KEYNOTE SPEECH

Presented August 22, 2004

By Cherie R. Brown

FACING A CHALLENGE:

ANTI-SEMITISM AND THE LEFT

I want to appreciate Judy Andreas for organizing this session on anti-Semitism and the Left. When Judy first contacted me almost a year ago with a goal of hosting a conference on Anti-Semitism and the Left—I thought to myself---Judy, you are a dreamer. I knew that this was a much needed conference---but I also thought, it will never happen. Little did I know Judy Andreas. Judy, thank you for your passion and your commitment to this issue. And thank you for organizing a conference that many of us knew needed to happen—but until now, none of us had figured out how to make happen.


There has been a series of articles on the issue of anti-Semitism over the past few years -----in the New York Review of Books, the New Republic, Commentary, and elsewhere. Some speak of a new, virulent anti-Semitism. A few of these articles make worrisome comparisons between the current historic period and the beginning days of the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany. Others react to these alarmist articles saying this is all too much paranoid thinking. Anti-Semitism is not on the rise they claim. What is taking place is only criticism of the policies of the Israeli government. And criticism of Israel, these writers argue is not the same thing as anti-Semitism.


Many of these same arguments are taking place within progressive movements on the left. There are some that say that the left, at best ignores Jews and Jewish concerns—and at worst, has strong anti-Jewish attitudes. There are others that argue that the left justifiably stands up for the oppressed. And in this historic period, the oppressed are not Jews----but the Palestinian people. And therefore the left is correct in challenging Jews and Israel about the oppression of the Palestinian people. What is true? How can we make sense of these complex issues? What is anti-Semitism in this historic period? Is criticism of Israel an act of anti-Semitism? When is it? When is it not? This evening I want to address two points:


1) Why is it so difficult to have any clarity or common understandings on the left about anti-Semitism.? Why is it hard for so many of us to agree about when anti-Semitism is happening---and when it is not?


What is a useful perspective on anti-Semitism that can help us make sense of the current political situation? How can we shed light on events like the United Nations Conference on Racism in Durban, or the divest from Israel movement on college campuses. Do these involve acts of anti-Semitism---or are they simply a legitimate _expression of political debate?

Many years ago, I was attending a meeting of Jews and non-Jews in New York to discuss a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At one point in the meeting, I thought that a number of comments that were being made in the meeting were anti-Semitic. At the break---I walked over to the organizer of the meeting to try and get support. He was a longtime, well known political activist and fighter on behalf of many liberation causes and I was sure he would be a good person to talk to. So-- I went up to him and said, Dave, "I just experienced anti-Semitism in that meeting. His response to me, was "Oh, Cherie don’t say that". He didn’t say to me--no, you’re wrong. That wasn’t anti-Semitism. He didn’t even say to me, I disagree. Let me tell you why. He simply said---"Don’t say that." And that was the end of the conversation. In those early years I didn’t know how to speak up for myself or for Jews and so I did not continue the conversation---but I went home and thought about his comment for days afterwards. Had I gone up to him and said---Dave…I experienced racism or sexism in that room--I think, or at least I’d like to think, that he would have listened to me and wanted further details. Why was there no space for even a hearing about my experience of anti-Semitism in the meeting? As I thought about it---it occurred to me that there are no grades of mistreatment when people use the term anti-Semitism. My saying I experienced anti-Semitism in the meeting was heard as if I had just said--I think they are talking about carting Jews off to concentration camps. On other issues of oppression---there are understood grades of mistreatment, If women or People of Color are not being called on in a meeting, for example, someone might say--I just experienced racism or sexism in that meeting--and at least some people might want to know more. But to speak of anti-Semitism in most peoples minds conjures up one thing---images of concentration camps, Hitler, and the Holocaust. And in their minds---if a Holocaust is not happening, then anti-Semitism is not happening. So, there is very little space to actually talk about daily acts of anti-Semitism -- to raise it as an issue--and to have it on people’s minds.

