Weaponizing Antisemitism

Let’s be clear: the tragic mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia on December 14th was a targeted act of violence against Jews. More than a dozen people were killed by two gunmen at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney. This was undeniably an antisemitic attack. Jews were targeted because they were Jews. They were murdered at a public Hanukkah celebration. It should be universally condemned as a hate crime, the lone surviving gunman should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and there should be strengthened policies and practices to increase understanding of antisemitism and to enhance protection for Jews. There is near-universal consensus that this is horribly wrong and must not be normalized. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. Instead, pro-Israel ideologues have weaponized this antisemitic incident into a cudgel with which to beat those who support Palestinian rights and/or criticize Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and apartheid rule in the West Bank. Israeli prime minister Netanyahu seized upon this incident to assert it was caused by protest chants such as “Globalize the Intifada” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine shall be free.” He excoriated Australian prime minister Albanese for supporting a Palestinian state, saying that this stance “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire, rewards Hamas terrorists, and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets.” According to Netanyahu’s unhinged rhetoric, any leader who recognizes Palestinian statehood – such as the leaders of France, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Norway – are personally to blame for horrific antisemitic violence. This is an absurd proposition. Sadly, this crazed reasoning has been picked up by dozens of major western media outlets, almost as though they all got the same talking points memo. Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone noticed pro-Israel print media from the New York Times, the BBC, the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, the Jerusalem Post all spouting the same line: “Australian Terror: Welcome to Globalize the Intifada”, again and again in only slightly different words. Not only news organizations but pro-Israel propagandists such as the Chief Rabbi of the UK, the Foreign Minister of Israel, NY City Mayor Eric Adams, Deborah Lipstadt, Ted Cruz, even spiritual guru and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, all lined up to blame those who are on record as criticizing genocide and supporting Palestinian human rights. It’s all your fault that these Hanukkah revelers on a beach in Australia were brutally gunned down. If you would only shut down your criticisms and fall in line, these terrible things wouldn’t happen. This is the all-too-familiar tactic of smearing legitimate criticism of Israel as inherently antisemitic. Conflating the two is deliberately designed to silence dissent and cloak Israel’s critics in a garment of shame.

As any Palestinian will tell you, “globalize the intifada” refers to building the movement for Palestinian rights and equality worldwide. The Arabic word “intifada” means to “rise up” and to “shake off” oppressive forces. It can evoke both violent and nonviolent forms of resistance: both armed resistance against occupation, which is guaranteed under international law, and nonviolent resistance such as public pressure campaigns such as general strikes, boycott, divestment, and sanctions. It is a form of bigotry to ascribe only a vicious intention whenever Palestinian rights activists use a phrase, never a nonviolent one laden with hope and legitimate aspirations. It is often forgotten that “intifada” is not inherently violent, as is often claimed. At its core, it is a spiritual concept that evokes an awakening and throwing off chains of subjugation. Someone struggling with addiction could make positive use of the spirit of intifada. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising could be seen as an intifada. The phrase’s meaning is in the eye of the beholder. The same phrase can be a source of galvanizing pride to a Palestinian rights activist while evoking sheer terror to a Jew. That said, the gunmen who targeted Jews on Bondi Beach surely simmered in hate for decades. They didn’t carry out their slaughter because they heard a slogan at a protest.