pay for the actions of European Christians.
Yes, the Israel is unique. No other Western colonial enterprise has so successfully engaged in ethnic cleansing with impunity.
8
When describing advocacy groups one has to be clear about their goals. While BDS describes itself as a civil rights group, it's goals are more accurately nationalist, intending to create a single Arab state in the place of two states.
Its central argument is that the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza are being denied the rights that Israeli citizens have. However, this would only be true if the entire region were a single state. Since it is not, the Arabs of the WB&G are no more entitled to such rights than are the citizens of Mexico or Canada are entitled to the same rights as US Citizens. Their rights, including the right to traverse the border, are dependent upon their own governments (the P.A. and Hamas) and those governments agreements with the government of whichever neighboring country they wish to travel into. Given that Hamas rejects Israel's right to exist, and that the P.A. provides financial remuneration to those who commit acts of terror in Israel, why should such travel be allowed? One must also bear in mind that these borders are closed to Israelis who might seek to work in or visit the WB&G. Without reciprocity, why should there be "open borders"?
One can advocate for the Palestinian Arabs without demonizing Israel or calling for its destruction. The false accusation of "apartheid" that is the central tenet of the BDS movement is used to justify both. That is "anti-Israel" rather than "pro- Palestinian", and deserves to be recognized as such.
22
@stop-art
BDS does not call for destroying Israel. The most it calls for is equal rights for Palestinians. If that would lead to destroying Israel, then maybe we need to reconsider our blind support of Israel.
9
“Mr. Marcus used to pressure campuses to squelch anti-Israel speech and activities.”
I thought Republicans are against curbing free speech on campus?
Oh- only when it is against them!
31
So a political position is now an ethnicity -- and a value that needs to be protected as a "civil right." What happened to "equal protection?" Under Trump, there's no protection for those who disagree with the "Supreme Leader" and his cohort. Yes, this is a small but important step in replacing freedom of political speech with freedom to prosecute dissenters.
17
A political position can be closely allied with ethnicity as in the term “ethnic cleansing.” So when a political movement calls for driving all Jews into the sea that political position becomes an attack on an ethnicity. Similarly when an Islamic republic expels all Jews from its borders, its political action is entwined with a distinct ethnic flavor. Same as Jim Crow laws- political act that involves ethnicity- I expect you get the idea.
4
Jews were not persecuted for their political beliefs -- especially in Germany where they were typically conformists.
I think some are missing the bigger picture here. This is not an issue of Palestinian, Jew, Christian or Athiest. It’s not a story about Anti-Semitism or pro-PLO. This is a story about an individual using the tools, finances and authority of the Federal Government to pursue a personal agenda and execute a vendetta against fellow Americans.
The classifications are irrelevant, those can change and next time it could be you.
184
Since when do you get to redefine a ethnic group? While they also be added to the census since the government has now acknowledged them as a group? In one sense the argue for free speech by right leaning groups on college campuses as protected by free speech and rightly so. Then they decide they don't want to hear this message and they come up with this false argument.
8
@Dawn Are Persians on the census? Kurds? Those are groups. The census doesn't define ethnicity. Shared cultural traits, shared group history, share linguistics and/or religious traits denotes ethnicity.
2
So essentially the right demands "free speech" and claims the left is shutting down its right to ability to say anything it wants, except that "free speech" will now NOT nclude any legitimate criticism of the policies or administration of the state of Israel? Are you kidding me? What planet are we on? This is the United States, not Israel. I can understand if Israel's government mandates this there, but in the US, we are beholden to no other country, right? America first, right? Right, (far-)right, or no?
14
How is my religion my ethnic origin? My family’s roots or ethnic origin are the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Lithuania. My religion is Jewish. This is typical big government butting into our lives in new creative ways all the time. The Nazis called us an ethnic group, not a religion, this is a very bad idea. I do wish these government employees would understand history.
107
@A Person With A Mother - Well, if you look to the prayers on any given Jewish holiday, from the Sabbath to Yom Kippur, you will see that Israel, the return to Zion, Jerusalem, et. al., is central to your faith. By denying the Jewish people the right of self-determination, of return to their spiritual and, yes, ethnic/national homeland, you are denying Jews the central issue/theme/truth that is at the core of Jewish belief system.
5
I don’t agree with the developments in the article, but being Jewish is not only a religious distinction— Jewish people can be distinguished genetically. For example, my DNA shows I have approximately 78% Ashkenazi Jewish DNA. It’s the result of centuries of endogamy. So I think the subject of “who is a Jew?” is more complicated. I don’t consider my ethnic background to be Ukrainian or Polish because my family experienced extreme anti-semitism in those countries and they considered themselves Jews first. There’s no right or wrong way to look at this, but it’s not simple.
3
Of course Judaism is an ethnicity as well as a religion. Judaism is said to be a “nation that became a religion that became a nation.” We’ve just celebrated Rosh Hashanah- I could count hundreds of times in my Reform prayer book that Israel was referred to as a people. Your definition of religion is Christian, and individualized, not Jewish. Moreover, the national origin (ethnicity) of Jews is reflected in the DNA of Ashkenazi Jews - more susceptible to Tay Sachs, more likely to be tested for BRCA - indicating a common group of ancestors. Scholars can trace the Ashkenazi Jewish community back to several dozen people many centuries ago. If that’s not a common ethnicity, what is?
7
I wonder why the education department has any people assigned to this sort of issue, it seems the justice department should have the only people who work of these things and they probably already have too many.
5
Is there a concern here is that the U.S. of A. is laying down a legal premise that could work against Palestinians while opening the door for a Zionist agenda to move forward.? Isn't this is a sure fire formula for conflict? Why would we get involved in this way? This fellow, Marcus, seems reputable, but as he admits his office's authority is either dubious or non-existent, vigilance is called for in this matter.
5
Gee, just when the public has been made to believe that Russia is the chief meddler in our affairs, another country becomes ever more visible.
17
So much for Stare Decisis, the legal principle of determining points in litigation according to precedent.
But then again, given how inept almost all of trump's 'appointees' have shown themselves to be, it's not surprising.
10
@Paul P. Um, what judicial decision are you referring to? or is this simply the best you can come up with?
2
More cynical "divide and conquer" by the Trumpistas with the intent of inflaming identity politics. Conflating the imposition of religious beliefs with ethnicity and with free speech is a very dangerous chord to start strumming.
18
Too much religion and not enough civility including civil engineering. Could we focus on the universal functional state of our country including upgraded bridges, roads, mass transit, and medical insurance that serves us all. Discrimination is unfair and hostile but solved by paths to understanding. With Marcus' thinking I can see someone being declared "not Jewish enough" in a Trump era court.
8
Support for a Palestinian state is not by itself anti-semitic. However, in 1948, the Palestinians expelled all Jews living in the disputed territories. To this day, Palestinians insist that Jews will not be allowed to live in their country.
Is that anti-semitic? A simple test will give that answer. Take the sentence, "Jews may not live in my country." Now substitute the name of any other minority, and ask yourself if that sentence is acceptable.
29
@Joe: Revisionist history.
1
@Peter
Au contraire. That is indisuptable fact. Jews were expelled from the disputed territories mirroring the expulsion of the Jews by almost all Muslim countries in the 1940s.
It is fact that a Palestinian who sells property to a Jew gets the death penalty. It is fact that the PA have stated that no Jews get to live in any future Palestinian state regardless of whether they legally purchased land from a Palestinian. It is fact Hamas claims and has in their mandate that no Jew gets to live in Israel. Period.
2
Bigots hate Jews and blacks for reasons that have nothing to do with theology or melanin. Antisemitism has many guises, and anti-Zionism is but one, as some European nations have already acknowledged. Attempts to intimidate, silence, and sanction American college students who support Israel constitute not free speech but its antithesis: the closing of civil discourse. Criticizing the Israeli government is hardly the issue; Israelis do it more than anyone else. In fact, if ever there was democracy where vociferous debate without silencing or violence is the norm, it's Israel. Rather, as we all really know, those who question Israel's right to exist in safety and dignity are really saying that they are comfortable with the idea of Israel and its Jews disappearing. Sound familiar?
21
Perfect...the door is opened...a precedent is set.
Get 'red-neck conservatism' declared an ethnicity...
9
I was told by some Jews (and read in these pages) that the Trump administration is anti-Semitic and that Trump himself hates Jews.
To me, this seemed to be a stretch, as Trump’s favorite daughter (the one he said he’d like to date) is Jewish. His favorite son in law is Jewish. His grandchildren are Jewish. Bannon, the other major alleged anti-Semite in he administration, had his trolling career take off at Breitbart, an apparently anti-Semitic site started by a Jew.
We just heard that Cynthia Nixon is anti-Semitic. Oddly, for an anti-Semite, Ms Nixon attends a synagogue.
And now I hear that Rutgers hates Jews and, in fact, anyone who questions Israel’s actions hates Jews.
I’ve also been told that Jeremy Corbyn is also anti-Semitic, and that half the British Labor Party hates Jews. At this point, I’m not terribly surprised, for many reasons, one of which is that Bernie Sanders, Corbyn’s closest American ideological analogue, was called anti-Semitic as well. And, I’m sorry to bring it up, but Sanders is, umm, Jewish.
So an expansion of the definition of anti-Semitism to the entire human race seems in order. It’s inevitable anyway.
Can we please save terms like “racist,” “sexist,” “anti-Semite,” and “bigot” for when there’s a good reason to use them?
We are undermining the power of these words by applying them to, seemingly, everyone.
When calling someone a bigot is meaningless because we’ve stretched the words to include nearly everything, we have a real problem.
29
@Objectively Subjective ... Trump's daughter might practise the Jewish religion be she is not a Jew. She does not have any of the shared history, suffering, culture, language, geneology, or other markers of Jewishness. Being a Jew is more than a religion, it just has a religion also.
1
@Objectively Subjective
Can we please save terms like “racist,” “sexist,” “anti-Semite,” and “bigot” for when there’s a good reason to use them?
____
Excellent suggestion. But you would eliminate about 98% of political "discussion", particularly from the left. These words are cudgels, used not to persuade, but to beat opponents into submission.
1
"...adopted a hotly contested definition of anti-Semitism that included 'denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination."'
Hotly contested by who? People who don't want the State of Israel to exist except as the new Palestine.
The writer is slick, but cannot hide her disgusting bias.
12
I think it's funny that for centuries Jews in Europe were murdered and persecuted for not being European enough. Jews in Arab lands were treated as 2nd and 3rd class citizens of Dhimmi status and periodic pogroms for being the "other". But now in 2018, a time of liberal hyper identity politics for every other group, they want to strip Jews of their identity or paint them as European colonizers in order to *continue denying them their right to self determination*.
Unbelievable.
23
The truth always lies in the middle. Many Palestinian supporters are anti-semitic, and many aren't.