Secondly, there is no independent Gentile movement that I’m aware of in the world to combat anti-Semitism. There are White people working to eliminate their own racism. There are men working to eliminate sexism. There are organizations like PFLAG, parents, families, and friends of gay people working to eliminate gay oppression. But there are no explicit organizations, with the sole purpose of eliminating anti-Jewish oppression. There are Christian-Jewish dialogue groups, and more recently, Muslim-Christian- Jewish Dialogue groups that work to further mutual understandings of each other’s respective religions. And this is important work---and does contribute to alleviating some of the religious based roots of misunderstandings about Jews. But it is not the same as an explicit group of Gentiles working on identifying and uprooting their own anti-Jewish biases. Without an active movement of Gentiles working to eliminate anti-Semitism---the consciousness raising work that is needed --the work of asking oneself --how might I have been anti-Semitic in this situation just isn’t happening on an ongoing basis.

Let me give you an example. In the anti-oppression organization that I founded, the National Coalition Building Institute, we have been training leaders around the world for 20 years to develop programs that teach the skills of prejudice reduction, inter group conflict resolution and coalition building. A colleague that I trained was convening a support group in her community where team leaders meet regularly to confide in one another the places in their lives where they are experiencing mistreatment--and in a group setting --with agreed upon rules of confidentiality--- get support from one another. In one particular meeting---my colleague, a Jewish woman, confided in the group that she was experiencing anti-Semitism in one of the agencies she was working in. She simply wanted her support group members to know about it---and help her strategize what to do. Within weeks of the meeting, a member of her support group broke confidentiality, took her complaint of anti-Semitism without her knowledge to a high level manager in the agency, and in spite of three years of excellent work with this organization--my colleague was told that she could no longer work there. The mere mentioning of anti-Semitism so terrified everyone that heard it----there was little chance for sensible dialogue or rational discourse. And this is often what happens to Jews. We are welcomed for our skills and expertise, but then when we raise concerns – we are suddenly expendable. And my friend was fired.

As I continued to try and make sense of this ---the near impossibility to even raise up the issue of anti-Semitism for discussion----the terror that emerges so quickly when the word is even mentioned outside of a small group of Jews---I began to notice other things.

In the workshops I lead, there is a part of the program where participants are asked to choose a group they belong to where they have personally experienced discrimination. Each group caucuses and prepares a list to read to the whole workshop of the things they never again want people to say, think, or do towards their group. After hearing all the reports, participants are asked what touched them, what was new information, or what were behaviors they might do differently. I have led these workshops with thousands of groups around the world. And rarely does anyone ever mention that they were touched by the caucus report from the Jewish group. At first I thought maybe the reporters from the Jewish group weren’t giving powerful enough caucus reports. And so I’d listen more carefully to the reports. And there would be comments like--we don’t ever again want to be gassed. We don’t ever again want to be killed. And I realized---no--the comments were at least as powerful as the other reports. So---I came to realize that amongst the progressive anti-racism activists that attend our programs, it was as if there was a complete mental shut down about being able to even see Jews as a victimized group—to be included in the laundry list of oppressed groups that deserved our attention. The anti-Semitism was so internalized that the participants couldn’t hear the reports from the Jewish caucus with a genuine ability to remember the comments---or to have strong feelings of empathy with the Jewish group. This shut down about being able to listen to Jewish pain, particularly by progressive activists, this difficulty in ever seeing Jews as victims in this historic period deserving our care and recognition—but to only see Jews as the oppressor--- has profound implications for our being able to put forward an honest analysis of anti-Semitism.

