Erasure and Demonization Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in Contemporary Social Movements

Key Findings:

This report analyses in depth the different manifestations of Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism within contemporary social movements in the United States. It discusses these manifestations in the context of perceptions of Jews both historically, and within present times (given the gradual transformation of both status and image of Jews in America particularly, despite a range of difficult challenges). The report unpacks data from a well-rounded group of settings to give a comprehensive picture of the ways that Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism manifest, the specific methods used, and how they may interact between settings to inspire mutations of each manifestation of anti-Jewishness.

Five main areas are discussed:

-Anti-Zionism as a form of Antisemitism, especially: the delegitimization of Israel; describing Israel and the Jews as “colonialist oppressors;” and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Arnold’s interviews reveal specific ahistorical techniques that her respondents used to single Israel out (e.g., discussing Israel’s establishment as artificial and violent, in contrast to other countries’ peaceful and “organic” methods of creation).

-The complicated American Jewish relationship with the Civil Rights Movement, and with contemporary Leftist social justice movements (Intersectionality, Black Lives Matter / The Movement for Black Lives), despite disproportionate Jewish involvement in efforts on behalf of oppressed peoples. Arnold’s interviews reveal that Antisemitism in America is not perceived as a relevant issue in the same category as “racism,” “sexism,” and “capitalism,” despite Jewishness being a both a racialized and a marginalized religious identity.

-Campus Anti-Zionism, especially: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP); Israeli Apartheid Week; rhetoric of Israel as a ‘colonialist,’ ‘fascist,’ ‘ethnic cleansing machine,’ the moral equivalent of defending apartheid in South Africa’ on campus; and associated impacts on younger Americans, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

-Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and its horseshoe effect of uniting Antisemites on the Left and the Right

-Expansion and elevation of Jewish critics (J Street, IfNotNow, and Jewish Voice for Peace). Here, both the rise and the impact of internalization and promulgation of vicious anti-Israel defamation by Jews are reviewed, e.g., the infamous and inaccurate JVP claim that Israel trains America for and participates in police crimes against Black Americans, and the severe effects of this claim on levels of Left Antisemitism / general non-Jewish perceptions of Jews.