6
Opposition to ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and human rights violations by Israel is not anti-semitism, it is simply opposition to Israel government policies. This action by the Trump administration is more evidence of a clear anti-Muslim bias and more payback to wealthy Pro-Israel campaign contributors.
153
@Grover - Perhaps you miss the point: It is not criticism of Israel or Israeli policies that's the issue. It's the attempt to divorce/separate the centrality of Israel to Judaism, which any cursory reading of any prayer book or history will show. By denying the link, one denies the centrality of Israel to Jewish thought and practice for more than three millennia. The real problem is, their is no other example in today's world that is similar. Perhaps think of it this way: before the United States, there was no country defined by ideas of democracy, personal rights. Countries were defined by the king, or by religion (see Wiki entry for 100 years war, etc.) Again, criticism of Israel policies is legitimate and, indeed, required. Denying Jews the right to define themselves is anti-Semitic.
6
@Grover
Please explain how Israel is ethnically cleansing given that in 1948 Israel had 150,000 Arab Israelis. They now number more than 1.8 milllion.
Please explain how Israel is an Apartheid nation given that they offer full and equal rights to all citizens with a judicial branch to insure adherence to equality for all.
Please explain Israel's human rights violations given that Hamas violates international law by indiscriminately firing rockets at civilian populations, firing those rockets from civilian population centers, using human shields to defend themselves, and concealing themselves within civilian populations without marking themselves as a resistance movement.
7
@Grover
Benjamin Pogrund
“…during 26 years as a journalist in South Africa I investigated and reported the evil that was apartheid. I saw Nelson Mandela secretly when he was underground, then popularly known as the Black Pimpernel, and I was the first non-family member to visit him in prison.
I have now lived in Israel for 17 years, doing what I can to promote dialogue across lines of division. To an extent that I believe is rare, I straddle both societies. I know Israel today – and I knew apartheid up close. And put simply, there is no comparison between Israel and apartheid…”
9
It's hard to see how anything good can come out of reopening an investigation into a six-year-old incident. That is, accept for pleasing Trump's hardcord supporters among fundamentalist Christians and right-wing Jewish groups. But what makes this move particularly upsetting is that it comes at a time when the Education Dept. is rolling back regulations designed to protect students from being duped by for-profit schools. Really, with limited resources, which cause is more important: a relative handful of students charged admission to a pro-Palestinian event or thousands of students ripped off by predatory colleges?
18
@Ann Perhaps justice under the law, now I don't support the education department doing any of this.
1
I'm an ethnic Jew and an atheist. I have nothing to do with Judaism, which is a religion followed by both ethnic Jews and anyone else who is willing to do so. Most of USSR Jews were the same - religion was not popular there. Not if you wanted to get into college or have a career.
Whatever way politicians spin discrimination of Jews, will not change the fact that we are an ethnicity first and a religion second/optional.
9
@tankhimo I might correct you on a technical point. Almost all Jews are born from Jewish females, conversions are rare and difficult. You in general can't just decide to follow this religion, at least by the official rules.
5
@vulcanalex Yes, you can. If you are willing. I know quite a few people who successfully went through the "cleansing" process and not a single one rejected by "the officials".
And if we are being technical, I don't see how "official rules" can stop anyone to follow their heart and beliefs. My ethnic German friend in Germany is doing just that, and he doesn't need a rabbi's permission to celebrate Shabbat. He even tries to convert me even though I am 98% Ashkenazi.
Beware the Streisand Effect. Such blatantly political attempts to smother legitimate political debate may only lead to a further intensification of that debate and as result, garner even greater support for the cause so repressed.
8
I think Judaism is both a religion and an ethnicity.
The Jewish religion is a faith and system of beliefs. The ethnicity is a shared pride in accomplishments, as well as a shared sorrow in historical experience.
As for Israel, one can oppose the Netanyahu government’s policies, but outright hatred for Israel (and there’s plenty of it), or denying its right to exist — as far as I’m concerned, is anti-Semitic.
While we’re at it, the term ‘anti-Semitic’ is just a polite way to say ‘Jew-hatred.’
20
Just curious: does this mean ashkenazy and sephardim and the many jews along the former silk road, all the way to China (yes, there are Chinese jews) are of the same ethnicity? What about the Kazars, who became jews in the seventh century? Or is that false history? What about Italian jews, who have been in Italy for more than two thousand years? Are they ethnic Italians or not? I'm for yes, they are.
6
Defining Jews as an ethnicity is fine. As long as we then also define other groups that way. I have Ukrainian friends that look distinctly Ukrainian, Swedish friends that look distinctly Swedish, etc etc and friends that don't look like anything but may still have strong roots in a people. Looking forward to seeing how the fed works this out to avoid looking like pre-wwII Germany.
4
@dugggggg Swedish is a nationality, Nordic would be the ethnicity. Extrapolate.
4
@dugggggg, defining Jewish people as an ethnicity is dicey, as is conflating Jewish people, who live all over the world and come from a variety of nations with the state of Israel, which is an independent nation and has its own population, but if Mr. Marcus and Betsy DeVos (???) want to go down that road, they may rue the day they reinjected that into American discourse. It's a short road from ethnicity to race, and as Nazi Germany showed, when racist and white supremacist fanatics get control, unspeakable horrors aren't far off. Don't forget, the Nazis also forced all Jewish people to assume the last name "Israel"....
3
@duggggggook
Friends who look a certain ethnicity? So explain my Hungarian/Czech ancestry daughter who is fair skinned, red headed, freckled often mistaken for Irish named Katie....who is also the Jewish granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.
Talk about determining ethnicity by "look" smacks of Nazi racial purity laws...
2
"Jew" is the People, the Nation, like the French, the Italians, the Irish, regardless of the individuals religion. "Jewish" is the religion, adherents of Judaism. You can be a Jew but not be Jewish, like the late Cardinal Lustiger of Paris. You can be Jewish but not be a Jew, like the late African-American entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr.
Confusion reigns because of the similarity of the terms "Jew" and "Jewish".
12
@MIKEinNYC
That parsing is utter nonsense and not supported by the tenets of Judaism or language usage.
3
When we finally get to the actual facts of the case, they are so picayune, so inconsequential, as to be absurd.
Another case of Republican “big government.”
37
Judaism is a religion. Judaism is not Jewish nationalism.
I urge people to support the Palestinians in their quest for their homeland and I urge people to boycott and divest from anything that in part and parcel of the military occupation of Millions of Palestinians. I urge Americans to protest the use of American taxpayer's money to support this military occupation and urge your elected officials to support sanctions against Israel as long as it illegally confiscates land in the West Bank and keeps people in Gaza in a open air prison with an Israeli guard house.
I urge people to top donating money to charities that finance settlements.
I urge the UN and the US to call for trials of the IDF sniper soldiers who killed unarmed civilian protesters in Gaza.
This situation is an outrage.
44
@LibertyLover -
Totally incorrect. The Jewish religion (what you refer to as Judaism) is the national religion of the Jewish people.
It has been like that since Biblical times. In fact, it was considered so obvious in ancient times that there was no word in ancient Hebrew for "religion". It had to be invented later.
The confusion comes with later religions that considered themselves universal, and not national - e.g. Christianity and Islam. Before Christianity, religions in the West/Middle East were typically national religions. As a result, modern Westerners have trouble understanding the concept and confuse the religion and nationality.
One can be "Jewish" without the acceptance of even one of the 613 commandments that the traditional Jewish religion defines itself with.
11
@LibertyLover Unfortunately the 'palestinians' don't agree with many of your points. Firstly, just as the Nuremberg Laws regarded a Jew as anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent or as a 'Mischling', religious practice playing only a minor part in that determination, the Arab position is that a Jew is a Zionist and a Zionist is a Jew, religious observance or none. Secondly, the latest DNA evidence supports the connected ethnicity of all Jews no matter where they are. In my own case, my DNA shows one side is Sephardi, the other Ashkenazi with both linking back to the Levant. No religion involved. As for the 'open air prison' why not pursue and pressure Egypt to open its gate at Rafah? Why wait for Israel? Please remember also that those 'settlements' were there prior to 1948 (e.g. Gush Etzion, Hebron) and the Jordanians and Egyptians expelled all the Jews living there and from their own countries. Then there's this: https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/02/the-good-news-about-gaza-you-wont-... Lastly, the taxpayers money you speak of is 'tied' aid in that its only to be spent on US military equipment, materiel and joint projects such as Iron Dome - so 1000s of American jobs depend on that aid.
5
@LibertyLover Or better perhaps get the "Palestinians" to stop their terrorism and to accept the deal that they have been offered. It will only get worse of a deal for them, unlike what they think their terrorism will obtain.
5
The last time Jews were classified as an ethnicity it didn't turn out well. Has Marcus ever heard of the Nuremberg Laws?
30
@Howie Swerdloff The Nuremberg Laws defined Jews as a RACE
2
@Mike You are 100% correct. Although both are socially determined categories, the difference is important and has enormous implications, e.g. for public policy. Conflating the two is often a way to minimize the suffering of African-Americans by putting their experience on the same plane with say, Irish-Americans, or Jewish immigrants. I wonder if that isn't exactly what Marcus is doing in this Rutgers decision. I certainly don't want to abet that camp!
In any case, this is a can of worms. Lesson: I should never post a comment in the morning before first having coffee. Thanks for your correction.
Isarael is a Jewish state just like, say, Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state. If I oppose the actions of these states (war in Yemen or oppression of Palestinians), does that make me a anti Semitic and anti Muslim?
41
@Neildsmith
No it's not.
1
@Neildsmith Your comment is attractive but misses the point. It goes to the core of how Jews define themselves, and whether Palestinian nationalists get to do so instead. The issue is, as one writer on this board pointed out, that when Judaism began, perhaps 4,000-5,000 years ago, all religions were national religions -- no separation between church and state, and no 'universal' religions like Christianity or Islam. One can disagree with many of the policies and actions of the current Israeli government, as do many Israelis (see Israeli press on any given day). This is very different from denying the centrality of Israel to Judaism, no matter how you classify it.
4
@daffodil:
Muslims, like jews, are a Semitic people! Why do you think these groups do not get along well!
I wonder why it doesn't occur to Jewish American activists that cozying up to a regime as hated and corrupt as the Trump administration is not going to backfire. As it is, every day that the Trump regime focuses on attacking, undermining, impoverishing and bullying the Palestinians in the name of "protecting" Israel more closely aligns Israel and its supporters with Trump. By association, the entire Israeli cause is cast in the most negative light possible. Discriminating against Palestinians and using the power of the US government to promote policies that try to stifle debate and the historical truth around the creation of Israel and its subsequent actions will not stop the truth from getting out, nor will it end the support for BDS and other such measures. If anything, it gives greater impetus to those people who are fighting for their cause in the face of government oppression.