It is difficult to talk about anti-Semitism on a global, political level if we can’t first notice it on a daily, personal level. For many people---global, political issues only have meaning when they can relate them first to their own personal lives and struggles. The personal is political. Yet, we have progressed to a place in our personal dealings with one another in the U.S. where it is not polite for many to think about Jews openly in negative terms. So, instead of thinking about someone they are having difficulty with as –‘That Jew’ (because that’s not after all considered an acceptable thought to have) a person might simply think about the person as that pushy, obnoxious, loud person (and the fact that the person might be a Jew is irrelevant in their mind). One of these days I plan to write a book and the title of the book will be--I’m not anti-Semitic--I just don’t like you.


A few years ago several members of a grass-roots progressive organization came to me for help with their supervisor. I listened out to their concerns and within 10 minutes---I thought to myself---I bet their supervisor is Jewish. The more they talked about her---how pushy she was, how aggressive, how controlling----all code words that have often been used to describe Jews (and in particular, Jewish women) ----I thought the supervisor might be Jewish. And I was right. What’s important to understand is that not one of the staff was thinking to themselves---my supervisor is Jewish. And that’s why I don’t get along with her. And yet, their supervisor was Jewish----and their difficulties with her had everything to do with the struggles that I know many Jews have in workplace settings---a sense of deep isolation, a need to do everything oneself, if it‘s going to get done well, a difficulty in trusting that others will ever be there, a difficulty in being relaxed, constantly worrying about daily pending disasters in the office. The blaming of their supervisor for all of the problems in the office would not lead to the problems being solved. Because her staff didn’t think about her as a Jewish person, they were also oblivious to her struggles as a Jew or the origin of these struggles in Jewish history. Instead of being able to be her ally and understand the pressures she might be under--or look honestly at their own struggles as well--and see what they also needed to change--they saw their supervisor as the primary source of the problems in the office, and this is an example of anti-Semitism.

In dozens of workshops that I have led over the years for Gentiles who want to learn how to be a better ally to Jews, I have often said to them, "Anytime you are blaming a Jewish person for all of the problems in your relationship, or you see the Jewish person as the sole cause of your difficulties---- you might want to consider that anti-Semitism is at play.

And we Jews are at least as confused as our Gentile allies about whether or not we have experienced anti-Semitism in a particular relationship—or situation. We may blame ourselves for any struggles or see every difficulty as our own personal problem and miss the unaware anti-Semitism in the situation. I often tell my Jewish brothers and sisters that anytime you feel really bad about yourself, there must might be some unaware anti-Semitism causing you to have those sets of bad feelings.

At every Jewish workshop I lead, I spend an evening asking the question, " how have you personally experienced anti-Semitism this past year." At first the room is usually silent. I can hear people saying to each other—"I haven’t really experienced anything". And then, one by one, as it gets safe enough to remember, the stories begin to pour out. The college student who attends Hillel, the Jewish student group on campus who had a swastika put on his door last year; the Jewish union organizer who spoke up about Christian only decorations in her workplace and was shunned by the other organizers. And all the stories from literally hundreds of Jews involved in progressive organizations who are terrified to tell their activist friends that they are Jewish—for fear of being hated or ignored.

So--we can’t easily speak of anti-Semitism without people thinking we’re talking about carting Jews off to the death camps,; there is no independent Gentile Movement yet to fight against anti-Semitism; there is a systematic shut down and inability to hear about the pain of Jews, particularly when Jews want to bring up issues about their own mistreatment or victimization, and there is a difficulty for many to think of those around them as Jews---and then have compassion for their struggles and challenges as Jews. And we wonder why it’s so hard for many to understand what anti-Semitism is.

And yet despite these difficulties--it is more important than ever that we have a clear definition of what anti-Semitism is that can shed light on many of the current political struggles. Anti-Semitism will manifest itself differently in different historic periods---but the dynamics are actually quite the same in each historic period.


For 2000 years, Jews were a minority. They were offered protection by the aristocracy in each country where they lived as long as a number of Jews in those countries served in what has been called "Middle Agent" roles ---as merchants, as moneylenders, as tax collectors. In the Middle Ages, these Jews were often called Court Jews. The majority of Jews in those countries were as poor as the rest of the population. When the resentment of the population against the rulers rose to a significant level----Jews were scape goated, blamed for all of the countries’ difficulties and often expelled. The pogroms of Eastern Europe and The Nazi Holocaust were only the most egregious examples of this scapegoat mechanism.

