Page 19 - Issue 11

legitimizes the terrorist acts perpetrated against civilians in Israel, and legitimizes a
possible future destruction of Israel by foreign armies or militant groups.

Beyond the clear inequality of supporting a state for Palestinians but rejecting this notion
for Jews, recent events around the world reflect the subtle connection between being anti-
Israel and being anti-Semitic in a more clear way: In Caracas, Venezuela, Hugo Chavez sent
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the Israeli ambassador and most Israeli embassy staff back to Israel on January 6 , stating
that this was because of the Gaza operation, and referring to the Israelis as “murderers”.
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On January 18 , the Maccabi Latin American Confederation stated in an open letter that
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since the Israeli assault in Gaza on December 27 , “the present government of Venezuela
has adopted an aggressive and dangerous tone never previously heard, clearly inciting against
the Jewish community.” Less than two weeks later, the largest synagogue in Caracas was
ransacked and vandalized (including graffiti stating “We don’t want murderers” and “Jews
get out”) – nothing was stolen, but money and religious objects were destroyed and strewn
about the synagogue, and the rabbi was severely beaten in a separate incident on his way to
the synagogue.

Venezuelan Jews have stated that they are not sure whether they should draw attention to
these events, since public attention may end up harming their Jewish communities even more.
Another frightening example is Giancarlo Desiderati, the head of a small Italian union, who,
having long called for a boycott of Israeli goods, in mid-January, made the logical next step:
"Do not buy anything from businesses run by the Jewish community," his group's website
urged Italians. There is quite a fine line between urging an embargo on all Israeli-made
products, and urging a boycott on all Jewish-owned stores, and it seems that this line has
been blurred since the events in Gaza. Finally, there’s the popular new chant “Hamas, Hamas,
Jews to the Gas” – it is impossible not to see the clear connection made here between
supporting Hamas against Israel and being anti-Semitic.

Growing up as a Jew in America, there was no doubt in my mind that anti-Semitism was an
archaic phenomenon of the past, something that occurred in Europe before I was born. I
thought that viewing modern-day actions/events as anti-Semitic was equivalent to either
being superstitious, or was a ploy to get me to marry a Jew and ensure “Jewish continuity.”
Through years of movement processes, which have helped me develop an ability to follow
current events through a lens of global trends, develop a deeper understanding of Zionism,
and hone my sense of what is needed for tikkun of the Jewish people today, and having seen
the global rise in anti-Israel (=anti-Semitic) sentiment following the recent two wars here in
Israel, I can now honestly say that anti-Semitism is not superstition, but is real and
something we need to figure out how to deal with as Jewish leaders. As proud Socialist
Zionists, this cannot mean coming out with statements and organizing rallies pledging to
stand by Israel no matter what – these types of statements do not create a new Jew –
rather, they set the Jews outside of relevant public discourse, and allow Jewish leadership in
the Diaspora to distance Jews from responsibility for the character and nature of the
Jewish state.

Another common response from Jewish leadership today is the response of the leadership in
Venezuela and Turkey: asking the Jews in their communities and abroad to keep quiet and
accept the violence against them, so as not to threaten their place in society, just as the
Russian Jewish leadership urged their communities following the pogroms of the 1800s. This
attitude is part of the survival mechanism that the Jews developed during two thousand
years in the Diaspora. Although I would not have recognized it at the time, I think that my