38
@Shaun Narine Over 70% of America Jews voted for Clinton. Jews are one of the most reliable blocs that votes for Democrats.
6
@Shaun Narine A proposed Hillary administration would have been corrupt. I don't hate administrations or those that I don't personally know. Hate is a damaging emotion, I reserve it for say people who abuse children and bad criminals. Not a politician I just disagree with like say Hillary, Bernie, or Cory.
1
The Trump administration is an administration of ideologues. This is just another example.
26
Oy vey. With friends like these, who needs enemies? I've been fighting anti-Semites for years who claim that the concept of a Jewish People as an ethnic identity is a mere fiction, the point of which claim is to deny the legitimacy of the state of Israel as the historic homeland of the Jewish People. It's also true that the BDS movement, particularly in its campus incarnations, is rife with blatant anti-Semitism as well as a slightly more subtle anti-Semitism that affects only to be anti-Zionist as opposed to anti-Semitic but, in fact, is both.
Yet none of this alters the fact that the expansionist policies of the current right-wing Israeli government violate the rights of the Palestinian People who also have a right to their historic homeland.
Progressive Jews who favor a two-state solution therefore find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, as Jews, we are appalled by the anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism of the BDS movement but, on the other, we are appalled by the mistreatment of the Palestinians being perpetrated in our name.
What is needed, therefore, is a U.S. administration that will be an honest broker and recognize the rights of all the denizens of that region to self-determination and autonomy. While Marcus is right, then, to invoke the concept of the Jews as an ethnicity (although it is Jewishness, not Judaism, that is the ethnicity), his doing so in this case represents, as usual, the Trump administration's throwing gasoline on the fire.
42
@David What historic homeland for Palestinians? How long ago is "historic". They declined a deal that would have given them a state, they were given land for peace and yet peace is not happening. They need to stop the terrorism, the whining and take the deal, it only will get worse for them.
8
@vulcanalex Considering Jews were given the land based on a history from almost 2000 years ago, I don't think 70 years really means much at all.
@David
I am amazed at how good Israel is to the Palestinians. Israel has been delivering over 800 truckloads of food & supplies to Gaza every day even though Gazans fired thousands of rockets & mortars at innocent Israelis. Also, Israeli doctors treated 180,000 Palestinians last year.
3
Trump won.
Now, he gets to put in place support for his campaign contributors.
simple. and very much the american "democratic" way.
9
@Michael If trump, and the sort of republicans that follow him, were really interested in supporting our democracy, then Obama would seated a justice. Also, Trump regularly offers moral support to our enemies while verbally attacking our long-time allies.
6
@Michael
No, Michael. The American "Democratic" way is to bridge differences, find compromise and respect all who are here.
Not to "stack the deck" as if you were playing a hand of cards. America is better than trump, or the fools he's put in power.
4
@dugggggg Moral support? What a joke. He used missiles and military force against Russian interests. Removed their diplomats. Hurt their economy. Talking to Putin and being diplomatic towards him in words is doing his job, not moral support.
This is par for the course with the "truth isn't truth" administration.
We need fewer restatements of the obvious, and more focus on culpable impeachable offenses and the Constitutional role of the US Congress.
20
"A little thought experiment" should be based on facts to be valid. When it was established, there was no state, Palestinian or other, on the territory that is now the State of Israel.
13
@AC While I support the State of Israel's right to exist & have always favored a fair two state solution (emphasis on the 'fair'), the "there was no state" there argument is not the whole story. It suggests that the absence of a Western-style nation-state invalidates any Palestinian claim. It does not. Palestinians lived on the land for generations. The fact that they did not government themselves in a Western mode does not invalidate their claim.
45
@AC But there were people there (who were never allowed to return back home). That doesn't count?
14
@Anne-Marie Hislop I agree that the palestinians may have a claim to a state and can declare themselves a nationality. But two points: when the Palestinian Liberation Organization was formed in 1964, a few years prior to the 1967 war, the PLO leaders informed Jordan and Egypt that neither the west bank nor Gaza, respectively, was to be considered part of palestine. In addition, palestinians from the '67 war had only to live in the British Mandate of Palestine for 2 years prior to the war, and many if not most had not lived for generations on the land.
Let’s see...so my brother, who is of Finnish-Welsh extraction, could argue ethnic discrimination because last year he converted to Judiasm? Since both of us have done DNA testing which shows some distant Jewish ancestry, can I be an ethnic Jewish atheist? Doesn’t the term “Semitic” as pertains ethnicity include Arabs as well as Jews? When will this ridiculous parsing end?
32
@Anthony Davis Its not complicated. A Jew is defined as a person who has a Jewish mother - that's it unless that person converts to become a religious Jew. No mystery. Yes, Semitic pertains to both Arabs and Jews (and others) however the term 'antisemitic' was specifically coined by Moritz Steinschneider in 1860 to describe anti-Jewish hatred. So no 'parsing' is required.
19
@Blurb What's the Israeli Government's definition of those eligible under the "law of return?"
1
@JPEAs as per my answer above in 1950 with the addition in 1970 of an amendment to the law adding the father's side.
This could be a fair method of consideration, if it were also applied to the Trump administration regarding Muslims, Hispanics, Transvestites, and several others.
Otherwise, not.
12
Is it possible to be a great admirer of the Jewish faith and the historical accomplishments of Jews across the range of human endeavors, but believe that the state of Israel is oppressive to the Muslims who lived in what is now Israel? Yes, it is.
Is it reasonable to be opposed to the actions of the Israeli government and also the actions of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that clearly hope to destroy Israel? Yes, it is.
Is it likely that the Trump administration has chosen to support Zionism and be opposed to Muslims here and abroad because it views American Jews as having much more power than American Muslims? Is it logical to believe that the Trump administration and the right wing of the GOP has made the political calculation that American Jews are ripe to be torn from the Democratic Party and turned against liberal political beliefs by creating fear and hatred of Islam and Muslims? Can stoking divisions between one historically oppressed group, Jews, and another even more oppressed group, Muslims, be part of a broader Trump plan of creating widespread social upheaval and religiously motivated anger that can be exploited for political gain? Consider the evidence.
Should we fear that this will all blow up in unpredictable ways and that American Liberalism and its core value of democracy will be threatened, and that bitterness will reign supreme in what was previously an optimist nation? Should we hold Trump and the GOP accountable and vote them out? Yes, we should.
66
@Mike Iker. It is a bit disingenious to argue which group of people has been "more" persecuted. Also, when you mention Israeli oppression towards Muslims, I assume you mean the ones outside of Israel. The ones who have administrative autonomy on lands Israel does not claim as territory. The ones who refuse to accept an Israeli nation and have oppressed the Israeli people for 70 years. Because the ones in Israel have equal rights guaranteed by law, and judicials court with Arab (and Christian) judges to insure equality of the laws in practice.
12
@Mike Iker. One group uses terrorism to try to get their way, the other responds to terrorism to protect its citizens. Large difference, and one is our ally, the other our opponents.
7
@Mike Iker. Very nice but really is besides the point. The issue is, who gets to define what Judaism is? That's the touchstone of the issue of this article. You can "admire" or not "admire" all you want, but you cannot declare that Israel is central to Judaism, Jewish faith or Jewish practice. Once you do, you really have crossed into anti-Semitic territory. Again, this comes before whether Israeli policies deserve to be condemned. It says that the Jewish people (a definition too complex to undertake here) have no right to self-determination. Part of the problem is that Judaism predates universal religions, like Islam and Christianity, to a time when religion was always linked to the national. So it's hard for us, enlightened Westerners to parse the complexities. Before the US, nation/states were defined by the king, not a set of guiding principles (penned by Jefferson, Madison, et. al.) Spain, France, England, Holland, the Holy Roman Empire -- all had "official state religions". Not the US of A. It was a radically different way of constructing a country. So it's intellectually difficult to appreciate the duality of faith/ethnicity/nationhood that is Judaism. A Jew can be practicing or not practicing, a Zionist or non-Zionist but outsiders don't get to decide whether Israel is central to Jewish identity and thought. When they do, that's anti-Semitic.
3
So why is it so difficult to define how antisemitism works? Judaism is a religion that SOME Jews adhere to in varying degree from almost zero, to reform to ultra-orthodox. Jews as an ethnic group (easily identified these days via DNA testing) are/were attacked whether religious or not, communists, socialists, atheists, converts to Christianity, to Islam or whatever. To Hitler it made no difference. The Nuremberg laws were mostly about 'blood' (see 'Mischling') rather than religion. Most Israeli Jews are secular and while the BDSers call Israel a European Settler Colonial Project the irony is that the majority of Israeli Jews today are from the Arab countries (or their descendants) many speak Arabic and vote mostly right-wing, i.e. for Likud. Added to that are Ethiopian Jews, Jews from India, China, Latin America and so on. So one of the fundamental ethoses of both the SJP and BDS is based on a false narrative in the first place.
24
@Blurb I don't believe DNA testing can be reliable enough to tell, and of course the official test has no DNA component.
This surge in anti-semitic claims in the international media is not coincidental.The attacks on Jeffrey Corbyn, the attacks on the ICC, the attacks on Ms Nixon, and now the attacks on US universities are all intended to discredit anyone and any organization that dares object to Israel’s illegal and immoral actives on Palestinian land.
You cannot discredit the truth.
42
@Greg Correct and one truth is that its not and never has been 'palestinian land' as there has never been any sovereign nation or people with that name that could claim any sort of ownership. Prior to the British Mandate it could be argued that the Turkish Empire held a form of sovereignty by conquest under its Muslim Caliphate of around 400+ years until they were defeated in WW1. After the Mandate (post 1948 war) Jordan annexed Judea (after which Jews are named) renamed it the 'West Bank' and Egypt occupied and ruled Gaza. Both countries then set about expelling all Jews from those regions as well as from their own countries. This was the 19 year status quo until the war of 1967 and in 1964, prior to that war the PLO was created by Yasser Arafat and others. "If there is any such thing as a Palestinian people, it is I, Yasser Arafat, who created them." - Yasser Arafat, from his authorised biography. "Never forget This One Point: There is no such thing as a Palestinian People. There is no Palestinian Entity... Palestine is an integral part of Syria." - Former Syrian Dictator Hafez Al-Assad to Yasser Arafat.
15
@Greg
Self-defense is not illegal or immoral.
4
Since Trump came into power, pro-Israel groups have persuaded him to move the capital to Jerusalem, stopped all aid to Palestinians, and sought to make them an invisible people. If one believes in karma, this is not going to end well. Starving the Palestinians and turning a blind eye to this injustice makes a mockery of our claim to be superior to the rest of the world. The media needs to step up their coverage and denunciation of Israeli excesses, otherwise history will not be kind to them.