In the present historic period, in the United States, Jews are no longer tax collectors. Instead, the work roles many Jews have may include being a teacher, a social worker, a manager, a business person. Because these roles exert some degree of daily control or supervision over the lives of others, particularly People of Color, Jews can become seen as the obstacle to the advancement of other groups who are competing for scarce resources. Periodic references to Jewish "power and influence" reinforce other oppressed groups resentments and confusions about Jews and keep these groups from being able to organize to challenge the real forces of economic exploitation.

I’d like to propose that we cannot understand anti-Semitism unless we understand that it has two parts, operating side by side. Anti-Semitism is the scapegoating of Jews, the blaming of Jews, the singling out of Jews as the primary source of one’s difficulties --it can be an individual’s difficulties, a country’s difficulties , or a region of the world’s difficulties. Anytime Jews are singled out and blamed, there is anti-Semitism in operation. Anti-Semitism is not the fault of Jews. At the same time----this scapegoating mechanism can lead to a reaction from Jews ---be it an individual Jew or the Jewish leadership of a country, to seek protection and an end to the isolation and scapegoating, believing there is no way to gain safety except to function in an oppressive way. Previously, those who have stood up against the scapegoating of Jews have not always been able to acknowledge the oppressive things that Jews are forced to do. And those who have seen the oppressive things Jews are doing have not understood the isolation, the terror, and the ultimate threat of betrayal that underlies these actions. To see Jews primarily as oppressors is anti-Semitic because it misses the very real vulnerability of Jews. But to ignore any of the oppressive things that Jews do will not end anti-Semitism because it actually increases the isolation and vulnerability of Jews from the rest of the world’s peoples and sets Jews up for increased anti-Semitism.

How does this mechanism function in current political situations? Let me start with the United Nations Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa. I was in Durban as a delegate for two organizations. I was part of an eight-person delegation with the organization I direct, the National Coalition Building Institute. I was also part of United to End Racism, a fifty-person delegation of people from around the world who came to Durban to share tools and practices for ending racism. It was not easy being a Jew in Durban. The daily rhetoric about Israel and Palestine drowned out many other important discussions. The important issues about racism kept getting diverted during the week by the fights to enter "Zionism is racism" language into the conference documents. One day, the African Heritage tent had scheduled a press conference about the racism issues facing African Heritage peoples. But the press conference was canceled because there were huge fights going on about Israel/Palestine and the press were pre-occupied.


As a U.S. Jew who was born after the Holocaust, I have been insulated from many of the more negative attitudes about Jews that a portion of the world’s peoples still hold. It was painful to have to listen to so much hatred about Jews, to see buttons that read "Hitler didn’t do his job." Particularly when these comments came from other anti-racist activists. The singling out of Israel for condemnation in Durban, having Israel be the only country in the entire world noted in the UN NGO documents for it’s racism----were difficult.


The most painful moment for me happened on the last day of the conference. Earlier that week, Mary Robinson, the head of the non-governmental meeting of the UN conference on racism, had allegedly been shown a cartoon that was being circulated at the conference, depicting a Jewish man with a hooked nose, a beard, and blood pouring from his hands which were clasped in a greedy pose. Anyone viewing that cartoon could only be horrified of its resemblance to oppressive blood libel characatures of Jews that had been circulated for centuries in Europe. In seeing the cartoon, Mary, an Irish Catholic woman apparently said----"if these anti-Semitic cartoons are being passed out here at the conference—then —I’m a Jew." The headlines of the daily newspaper for the conference the next morning read: Mary Robinson says, "I’m a Jew." And on the last day of the conference, at the closing ceremonies, I sat in an outdoor amphitheater with thousands of anti-racism activists from around the world. When Mary got up to speak, right before the speech by Fidel Castro, the keynote speaker at the closing event, she was hissed and booed by a large majority of the audience. My heart broke. Here I was, at an international conference with anti-racism workers from around the world. These were my closest allies, my friends and colleagues who were devoting their lives every day to the fight against racism. And they were booing an international leader because she had taken a stand against anti-Semitism.


