A number of corporate media outlets are not making it clear that Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow (INN) are unrepresentative of Jewish Americans. For example, the Associated Press has labeled them “Jewish advocacy groups.” This is a result of ignorance at best and malice at worst. We should care because the reporting is having two dangerous effects.
First, it’s causing many to view Jewish Americans as rather insane. Many Christians who intuitively support the Jewish state are left scratching their heads and frustrated, wondering why Jews loathe their ancestral, biblical homeland. Second, by neglecting to sufficiently distinguish the fringe from the conventional, it’s providing cover for what is actually antisemitism.
Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism
Support for the state of Israel, home to the world’s largest Jewish population, is a pillar of modern Judaism. Eight in 10 Jewish Americans believe that caring about Israel is an essential or important part of Jewish identity. On the other hand, JVP and INN — as well as similar cliques like Rabbis for Ceasefire — are opposed to Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and, therefore, are anti-Zionist. Even the Anti-Defamation League, which no one would ever call “conservative” or “right-leaning,” has branded JVP as “a radical anti-Israel and anti-Zionist group.”
There is no need to beat around the bush: Anti-Zionism is antisemitism — period. Despite attempts by radicals with advanced degrees in sociology or feminist studies to argue otherwise, there is no way around it.
What’s more, the George Soros-funded