28
@CheshireCat
Trump didn't need pro-Israel groups for that. He wanted to do it himself. He's transactional - and as soon as he saw ahtt that (in his eyes) the US gets nothing for supporting the Palestinians - so he cuts off aid, etc.
And that's not a defense of Trump - just an observation.
5
@CheshireCat Trump can't move the capital of any country, you actually mean he moved our embassy to the official capital just as with every other country.
5
No one was persuaded to ‘move to capital to Jerusalem!’
Jerusalem IS the capital of Israel.
The American Embassy was moved to Jerusalem to reflect that fact. And the world didn’t blow up. Perhaps because the capital and embassy are in West Jerusalem, not the hotly-contested East Jerusalem.
7
Let free speech reign, as Claudius Caesar coined in "I Claudius":
"Let All the Poisons That Lurk in the Mud Hatch Out".
4
A little thought experiment.......
In 1947 had a coalition of European and Arab countries, distressed by the horrors of the Holocaust supported the notion of an homeland for Jews, and had the sentiment among European Jews been the only safe place for them would be the conversion of New Jersey to an independent country that could safeguard their wellbeing and future, would we today be talking about the right of self-determination and denounce those who protested the occupation of New Jersey as anti-Semitic? How many Americans feel so strongly about Israel's "right to exist" that they would have sacrificed a piece of the United States to make it happen? We can be quite cavalier about Palestine because we have no skin in the game. Why not offer the Palestinians New Jersey or South Carolina as a homeland in retjurn for evacuating the West Bank and Gaza? Either total independence or a protectorate status......Lindsey Graham could be the first senator from the state of Palestine.
Just a question.
27
Your use of the word “occupation” says it all.
In your thought experiment NJ would need to be the ~5800 year old often invaded, often raided, often foreign ruled ancestral home of the Jewish people.
In addition NY, PA, DE would refuse to let any NJ resident move in, while these states plus New England and the rest of the Eastern seaboard declared their mission as the destruction of NJ.
Shall we continue?
In your experiment substitute Jewish for Lenape.
Now deal with the reality of what the US has done & how she has treated the original inhabitants of her land.
18
@usa999 There has never been an independent country in the history of the world called Palestine. that being said, the Palestinians already have an independent country which sits on 4/5 of what used to be called the territory of Palestine. That country today is called Jordan.
I respectfully suggest you need to study history before rendering your opinion. Your opinion is not based on reality.
I don't have enough time or space to spell out everything for you, but the fact is before World War one, much of the Middle East was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. There were no independent countries.
The Ottoman Empire Lost World War I. They were conquered. The European nations decided to carve up the area into countries such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Etc. Governments were imposed on different countries in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Why aren't you complaining about those countries?
The European nations decided to set aside a very very tiny portion of land for Jewish immigrants fleeing genocide. This lands happened to be the historic Jewish homeland. What was wrong with that?
The Arab people back then did not call themselves or consider themselves Palestinians. They were Arabs. The Arabs were given more than 80% of the Middle East. The Jews were given less than 5%.
If you want to redo borders at this point, I say give the non-muslims at least 50% of the Middle East. Jews and Christians were given far too little.
33
Mainly, for the fact that the countries you mentioned are not creating the largest internment camps in history.
I'm Jewish-American, but am conflicted on the ethnicity claim. In America we're more of a religion - outside - perhaps borderline unique ethnicity. However, those who have not gone to university in America over the past ~20 years as an undergraduate, would not understand the depth of irrational antipathy, bordering on vituperation that is directed toward Israel by other undergraduate students. In my experience, the student Palestinian groups organize ceaselessly and vocally against Israel. Many students can not discriminate between the political state of Israel and Jews or Judaism in general. And even if some do or claim to, long historical experience has taught that antipathy from a group toward even one aspect of Judaism (in this case the right to self-determination) can in short order morph into a desire for annihilation or expulsion of all adherants. This is not to excuse the state of Israel from legitimate criticism. But I agree with the article that on US college campuses, the environment is extremely hostile in part due to a distorted view of reality (most actual Israelis and Palestinians get along and co-exist day to day, with the news media only paying attention when the narrative is driven by an extremist on one side or the other. Personally, I think those who avow a boycott of Israel should live in the country for 2 years first as honorary temporary citizens. Not as activists, just as citizens. Then they can return to America and tell us how they feel.
54
Alternatively you could have people live in the West Bank or Gaza for two years and then see how THEY feel
7
@Percaeus You said, "Many students can not discriminate between the political state of Israel and Jews or Judaism in general." Seems like just as, if not more, often the issue is Zionists being unable to disintinguish criticisms of Israel with criticisms of Jews/Judaism.
1
"Many students can not discriminate between the political state of Israel and Jews or Judaism in general."
It would be interesting to know if the members of these groups, among themselves, refer their opponents as to Zionists or just Jews? In considering the Zionist vs. Jewish difference, might it also be useful to ask how that difference works in practice, especially in, but not limited to the middle east?
1
So Mr. Marcus opposes affirmative action for everyone except Jews.
How disturbing that Marcus worked for an organization named after Louis Brandeis, the great defender of free speech and free association. Brandeis would be disgusted by government hand-wringing over a ten year old student protest. Our government is populated by intellectual midgets like Marcus just trying to flex his muscles for his personal cause.
That DeVos accepts this complete 180 to her general position just proves the power of the Adelson lobby in the Trump administration. Hopefully Mueller won't stop at "Russian collusion" and continues on to Israeli collusion because that evidence is most apparent.
56
It is plainly obvious that many people who purport to care about the so called Palestinians use their concerns as a snide subterfuge to express and act on their anti-Jewish prejudices.
Years ago, when I asked a young activist who she supported in the midEast conflict, she first said she suported the Egyptians, then she said she supported the "Arabians" and she finally said that she supported the side that was against the Jews.
Also, so many of these pro Arab activists know nothing. They think that Israel was a creation of the West, but they never heard of the White Paper, a document promulgated by Britain in 1939, just as the Holocaust began, which limited Jewish immigration to the Holy land to 15,000 a year. Britain consigned so many of my family members to liquidation.
Likewise, they claim that Israel is suppressing palestinians by occupying Gaza and the West Bank, but Arab apologists never said that either Egypt or Jordan were suppressing the Palestinians when Egypt possessed Gaza and Jordan possessed the West bank.
No, they don't know too much about the finer points of history, and, for that matter, they don't know the larger themes of history either. So many colleges are composed of an uneducated rabble who have toppled the liberal dream of equality and justice and liberty and replaced it with a crude, callous and stupid politics of racial recriminations and resentments that signal an historical regression to ugly and ancient forms of social strife.
80
@David Gottfriedk
To me it's pretty simple, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is a straightforward violation of the civil rights of the Palestinians that live there. I would feel the same way if things were reversed. I know its a complicated situation but there are also basic human norms that have to be followed.
24
Israel was a country prior to British occupation? Really? Did the Ottomans know that?
12
@OAO what about the other side?
Perhaps it can be argued that Israel over does its national security concerns to a level that can be considered oppressive. But does the terrorism of Israel by Hamas and other armed terrorist groups in the Palistinian territories violate the basic rights of Israelis? Does the indiscriminate targeting of Israeli women and children with rockets, the use of human shields by Hamas, and the destruction of thousands of acres of Israeli land warrant the Palis to follow basic human norms as well?
1
“Denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination [...] claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” is referred in this article as a "hotly contested definition" of anti-Semitism. This is making it sound like the Trump administration is foisting an overly-broad definition of anti-Semitism that does not have widespread acceptance, when in fact it's part of the IHRA's definition that's been adopted by the European Parliament and has, at long last, been accepted even by the UK Labour party in an overwhelming vote last week.
33
@Jonathan
Only 8 countries in the world have adopted the IHRA definition, so it does not exactly have widespread acceptance. The EU called upon its member states to adopt it, so it was discussed in the Dutch parliament and rejected. (“Vague, confusing, unnecessary, as a solid anti-Semitism monitoring system is already in place.”) Many more European parliaments must have discussed it seeing that they were called upon to do so by the EU, but it seems to have been almost universally rejected as only the UK, Scotland, Germany, Rumania, Lithuania, Macedonia and Bulgaria adopted it. Outside of Europe only Israel adopted it. Not even the US.
By the way 'self determination' sounds OK, but the problem is that it required ethnic cleansing. That is a problem and a stain on Israel's creation that will not go away. It needs to be dealt with honestly.
15
@Elisabeth No. It did not require ethnic cleansing. There are more than 1.8 million Arab-Israelis today that descended from those Palestinians that chose to stay in Israel and not heed the advice of Arab leaders to leave. The Palestinian people were given a land in the Levant equal to their ownership of land in UN Resolution 181. But Palestinian leaders have always refused to lived next to Jews. Despite the fact the Palis have never had statehood there or majority land ownership or populated the majority of the Levant.
2
@Elisabeth
Self-determination did not require ethnic cleansing.
No one would have been killed, displaced or lost any land if Palestinians had not tried to exterminate the Jews.
The day after the UN Partition Resolution in November 1947, racist, xenophobic Palestinians started a genocidal war to exterminate the Jews. Haj Amin el-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem – “I declare a holy war, my Muslim brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!”
The war started with Palestinians attacking a Jewish bus driving on the Coastal Plain near Kfar Sirkin killing five and wounding others. Half an hour later they ambushed a second bus from Hadera, killing two more. Arab snipers attacked Jewish buses in Jerusalem and Haifa.
Wars create refugees!
In 1929, Palestinians ethnically cleansed Hebron & Gaza of their Jews.
In 1948, Arabs ethnically cleansed the West Bank & East Jerusalem of their Jews. ZERO Jews were left in Gaza, the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Israel could have ethnically cleansed all the Arabs from Israel, but Israel didn’t. There are now 1.6 million Arabs living in Israel.
2
I will continue to support BDS and I am not anti-semitic.
I will continue to condemn Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and blockade of Gaza ....and I am not anti-semitic.
I will continue to condemn Isreal’s violations of international law and its human rights abuse .... and I am not anti-semitic.
I will resist all attempts to silence me.
48
How one sided of you.
Why do you not condemn those who shoot missiles against Jewish kindergarten schools?
Why don’t you condemn that all money sent to Gaza has been wasted in missiles and bombs rather than computers and books?
Why don’t you condemn that in the Hamas Constitution is an article demanding the destruction of Israel?
Finally, why don’t you admit that the so called Palestinian cause has taken much more energy than it deserves, given that there are many more other people deserving of the world attention in Africa, Asia, and more.
Seventy years have passed and they are still ‘refugees’? Give me a break!
My family fled from Istria to the US some 60 years ago, but I am no longer a refugee.
37
@Rosa Maria
2000 years have passed and Jews still have the right to 'return' to Israel. And you think 70 years is long?
@Greg
You are free to criticize Israeli policy. But the BDS movement isn't about the occupation, it is about eliminating Israel.