And the United States played a role in increasing this anti-Semitism. Saying that the primary reason that the US was abandoning the conference in Durban was because of the criticisms of Israel--- played into the hands of those that were advocating divide and conquer politics. In fact, the Bush administration had been luke warm about the UN Conference in Durban long before the issues of Israel and Palestine became so pronounced. The U.S. did not want to participate in deliberations about the issue of reparations for the descendants of slaves ---particularly if final U.N. documents could open the way for future legal action and expensive class action law suites against the United States. George Bush refused to even send a high level delegation to the conference. But, the U.S. could conveniently stay silent about its concerns on the issue of reparations and instead, hid behind their support of Israel. The U.S. walked out of the conference in Durban, claimed it was because of anti-Israel rhetoric and their walk-out helped to fuel an increase in the anti-Israel rhetoric. But rather than challenge the U.S. for its racist and imperialist policies, Jews and Palestinians were left once again to fight it out with each other. And this is a primary example of how anti-Semitism works. When activists on the left understand how anti-Semitism is used as a divide and conquer mechanism to divert people’s attention away from the underlying causes of oppression, we will be more prepared to fight effectively against international issues of racism and imperialism.

I have spent the past 30 years working in Jewish organizations within the U.S. to seek a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict---one that would take into account the legitimate needs of the Israeli people and the legitimate needs of the Palestinian people. I have often been frustrated with the uncritical support of Israel by many Jews. But it wasn’t until I was in Durban that I witnessed how this uncritical support for Israel was isolating Jews from other people’s movements. When Jews are under heavy attack, they find it difficult to do the important work of reaching out to allies. But this reaching out to allies is a key component in ending anti-Semitism. There was a Jewish caucus in Durban with mainstream Jews from around the world that met daily to give each other support. I attended many of the Jewish caucus meetings and I was invited by the leadership of the caucus to speak one day on a panel they had put together on the issue of anti-Semitism. At one point during the week, the Jewish caucus made up T-shirts with a Jewish star and a peace symbol on the front. As I wandered from tent to tent in Durban, I ran into a lot of Jewish young people wearing the T-shirts. The attacks on Israel left these young Jews feeling vulnerable. And in their vulnerability, they stayed only with each other, huddled together wearing their t-shirts but unable to reach out and build real friendships with young people from around the world. Members of established Jewish groups that attended the conference in Durban could have played a powerful role over the week in helping to maintain the focus of the conference on ending racism. But they got caught up in the diversionary politics and spent the week in a defensive posture about Israel.

And this is a vivid example of the viscous cycle of anti-Semitism. Israel was singled out for condemnation in the UN documents and blamed as the only source of the problems in the Israel-Palestine conflict. There was very little understanding of the Middle East conflict, in all its complexity. The dangers Israelis also face as a result of suicide bombings was never acknowledged. And Jews, feeling scared and isolated in Durban and wanting to defend Israel against attacks, reacted by defending all of the policies of the Israeli government. A number of Jewish leaders told me in private in Durban that they too had numerous criticisms of the Israeli governments treatment of Palestinians or the settlement policies---but with all the attacks on Israel---they thought it wasn’t safe to share any of these criticisms publicly. And this is the viscous cycle. Israel is attacked. There are no distinctions made in the attacks between the policies of the Israeli government, the Israeli people, and Jews. Jews in turn think the best response is to defend Israel without qualifications. Jewish leaders fear that any public questioning of the policies of the Israeli government will only increases anti-Semitism. And this unqualified defense of Israel in turn increases the attacks on Israel---and the anti-Semitism.

I would like to propose tonight that our finding a way on the left to acknowledge the struggles of both peoples the Israeli people and the Palestinian people is the best way possible to reduce anti-Semitism. We constantly get told that we must choose---are you for Israel? Are you for the Palestinian people? I watched my closest friends and allies in Durban deeply torn every day. When they supported Palestinian Liberation, or attended a Palestinian rally, they felt like they were being a traitor to their Jewish friends. When they stood up against anti-Semitic comments being made, they agonized that they were abandoning their Palestinian brothers and sisters.


We have got to find a way to say on the left that it is O.K. to stand up for both peoples. It is O.K. to say that both peoples deserve a homeland. Both peoples deserve to live in security. We must begin a new movement on the left that says, "We refuse to have the forces of imperialism set our people’s up against each other one more day."


With this understanding, what can be said about the divest from Israel movement on college campuses. The strategy to compare the policies of the Israeli government to the former policies of the government of South Africa, under apartheid began during meetings leading up to the UN Conference on Racism in Durban. The movement on college campuses to divest of all companies doing business with Israel, with a particular focus on military contractors was intended to arouse similar sympathies as did the movement for sanctions against South Africa ---which also began on college campuses. Why is Israel being singled out in this campaign? Calling for divestments in all corporations that are involved in weapons production would be far different than calling for divestments only in companies doing business with Israel. The former could be seen as a highly principled effort to end war. The latter is singling out Israel.

I---and many progressive Jews desperately want the occupation to end. My first trip to Israel was in the summer of 1969, only two years after the 6 day war and the beginning of the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. I was 19. I had just spent the past year organizing against the war in Vietnam. I was president of SDS at UCLA, where I was a college student. I had spoken from the pulpit of my synagogue earlier that year on the need for Jews to support the Black Panther party, and I had studied Marxism with Angela Davis before she had gone underground. And this 19 year old growing activist arrives in Israel 2 years after the 1967 war. I loved being in Israel. I had spent my whole life wanting to go there. My grandmother, who had never gotten to go to Israel because she was always too ill to travel, had spent her life raising money for hospitals in Israel. So, I fell in love with the country. But, the trip also broke my heart. I traveled around the country to see if I could find anyone who was as upset by the occupation as I was. In those early years, there was one conscientious objector who was refusing to fight in the Israeli army. I found him. And we became friends. I had a religious experience at the Kotel—the wailing wall, where devout Jews go to pray. As I looked around, I saw the Israeli soldiers with their guns. I heard the bells announcing evening prayers at the Dome of the Rock. And I knew in that moment that the occupation would be the downfall of my people. I came back to the United States, and wanted to find someone to talk to in the Jewish community about my grave concerns about the militarism in Israel and the oppression of the Palestinian people. The only person I could talk to in Los Angeles in 1969 was Lou Smith, the director of a Black self help group, Operation Bootstrap. I went and sat in his office and wept about the militarism in Israel and the mistreatment of the Palestinians that I saw. Lou cried with me about the growing Militarism in the Black power movement. There we were, an African American man and a young Jewish woman, loving our own peoples and heartbroken knowing that militarism was not going to be a long range solution for the liberation of either of our peoples. I have worked with many other Jews over these past 35 years to try and end the occupation. And it is clear from my work with Jews that the more we can stop targeting Israel as the only perpetrator of oppressive acts in the region, the easier and easier it will be to help Jews find the courage to speak out against the oppressive policies of the Israeli government.


A new organization for American Jews that I have been involved with over the past two years, Brit Tzedek V’Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Peace and Justice does just this – it is a pro-Israel group deeply committed to Israel and at the same time, committed to ending the occupation. And Jewish peace groups like Brit Tzedek V’Shalom, because they take such a strong stand for Israel can most effectively organize against the occupation with the Jewish community, which in turn will help to reduce anti-Semitism.