The BDS can deny that all it wants, but just go to any of their rallies and it is easy to discern that that is what they are actually advocating.
15
The issue of Israeli versus Palestinian interests is complicated, but to me this case is part of a pattern of hostility to free speech growing in the government and certain US populations. It is concerning not that there is passionate disagreement but that the government is essentially trying to punish dissension from the general pro-Israel position they have taken.
Somewhat tangentially, I have never understood why people want to stop the expression of bad ideas at universities. These ideas do not improve upon public airing; I think it’s good for people to get an opportunity to hear exactly how bad they are.
17
Knee-jerk reactions typically come from one of two places: Those befallen with aggrieved status and those soon to be befallen with aggrieved status. Of all the Jews I’ve worked with and talked to in my life they never say, I’m the ethnic group within the ethnic group, i.e. they never say I’m from Israel within Poland. They just say I’m Polish, American or German. Of course, the religion always kept alive "Next year in Israel" and there is large truth in that "back to the roots" statement. There no problem with any Jew saying they are part of an ethnic group. Welcome to the club; it's not always fun. I'm a US citizen with Norwegian, Swedish, French, Corsican...background living in Germany. This concept of ethnicity is on the one side something we are all trying to shake off a bit and on the other side keep until the end of time. Why? If you don't know where you came from, maybe you won't know where to go, is the possible answer. In that light, historically speaking, what is a Semite? A Jew only? Not so. We know this and yet we ALL continue to only allow Jews to call themselves Semites by definition. Is that fair? No--it--is--not! Among the Abrahamic Religions, the Jewish portion is the oldest, so no need to use the term Semite to denote an ancient claim, because it's already there by definition. Indeed, if one uses the term Anti-Semite to only refer to Jews as Semites one is guilty of being an Anti-Semite oneself. That, world-dwellers, is the cold, hard, truth!
14
Well, I follow no religion but I sure as heck am Jewish. And I heartily object to being categorized as merely another one of them "white people." I come from a distinctive ethnic group which is indelibly part of my DNA, regardless of what rituals I might or might not adhere to.
But we're gonna need some more definitions here, since Jews and Palestinians are, like, cousins with little or no removal. So "anti-Semitic" ain't gonna fly too far.
38
So if Judaism is an ethnicity, what about converted Jews? Are they not considered Jews?
14
@Dkhatt Good question. I've also wondered about that myself. I've often noticed in Jewish communities that converts from Judiasm are considered apostates, genetic family ties notwithstanding. While on the other hand Converts to Judiasm are often not considered the real thing - an ethnic bias. In the case of Jared Kushner - an Orthodox Jew - he wouldn't marry Ivanka Trump unless she converted to Judiasm. She converted and they raise their kids Jewish. So i suppose his family - all Orthodox and friends of Netanyahu - accept her as the real thing. This is merely an observation on the question raised by the commenter. I really cannot stand either of them, let alone Donald Trump.
@Dkhatt
Converting to Judaism is not a casual affair and requires a lot of effort and study. Once converted, to Judaism the person is a Jew as if he/she always was a Jew and has inherited the rich ethnic background of Judaism. But don't worry about too many Jews - they do not proselytize and most gentiles do not want to join a maligned and stigmatized religion/tribe/ethnic group, or whatever you wish to call Judaism.
If you are actually curious (versus being snarky) see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_to_Judaism
7
@Dkhatt I think conversion is a unique American process mostly alliwed in conservative or reform branches. But Orthodox or "ultra" Orthodox traditions don't allow or recognize conversions. Of the monotheistic religions, we're the onky one historically that doesn't try to convert more followers. And lo and behold we're a minority. :/
3
This is how it all started:
"That month, the school hosted Omar Barghouti, a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and after his speech, in which he called for the university (= Rutgers) to distance itself from Israel...."
Mr. Barghouti is a hypocrite. He himself is and was more than willing to avail himself of the Israeli higher education system he would tell others to boycott. When asked he said the Palestinians should be held to other rules (as usual). Well, Mr. Barghouti, if you weaken the Israeli higher education system, won't that effect Palestinians trying to benefit from the system?
From Wikipedia: "Barghouti himself was studying at Tel Aviv University (TAU) as of 2009. He holds a master's degree in philosophy (ethics) from the university, and is pursuing a PhD. When interviewed regarding his degree from TAU, Barghouti commented: "my studies at Tel Aviv University are a personal matter and I have no interest in commenting." A petition was created that drew over 184,000 signatories asking for the university to expel him, but he was not expelled. When asked about his attendance at an Israeli university in a 2015 interview with the Associated Press, Barghouti said Palestinians "cannot possibly observe the same boycott guidelines as asked of internationals" and that "indigenous population" is entitled to all services they can get from the system."
A hypocrite by any other name..is still a hypocrite.
72
@Joshua Schwartz The guy uses the system for his own well-being, and then fails to claim more than $700,000 in income for tax purposes. He refuses to pay for that system, promotes all others to boycott the system, but has made a very propserous life because of that system. Barghouti has enriched himself quite a bit with his BDS movement. It is a very profitable endeavor for him. But he does need to learn that if he wants to be an Israeli resident, he needs to adhere to their laws.
7
@Joshua Schwartz A lot of African Americans benefited from educational systems in the US,even if many of them had to get their education in segregated institutions. They later went on (and continue to go on) to argue and agitate for better treatment of African Americans and other people. So, what is your point?
2
@Shaun Narine
Not apples to apples. Barghouti chose to live in Israel. He wasn't forced to come to the land and live there.
Also, African Americans who used the system supported civil rights through peaceful protest. They did not support the economic harm to those institutions promoting educational and economic opportunities for African Americans. Unlike Barghouti.
1
Vehement resistance this time around, from those supporting BDS and by extension, I suppose, Hamas Islamist liberation groups.
But here I notice they make the claim that Jews are a religious group and can't possible be a race. So they are not 'racist' when they attack Jews.
Yet when a Westerner criticizes Hamas doctrine, as they quote from religious texts, these same people are called 'racists'? That's interesting.
Why is religion for one and resistance to that religion make one a
10
As my previous comment probably made clear I find this renewed investigation outrageous. However the way to argue against it is surely not to get hung up in the definition of "ethnicity" vs "religion" - what after all is "ethnicity" but a social construct created by systemic discrimination among groups. It's the anti-semite that makes "Jewish" a racial category - denying this by engaging in semantics about who is a "semite" or whether Judaism isn't more properly classified a religion comes itself very close to anti-semitism, similar to how claiming you're "colour blind" skirts dangerously close to (anti-black) racism. In light of this it seems obvious to me that an office of civil rights would be the correct institution to investigate cases of alleged anti-semitism. And so it did - it investigated thoroughly and decided correctly that there was nothing to the allegations.
4
I support Israel as an important U.S. ally, and I think that Israel is treated unfairly in many ways. However, I don't think the answer lies in govt intervention of the sort described. The universities and the govt should back away from these types of issues. Let people speak freely.
4
@Chris-zzzHow on earth is Israel being treated unfairly. They are occupying land that does not belong to them. They have created an apartheid state in Palestine. They have universal health insurance thanks to American money when the Republican Party thinks it is Socialism for Americans. They have been given billions in American military aid, part of which is used to suppress Palestinians. Please explain how Israel is being treated unfairly.
28
After 60 years, Israel is a fact...a developed, productive and open democratic state with individual civil liberties, freedom of religion, equality between the sexes, protection for lgbt citizens. Israel extends full rights to its A orab citizens, which comprise 21 percent of Israel. Arabs vote. Arabs are reps in the Knesset. Arabs are doctors, officials...an Arab judge passed sentence on a prominent Israeli government minister.
Why is there no mention from the 'right of return' folks about what happened to the Jews in the 1950's? At least a million Jews were run out of their homes and settlements across Arabia and North Africa. Only a few thousand here and there remain. Who is it that practices apartheid? Arabs are 21 percent of Israel's population, full citizens. Jews are...there are no Jews in Arabia. Who practices apartheid?
Israel has no peace partner in the ME, which should be obvious by now. They give back Gaza, they get Hamas...which doesn't recognize Israel and swears to wipe Jews from the map.
Arabs had a chance in 48 for two states, but the hope of wiping out the Jews and confiscating their homes was pitched to the Arabs. Perhaps they remembered the massacre of Jews in Hebron, in 1921. They anticipated wrongly.
Again and again, the Jews offered peace -- but no. Arafat was too frightened to sign and said so.
And BDS parades, chanting "Khayber Khayber, ya-yehudi... jaish Muhammad sayud." It's a threat of extermination. That's what the West does not get.
114
When they gave Gaza back, they bulldozed perfectly fine houses, out of spite. Not really a friendly neighbor policy
11
@Scotty,
70 years. Otherwise, a flawless presentation of objective, verifiable facts. Thanks k you.
15
@TaximanIsrael blockades the Gaza coast. They overfly Gaza with their military jets. I believe it is time for Canada and Mexico to blockade American coasts and overfly the United States.
So many are questioning the concept of Jews being defined by ethnicity.
I am a non-practicing Jew. I have no problem with dinner being a bacon and cheese sandwich -- which, it happens, was the case this evening.
What makes me a Jew, then? My heritage.
If you have ancestors that had numbers tattooed on their arms, only then do you have the right to question that.
55
For what it's worth, I did the AncestryDNA thing. Their "Ethnicity Estimate" identifies me as 99% European Jewish, from Central and Eastern Europe. As a non-religious American, I can now call myself a secular Jew who remains a Jew whether or not I practice Judaism.
12
It’s about time. In the ‘60’s I was told a new federal policy made me identify my ethnicity. The choices were Caucasian, Hispanic, Black, Native American, and Other. I chose Other because my ethnicity, Ashkenazic Jew, or even Jew, was not on the last. I was told I was not an Other because this referred to Micronesians and some other obscure groups and unless I checked Caucasian I couldn’t get paid. I said that only 20 years after the Holocaust and Jews were no longer a recognized ethnicity. Hitler didn’t kill Jews because of their religious beliefs. And, my DNA is identified as “Ashkenazic Jew.” Finally, the federal government recognizes Jews as an ethnicity.
59
@Ronald Giteck "Some other obscure group" indeed. The Pacific islands are spread over 15% of the world's surface. They number in the millions. So easy to denigrate groups not like yourself, isn't it?
10
@Ronald Giteck
The federal policy is a racial screen in thin disguise.
Caucasian is certainly not an ethnicity.
Ask those from mediteranean countries if they are considered the same ethnicity as nordic europeans.
4
@Tom
Reads the comment again
The comment did not denigrate any groups.
The commentator stated Micronesian and some other group not a Pacific Ocean group which includes Micronesian and some other obscure group.
Since the Pacific was not mentioned you do not know what this other group was.
There is no reason to assume this other group is the one you thought it is.
1
Judaism is more than a religion!!!!!
Really professor what is it that makes you feel that one religious culture is more or in your case better than others.
Real simple, this is what normal people call racism, not any different than what most evangelicals believe they are the one and only, Catholics who are convinced they are above all others or Muslims they are the truest of all religions.
You and them are all wrong, how dare you to suggest one is better than all.
What is wrong with all religions is that none of them is willing to accept all people the way they are or want to be.
Religion is all about power and control and money.
Read about history and all the wars and destruction they have caused throughout. And all of them started with one man!
No wonder that all religions have supported dictators throughout history and still do. In religion it is still a mans world.
7
@Johan Debont
"Religion is all about power and control and money."
You left out an adverb, proselytizing. Christianity and Islam are proselytizing religions. Judaism is not.
There is a difference.
6
@HapinOregon
Judaism was an actively was proselytizing religion in the Roman empire. There were for instance special seats at the stadion in Delphi for Greeks who had converted to Judaism that can still be seen. Jews stopped converting in the Middle Ages under Christian pressure, although even then it was still reported.
@Johan Debont Judaism is a civilization with its own history, languages, religious and non-religious traditions. The religion vs. ethnicity duality is false from the get-go. Who is an American, the Texas cowboy or the Manhattan Uber driver. Both!
3
How dare the US government take Zionists of America's position as representative of that of American Jewery? It's CEO is a regular commentator on... Breitbart! What's next - appointing a Hasidic Rabbi to decide Jewish matters?
Judaism is a religion. Period. Being opposed to Israel's Palestinian policies and actions does not make one anti-Semitic. Being anti-Semitic makes one anti-Semitic. And yes, there is plenty of anti-Semitism around, here and in many parts of the world.
This Administration's actions will only worsen anti-Semitism, in the same way it will make terrorist attacks against America and Americans more likely. And let's be clear - the embassy was moved to Jerusalem to please his evangelical base, who can't wait for the Rapture, when all non-Christians die. The ultimate ethnostate.
I am enraged.
124
@A DNA evidence is pretty persuasive to the contrary.
22
@Andy There is Ashkenazi DNA that many (about 30%) of Ashkenazim share. But there is no DNA that all Jews, also non Ashkenazim share. Judaism really is a religion made up of several ethnicities. (The famous 'Cohen gene' for instance, is also present in 60% of Kurdish males.)
@A Yes, but as you must be aware, on every holy day and on the Sabbath, Israel, Jerusalem, return to the homeland is central to that religion. Whether your "practicing" or not, whether you believe in god (or God) or not, the evidence based fact is, Israel is central to Jewish history. The issue is NOT criticism or condemnation of Israeli policies. What is been happening is using criticism of those policies to negate the right of Israel to exist, to cast Israel as a recent creation of post-WW-2 guilt, and to deny the centrality of Israel to Jewish history for more than two millennia. Denying this centrality, denying that Jews have been yearning to return to their ancient homeland -- in prayer, song, poetry and action -- IS anti-Semitic. The pro-BDS folk do not get to decide that Judaism, the religion, is separate this movement. Consider this: 4,000-5,000 years ago, all religions were national religions. Universalist religions like Christianity and then Islam are relative newcomers. Similarly, the idea of a country based on ideas instead of the King (or religion) or geographic boundaries or common language was very novel prior to 1776. The US Constitution defines a nation very differently, based on ideas. The point to remember is this: The opponents of Israel do not get to decide what is central to Judaism, whether it is purely a religion, an ethnicity, a nation, or whatever. Nor can they declare that you can deny Israel's right to exist without being ipso facto anti-Semitic.
6
So the DeVos minions are creating new rules and categories for groups to justify their personal beliefs. The culture of religious fundamentalism is being used to discriminate against not only against Palestinians but other non-christian peoples. Why do public employees think they only work for their religious beliefs: they work for and are paid by the American taxpayer.
49
@Cecily Ryan. I despise everything Trumpism has done to our country. But even a broken clock is right twice a day. The issue is attempts by opponents of Israel's existence as a state to claim that Israel is separate from Judaism. The argument goes that Israel is a creation of Western imperialism foisted on "native" population. This is too complex, too absurd to go into details here, but it also denies the connection for 4,000 years between Judaism and Israel. That's what this ruling seeks to redress. Opponents of Israel do not get to define what Judaism is. That's anti-Semitic.
3
Palestinians have no 'rights' until they sign a peace accord with Israel.
Why have they not?
It was said ones that " Israel won the 1967 war, immediately suing for peace. The Arab sued for unconditional surrender".
14
In 1962, the Supreme Court of the State of Israël stated that the Law of Return does not apply to a person born a Jew and converted to Christianity. Samuel Rufeisen was a Polish-born Jew. He survived the Holocaust in White Russia, converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite monk. He asked to be recognized as a citizen of Israël on his arrival in the country as the Law of Return allow it. He was allow to live in Haifa but was denied citizenship which decision was upheld by the court. (See Martin Gilbert, Israel, A History, p. 270-271) So it is very clear that the definition of who is a Jew or not by the State of Israël, is based on religion not ethnicity.
72
@Wilbray Thiffault The right of return is not solely based on religion. If it was then it would go by who is Jew under Halakha. And according to Halaka Samuel Rufeisen is Jewish.
7
@Wilbray Thiffault
Wrong. The state of Israel doesn't use the orthodox religious definition of "Jewish" to determine who is eligble under the Law of Return. And not just in this one case.
You don't understand the decision. It actually went against the religious Jewish definition of Judaism.
The court ruled that as a convert to Christianity by choice, Mr. Rufeisen had, by that act, consciously given up his Jewish identity.
Partly based on the historical antagonism of Christianity to Judaism and Jews, the court ruled that one could not willingly accept Christianity and still call oneself Jewish.
4
@Andy Absolutely not. If he converted, according to Jewish law he is no longer a Jew.
1
The Trump Administration's hypocrisy in fabricating a new definition that conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism is stunning. Less than a year ago Attorney General Sessions insisted that government agencies "must abide by Constitutional principles ... [which] include the fundamental requirement that agencies regulate only within the authority delegated to them by Congress. They also include the Administrative Procedure Act's requirement to use, in most cases, notice-and-comment rulemaking when purporting to create rights or obligations binding on members of the public or the agency. Not only is notice-and-comment rulemaking generally required by law. but it has the benefit of availing agencies of more complete information about a proposed rule’s effects than the agency could asce rtain on its own. and therefore results in better decision making by regulators.”
So here is Trump and DeVoss' handmaiden Kenneth Marcus creating a new rule without any notice and without an opportunity to comment. Marcus rushed this rule the same way Senate Republicans are rushing the Kavanaugh coronation. And for the same reasons: Neither would stand up to to careful and fair-minded consideration.
What a shame.
54
Iran is the homeland of the Persian ethnic group. So wouldn't criticism or boycotts of Iran for the way it treats its people and regional neighbors also be a violation of these rules?
25
@NB Iran is also the home of the Kurds.
6
@NB But no one, at least no one that I know of, is calling for the destruction of the Iranian state. It certainly is not a mainstream movement. Criticism of the way Iran specifically treats many of its people is fair game and valid, calling for a destruction of Iran is not, yet many of the BDS leaders have called for the destruction of Israel. See the difference?
9
On one hand, it's interesting that an administration that denies racism is a prevalent issue that requires government redress - and whose leader is a racist - suddenly is concerned about a civil rights issue that the Obama administration closed.
I suppose if Obama had ever stated that the earth is round, this administration would all declare the earth is flat?
OTOH, let's be real - anti-Zionism IS antisemitism. Most of the groups opposed to Israel are not simply opposed to Israeli government policies or its leaders - they're opposed to the very existence of Israel and seek its destruction. They also tend to express hatred of and violence against the Jewish people. This is not a political disagreement - it's ethnic hatred.
Is there any other nation on this earth that is targeted the way Israel is? Any other nation that groups on campus can call to be destroyed and express hatred for members of that ethnic group without being condemned by the university's administration, faculty, and fellow students?
Whether this ethnic hatred can be shown to have resulted in discrimination and a hostile environment toward Jews at Rutgers is another story.
47
The mainstream view of pro-Palestinian student organizations is not to destroy Israel but to gain some rights, including property rights, in disputed areas. And please don’t bring up the quote by the ex ayatollah, he was mis-translated
16
@Taximan, I did not quote an ayatollah.
I do hear and read statements by so-called pro-Palestinian organizations that are clearly anti-Zionist - that is, they're opposed to the very existence of Israel and seek to de-legitimize and destroy it.
2
This post and the Marcus' new rule, which is so blatantly biased to the Palestinian cause, are enough to make people anti-semitic who wouldn't be otherwise.
7
Another example of how the Trump administration is attempting to undo everything Obama did no matter what problems are re-opened or unnecessarily aggravated.
When can we have a recount on the presidential election of 2000? When will we have real reckoning about the effects of slavery on this country? What about the continuing intolerance towards Muslims most of whom are not terrorists but are fleeing terrorism, war and other serious problems?
30
Being Jewish myself I really wish this president would stop pretending to be on the Jewish side. This anti palestinian moves do not contribute to the conflict but increase the world’s antisemitism including sentiments in Europe. Besides, anything associated with Trumps name gives us Jews his bad stamp.
I love Israel, after visiting Auschwitz I wished it had existed then. But I do not agree with Israel’s current government.
Trump only does what he does for his own selfish reasons. Many Jews are big donors.
Yes, I think Jerusalem is the capital but moving the embassy is not worth the 50 Palestinian lives lost that day.
Even if there were provocations on both sides, I still choose saving lives on both sides.
75
@Lili B or...and this might come as a shocker, maybe I really is on the side of us Jews.
3
@Lili B For the most part I agree with you, but I would not conflate the lives lost in the "March of Return" on the day the embassy was open as a consequence of the embassy being opened. The "March of Return" had been on-going prior to that day and continues sporadically to this day along with the terrorist fire kites coming out of Gaza. BTW, of the palestinians killed that day, Hamas claimed 50 of them as their own and Islamic Jihad claimed another three out of the 60 or 62 total. And yes, Hamas and Islamic Jihad produced pictures of those militia members killed that day in their uniforms holding weapons.
5
Trump is only committed to his own self-interest. Anyone who thinks otherwise is dreaming.
2
Quashing free speech and defining Jews as an ethnic minority. This has always gone well in the past.
96
" it explicitly defines Judaism as not only a religion but also an ethnic origin."
Marcus is right here. Judaism is more than a religion - and in my personal experience as a university professor, I have become well aware of the hostility toward practicing Jews on college campuses.
70
@James Stewart
That hostility existed when I was a student in the 80s. BDS isn't what's behind it.
17
Not that I can recall. Penn ‘92
3
@Rima Regas There has always been antisemitism on campuses. The BDS movement has just organized and fermented antisemtiic behavior....all the while making sure the Palestinians stay oppressed, Israeli-Palestinian cooperation ceases, and fuel is added to the fire of Palestinian hostility.
2
Having people from two sides of an ongoing intractable conflict is foolish. Allowing Palestinian immigration to the US where there are so many Jews was a mistake. Trump’s policy is clearly to write off Palestinians and their claims. This is another angle of that policy.
4
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
37
Literally this would be like defining the divestment from apartheid south Africa as "anti-white racism". Part of efforts by the right to redefine the meaning of racism to suit oppressors.
I also disagree that Israel is a truly democratic country. Israel must respect Palestines right to exist if it wants that distinction.
153
@Anthony
Palestinians have no 'rights' until they sign a peace accord with Israel.
Why have they not?
It was said ones that " Israel won the 1967 war, immediately suing for peace. The Arab sued for unconditional surrender".
9
my good man, Israel does respect the right of Palestinians to exist, in whatever form and under whatever banner they choose to do it. it does not respect the right of Palestinians to launch rockets on Israeli civilian territory.
32
@Anthony
Arab citizens of Israel, which comprise twenty-one percent of the country, are afforded full civil rights and individual freedom. They have voting rights in the Knesset. A Muslim judge passed sentence on a former high government minister charged with a crime.
Can you imagine a Jew passing sentence on a muslim in a Palestenian court?
Jews certainly have no civil rights in Arab countries, if you can even find any Jews, since it seems that one side of the conflict does indeed practice apartheid. Guess which one that is.
16
I write as a severe critic of Israel's present government, which is well on its way to an Apartheid regime. But legal and ethical distinctions are being lost in this discussion. The wording on anti-Semitism, which is recognized across Europe, by governments, police agencies and city councils, is not against criticism of Israel. It is absolutely false that it limits support for Palestinian rights groups--which I support, or even targeted boycotts (boycotts against a "people", including the Israeli people is in any event a violation of international human rights law. But a boycott against settlements is allowed and in my mind would be welcome). The wording regarding Israel is, rather, a recognition that anti-Zionism can be a means of weaponizing anti-Semitism. Anyone who cannot see this is deluded. The wording regards discriminatory attacks against Jews--ie, Jews specifically targeted on their right to national self-determination. Its fine to say no people should have self-determination, but it is illegal (and wrong) to target Jews disproportionately for that claim. That is, indeed, anti-Semitism.
49
@David
You are incredibly naive. If you include criticism of Zionism or Israel as possible examples of antisemitism, you are inevitably going to have the result we see now. Maybe someone thinks the Israelis had no right to expel the Palestinians. Thanks to the IHRA examples, that person is now automatically going to be seen as a possible antisemite.
It is inherently a definition which downgrades the right of Palestinians to object to an ideology which justified their own expulsion.
Perhaps we should define support for the IHRA examples involving Israel as examples of possible anti Palestinian racism.
8
@Donald Most Palestinians left on their own accord when the Arab countries decided to annihilate the internationally recognized state of Israel. The Palestinians who stayed now number over 1.8 million and have more rights in Israel than in any other Muslim country. The Arabs leaders readily admit that they convinced the ones who left to leave.
The Palestinians owned & populated less than half the land in Mandatory Palestine in 1947. They were offered half the land by the UN in 1947 but refused. They were convinced they could annihilate the Jews and get all of Israel. They were wrong.
3
@Donald The examples you give are not anti-semitism under the IHRA. You can criticize Israel as well as Zionism. But you can't deny Jews per se the right to national self-determination. And yes to single out the Palestinians qua Palestinians as undeserving of national self-determination would be equally problematic. You welcome to say under the IHRA the present Israeli government is racist--that is different from saying the Jewish movement of self-determination is ipso facto racist. The principle is proportionality, and a recognition that portion of the attacks on Israel are driven by anti-semitism. Let's step back from the polemics and ask ourselves how can we fight anti-Semitism as much as we fight any racism.
1
If I understand the send of the evolution of the gorverment position, telling that using a by book as cadastral Map is not the best idea is anti-Semitic ? Seriously, the obession of the Trump administration for the religions is a no sense when we see the behavior of some members of the Trump administration.
3
So, if Judaism is an ethnicity, then a Roman Catholic could be Jewish? And a Roman Catholic who converted to Judaism would be assuming a new ethnicity? Pardon my ignorance, please, but I'm having trouble with the concept--especially the part about Palestinians being anti-Semitic because they--like dispersed Jews--simply want a safe place to live and work.
23
@Janet B NoWI
They have been offered statehood numerous times and have always refused. They don't just want a safe place to live and work. They want Israel gone completely. Then they can set up a country in all of Israel based on Sharia Law and discriminate against religious minorities. Much like they have already set up in the West Bank and Gaza.
2
I take umbrage with identifying Judaism as an “ ethnic group”. That’s ridiculous . It is a religion . Jesus Christ was Jewish so all Christians are descendants from Jews. Christians are just Jews that took a different path.
Although my religion is Judaism I identify more closely ethnically to my Middle Eastern roots as I am a Sephardic Jew. My ancestors were from Syria and before that Spain and Italy .
Sephardic Jews’ traditions differ from the Ashkenazi Jews in the way of holiday food and some holiday customs.
I consider myself Jewish as my religion and Syrian for my ethnicity . Calling Judaism an ethnic group is insulting to me as a Jew. It’s my religion, and I am AMERICAN with Middle Eastern heritage , period.
202
And by the same token, my Ashkenazi heritage comes from my family’s Eastern European heritage. So—we are both Jews and related by our shared religion; but we are ethnically unrelated.
11
You can feel any way you want but science disagrees with you. Almost every Jewish person who takes a garden variety genetic marker test comes up as being an ethnic Jew, by blood descent, in whole or in large part. Atheistic Jews are identifiable as Jews by objective criteria, as are Japanese, Irish and German individuals. Like it or not we are an ethnicity. Not superior or inferior, not "chosen", but nevertheless distinct and identifiable. It is a cultural and historic background I embrace as does a proud Pole, African American, Swede etc. does.
35
@Isadore Huss all this emphasis on DNA going back generations is quite over rated. It just doesn't hold up to serious scrutiny.
I am a strong supporter of Israel for several reasons: its commitment to democracy and an open secular society, its status as a buffer state in a volatile generally badly governed part of the world and its status as the Jewish homeland. The last in my opinion is simply a fact on the ground. I will not claim a knowledge or understanding of the legality or morality of the creation of Israel, but today it’s a moot point. The nation of Israel exists and is sufficiently aged as to make theoretical discussions of whether the “original”residents of the land (almost all of whom are dead) have a claim to it spectacularly pointless. But I disagree with Mr. Marcus’ approach. I would have applauded him if he had sharply reprimanded and overturned the overt political favoritism of chosen groups of the Obama administration. But he’s instead chosen to retort with an equally biased response. Why not just be neutral and let people decide for themselves which side they’re on?
11
Jews remain a minority in this country and the world. There is no Arab country where they have remained free and their goods not confiscated. There is no state in America where they comprise a majority. The fact that some feel being disadvantaged is the only criterion entitling one to minority status unfairly penalizes minorities who have done well. Kudos to this Administration for recognizing this simple fact.
59
Why do people who consider themselves progressive maintain that hatred of Jews is acceptable when other forms of hatred are not? I am no fan of the Trump administration, and I doubt Marcus's approach will yield good results. A story such as this one provides high-minded anti-Semites with a poor grasp of history the opportunity to insist, just like the high-minded anti-Semites of a century or more ago, that somehow Jews are less fit than those of Christian descent. Happy Rosh Hashanah to all.
85
Why do people who consider themselves progressive maintain that hatred of Palestinians is acceptable? Why is any criticism of Israel immediately labeled as anti-Semitic? "Why is everyone so critical of Israel and so accepting of the rest of the wrongs being promulgated in the Middle East?" (Well, for one reason, we're paying for them with our tax dollars.) Such a Cockamamie solution we got in the forties. Colonialism at its worst, as the western powers who won the war basically said, "It's just horrible what happened to Jews in Europe." (And indeed it was.) "So to begin to make up for it, we're going to give you someone else's land - someone who had nothing to do with this whole mess." Why did no one consider giving Berlin or Bavaria as the new Jewish homeland? So what are we to do? For starters, maintain dialogue. (Thanks for closing the Palestinian mission to the US, Mr. Pres.) I am agog that so many seem to find it impossible to understand that Paelstinians feel deeply wronged.
35
@A: There is a big difference between opposition to the policies and actions of the State of Israel which has stolen Palestinian lands, prevented the State of Palestine to flourish and has murdered thousands of Palestinians and being anti-semitic. The State of Israel brands anyone who opposed the ruthless actions by the State of Israel against the Palestinians as anti-semitic in order to justify their own terrorism. Now the Republicans want to do the same.
42
@Tom
You’re absolutely right that people should recognize how much the Palestinians have been harmed, and that any solution will require radical dialogue, but I don’t think it’s correct to talk about “colonialism at its worst.” European colonialism was rooted in avarice - exploitation and seizure for profit. The European Jews who migrated to Palestine (which began decades before WWII) were fleeing violent anti-Semitism. Their belief that Europe was not safe for them proved true. This was about safety and dignity, not profit. Also, the western powers’ plan in 1948 was to give majority Jewish towns to Israel, and majority Arab towns to Palestine - this obviously is not what happened, but it was the plan. None of that fits neatly into the box of typical European “colonialism.” Consistent with that, the majority of Jews in Israel now are not even from Europe, but from Arab countries - from which many were driven – which looks even less like “colonialism.” As for Bavaria, given the three previous wars involving Germany, I don’t think that would have struck anyone as a plausible long-term solution. Of course, the Palestinians also deserve dignity, autonomy, and a fair share of the land
4
The claim that supporting Palestinian human rights is anti-Semitic is complete nonsense, propaganda and Marcus knows it. Violating international human rights laws, violating the Geneva convention and stealing land have nothing to do with being Jewish.
260
The Palestinian Cause, as stated by the charters of Hamas and Fatah is inherently anti-Jewish and therefore anti semitic.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Marcus are also dangerous anti-semites and the decision to re-open the Rutgers case should give Jewish Americans cause for concern, not cause for celebration. Although BDS is an anti-semitic group masquerading as a civil rights organization, the United States Constitution gives them and their allies the absolute right to speak.
There has never been a country or society that quashed free speech that was a safe place for Jews. As a people, we owe it to ourselves, our ancestors and our children, to make sure that America remains free. It is only in a truly free and just society that Jews can be safe and prosperous.
98
@Neil What you write about Fatah is nonsense and even Hamas has changed its charter about 2 years ago. Read the Likud charter: It is inherently anti-Palestinian AND it is being put into practice right here an now.
5
@Elisabeth Likud is "inherently anti-Palestinian" I agree Elizabeth and do not support the Likud party either.
I am well versed int the charter of the organizations mentioned.
To say that the Jewish people should be deprived of their homeland is anti-Semitic the same way that saying Africa should be ruled by White people is racist.
1
Supporting the rights of Palestinians does not make one "anti-semitic" any more than supporting the rights of Native Americans makes one "anti-American." Opposing the actions of Netanyhu's government does not make one "anti-semitic" any more than opposing the actions of Donald Trump makes one "anti-American." Not all Jews support the actions of Netanyahu's government; in fact, including the Diaspora, quite a few do not. Does that make them "anti-semitic"?
360
@Maureen Hawkins
Agree.
I am one of those Jews who love Israel but disagree with its government.
Anything associated with Trump’s name gives us, Jews, a bad name and creates more antisemitisn without any contribution to solving the conflict And bringing peace.
16
@Maureen Hawkins . . . has highlighted a more likely objective of the scheme: to provide for governmental review by "civil rights" authorities the activities of disfavored political actors previously considered constitutionally protected.
@Maureen Hawkins
Supporting the rights of Palestinians does not make one "anti-semitic" any more than supporting the rights of Native Americans makes one "anti-American."
[ Perfectly stated. ]
3
"Mr. Marcus conceded that his department did not have the authority to weigh in on religious or political disputes." .... and yet he continues.
83
Another example of picking and choosing civil rights enforcement based on perceived political gain and/or the personal prejudices of Trump and his appointees.
If any Jewish person thinks that the divisive and hateful Donald Trump and his merry band will somehow be "good for the Jews" they must be suffering from Trumpheimer's disease where you forget that this President thought there were" good people on both sides" when one of those sides were Neo-Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us”.
Hate is hate. And when a government openly expresses the kind of disdain for certain ethnic/religious/racial groups as Trump does on a regular basis, it is not just wrong, it's usually just a matter of time before that hate is turned on the Jewish people. You can look it up.
210
Can anyone imagine charging someone with discrimination against Irish-Americans if they oppose (or support) unification of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland? How about if they say bad (or good) things about British officials in Northern Ireland, or even about the United Kingdom more generally?
121
@Mike McGuire. That is a great example, and certainly there has been much blood shed in Norther Ireland, same people w/ different religious choices. It worries me that the Evangelicals wish to hurry up their dangerous belief in the "end times".....strange that so many of them believe they will be among the chosen in the Rapture (not something Jesus spoke of, a totally invented event) and it's pure ego to think they can speed that up...let Israel take care of Israel ad let the US govt focus on jobs, the environment and providing excellent public education to all our kids...which means getting rid of Betsey DeVoss and her band of wealthy "we know best " evangelicals who seek to privatize (profit) our schools. These people have waded into waters that they don't belong in.
2
@Mike McGuire Easy to imagine. Jeremy Corbyn the current head of the British Labour party supported the IRA back in the day. In fact Corbyn never met a terrorist group, including Hamas and Hezbolah, that he didn't consider his "friends."
5
"Education Department embraced Judaism as an ethnicity"
Interesting. Would these ethnic Jews be the ones from Eastern Europe ? Or perhaps the Black ones from Northern Africa ? The Sephardic Jews from Spain ? Maybe the Jewish Community in India ? The Jews of Iraq and Syria ?
Not all Jews are Zionists. There's even a whole sizable Jewish branch which doesn't even recognize the State of Israel.
Then there's the whole concept of the University as a place for the free exchange of ideas.
And that pesky First Amendment right to peaceably assemble.
I do not believe in seeking solutions to difficult problems with the simplistic solution of just cutting off one side of the argument or making espousing it illegal.
99
To your first rhetorical paragraph - all of us, obviously. Why is this hard for you people?
And what does whether we are "zionists" have to do with any of it? I'd be thrilled if Israel adopted a policy of open borders and easily obtainable full citizenship for any resident. I don't need a government or flag to validate my ethnic heritage.
But it sure is a pain when random internet goyim try to invalidate it just because they can't conceive of a diverse ethnic group. Sorry we don't map onto your European racist's notion of an ethnic group, buddy, how can I make it up to you? /s
When our culture was born - when America was less than a twinkle in the eye of British monarchy, because British monarchy was less than a twinkle in the eye of barbarians who were still painting their faces blue and eating each other's organs for vigor - there was no distinction between one's tribe and religion. you joined the tribe, you adopted its gods. our tribal identity has remained heritable, notwithstanding the many groups of people who have enriched tribal diversity over the millennia as we have wandered across the globe in search of peace, to the apparently endless consternation of the good citizens of everywhere who just can't stand the thought of a nation apart being content to see ourselves that way.
Maybe one of the fine liberal ladies and gentlemen in the comments section would like to propose a solution to that last problem? you'd be in GREAT company.
11
@Peter Henry ""Education Department embraced Judaism as an ethnicity"
Interesting. Would these ethnic Jews be the ones from Eastern Europe ? Or perhaps the Black ones from Northern Africa ? The Sephardic Jews from Spain ? Maybe the Jewish Community in India ? The Jews of Iraq and Syria ?" All Jews that you have mentioned except those from India have genetic markers in common. So yes, they are ethnically related and Jews from India on arrival in Israel are undergo an Orthodox conversion so they are halachally accepted as part of the Jewish nation. And here you go, population genetic evidence that the other four Jewish communities are genetically related. Start here and dig down and up if you are capable of understanding a rigorous scientific research paper. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3427049/
3
Judaism is a religion. Judaism is also a genetic marker and an ethnicity. I'm baffled by how many of my fellow Americans have no idea about the latter. Perhaps they've never met a Jewish person. But, I digress. Arguing over this point is what the Trump administration wants us to do while they ignore other, equally valid, cases of discrimination against people of color. Let's not get distracted.
64
@Caroline strange genetic marker, when I see the diversity of shape and colour among the Jews I see in new York. Funny, what is the common ethnicity point between a thin tal black guy and a far little withe girl with red hair ?
15
...Like I said, I'm baffled by how little people seem to know about the history of Judaism and the clear cultural, ethnic and even genetic markers that exist outside of religious practice.
20
@pierre You're confusing ethnicity and "race," even though race is biologically meaningless.
1
I sincerely hope the government of Israel, and the population of Jewish Americans who have also thrown in with Trump, realize the Faustian bargain they have chosen. There's been some short-term wins, to be sure. But there are many, many people worldwide who prefer a two-state solution. WIth this 'scorched earth' approach,
the Jewish state is rapidly depleting its bank of stored goodwill. And one day, perhaps sooner than they think, Trump and the Republican party will be gone. Remember, everything Trump touches dies. Everything.
326
I hope that you are right. Otherwise, we are headed for the abyss . . . Anti-Semitism is real, and, yes, much criticism of Zionism and of Israel is rooted in Anti-Semitism. That having been said, we are witnessing state efforts to shut down debate over a political issue with direct relevance to the United States.
27
@markymark Undoubtedly you are correct in that the "gains" made by Israel under the trump administration will be short lived, but that doesn't negate the fact that with "Apartheid Week" and similar exercises, e.g., not allowing Israeli representatives to speak by causing violent disruptions, on more than a few college campuses, many Jewish and Zionist college students, are afraid for their safety. And BTW, I can't remember if I have ever in over 40 years of voting, voted for a republican.
9
@markymark
Jews voted overwhelmingly for Clinton in the 2016 election: 71% for Clinton vs 24% for Trump.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a...
5
Time to identify tribes and pick sides, because if there's one thing the Middle East has shown us, it's that tribalism has always been the route to peace.
77
I wonder if there’s a Nelson Mandela now languishing in an Israeli jail cell. And if there is, people like Mr. Marcus couldn’t care less.
50
As a democrat and a liberal, I hate to say I generally agree with what the Education Department is doing. The BDS movement is a thinly disguised anti-Jewish / anti-Semitic movement and needs to be addressed that way. People should not fall for the narrative that BDS is a legitimate way to express disagreement with the policies of the government of Israel.
130
@Bynda
You are not a liberal if you think that outlawing BDS is a defensible government activity.
60
Please lay out your case in greater detail. I am all ears.
7
@Perspective For starters, the insane, phony narrative that BDS is built upon is that Israel is an apartheid state. Meanwhile, one third of Israel is Arab and they have all the rights that everyone else in Israel does ... or dare I say, they wouldn't live there. However, never addressed is the historical reality that all Jews were expelled from the Arab League nations (despite having lived there since the beginning of time) in the 1950s. That doesn't seem to bother the BDS crowd -- or anyone else in the world, actually -- and its never recognized. It's hilarious, actually. But not in a funny way. In that way that people are just idiots.
8
Many, but not all, Zionists are Jews, but many Jews are not Zionists. Most of my Jewish friends, and I have quite a few, have zero support for the excesses of the government there, have never visited, and have no interest in visiting.
Equating a political position with an ethnicity is nonsense.
316
@RM, politics and ethnicity are often intertwined. Anti-semites throughout the world now use the term "Zionists" to denote Jews, and use anti-Zionism as a euphemism or cover for antisemitism.
Anti-Israel and BDS protests in Europe, for example, often include hateful antisemitic slurs.
45
@doy1
Using the same "logic", many caucasians are Trump supporters, so protests against Trump positions equates all whites with "deplorables".
During World War 1 and to some degree, World War 2, American people of German ethnicity were lumped in with the Kaiser and Adolph Hitler, respectively. To say nothing of what we did to our Japanese American citizens. I hope we have moved beyond that, but we can never compensate for the low knowledge people who cannot differentiate an ethnicity or religious affiliation with a political position. Hopefully, these low knowledge people are not in charge of the school itself. But campuses are full of all kinds of people. Including stupid ones.
@RM, I have not seen "protests against Trump positions equating all whites with "deplorables."
(Although looking at Trump's rallies, it does seem his most ardent supporters are white and racist.)
I'm certainly not advocating that anyone conflate ethnic or religious groups with political positions.
However, historically, ethnicity and religion have often been tied to political positions.
Increasingly, anti-Zionism IS just another name for antisemitism.
I know American and Israeli Jewish friends and colleagues who are opposed to Netanyahu and many of the Israeli government's actions. But I have never known one Jewish person who is anti-Zionist.
And anyone I've ever met who is anti-Zionist - that is, opposed to the very existence of Israel - flat out hates Jews.
3
From my education, I thought the DNA ethnicity of "Semitic" categorizes all Ethnic Jews and all Ethnic Arabs as the same ethnicity.
82
Boy, are you wrong.
9
So true..however, bringing science into this creates yet another conundrum, doesn’t it now?..I can imagine all the quibbles ..
3
@Tony Reardon
You are correct, but, sadly, history shows us that brother fights hardest against brother.