There was a powerful example of this last year at an international anti-globalization conference attended by 20,000 activists in Porto Alegra, Brazil. A number of groups tried very had to divert the conference with anti-Israel rhetoric, just as had been done so successfully in Durban, but this time a joint Palestinian and Israeli peace effort triumphed over anti-Israel rhetoric.

The Jewish community of Brazil was deeply worried beforehand that anti-Israel groups would dominate the conference. But instead of acting defensively, as I had witnessed in Durban, they set up proactive activities. They launched a three-day seminar "Dialogue for Peace" prior to the conference. The Jewish leadership marched in the anti-globalization rallies. The chief rabbi of Brazil, joined dozens of others, wearing t-shirts with the slogan: Two Peoples; Two States. Jewish activists displayed banners – " yes to two states. No to racist hatred of Jews. " And on the last day of the conference, a joint Israeli-Palestinian statement was read by the founder of Peace Now and a member of the Palestinian Parliament at the closing ceremony. Twenty-thousand activists stood and wept and cheered. It was a victory for the peace camp. Dozens of groups that tried to put out an anti-Israel message failed. And instead – a strong joint Israeli-Palestinian message against terrorism prevailed. Peace efforts like this one are the best antidote we have to anti-Semitism,

As my final point----I propose five specific actions to reduce anti-Semitism:

Action 1: I propose that we set up consciousness raising groups about anti-Semitism -- just the way we held consciousness raising groups in the early women’s movement where we learned that the personal is also political. Many years ago, there were a number of important articles written by myself, Letty Pogrebin, Michael Lerner, and others about anti-Semitism in the Left. There is a need once again to do consciousness raising sessions about anti-Semitism. I propose that we set up consciousness raising groups, first and foremost for Jews, and then for our allies, about anti-Semitism, and the role that anti-Semitism plays in diverting peoples’ movements from addressing key issues of worldwide oppression. In these groups---people need to examine the daily acts of anti-Semitism within their own lives---and not just look at the global, political issues. Every Jewish person within the group needs to be asked the question – what has it been like to be a Jew? This week? This month? This year? How have you experienced anti-Semitism today?

Action 2: We need to find a way to make it safe enough for Jews to look at the places we act in oppressive ways and we function as oppressors---or we are not going to tackle the whole mechanism of anti-Semitism. As a result of the Holocaust and the attempted genocide of Jews, we are a traumatized people. It has been next to impossible for many Jews to be able to see ourselves both as victims and in the oppressor role with regards to the Palestinian people. I recently watched an excellent new film by an Israeli filmmaker---PROMISES--which showed a group of young Palestinian children and young Israeli children being brought together over a two-year trust building period. In the film a number of hard-hitting scenes were shown about the daily life for Palestinians under the Occupation, including being stopped at military checkpoints throughout the occupied territories. As I watched these scenes, I found myself hardly breathing. I wanted to scream, "It can’t be this bad. Please don’t show this picture of Israel to the world. They will just end up hating the Israeli people!" My mind knew this was a true and accurate picture of Palestinian life under occupation---and if anything, it downplayed all the horrors that Palestinians are suffering at the hands of Israeli occupiers. Even as I knew this was an accurate picture---and needed to be known--my heart rebelled. I have been working for justice for Palestinians for thirty five years, and I could hardly watch these scenes. And these are not the most hard hitting scenes of Palestinian life under occupation. We are going to need to find a way to make it safe enough for all Jews to remember how good we are and how good the Israeli people are so that we can take an honest look at the oppressive things that Israel does toward the Palestinian people.


Action 3: We need to reach out for Gentile allies on the left who will begin to build an independent Gentile movement to speak out visibly against anti-Semitism. It’s time to have separate groups for Gentiles working against anti-Semitism. In these groups, our gentile allies need to work on their earliest memories about Jews. What did you first learn about Jews in your families or at church? I remember the first time I attended a Good Friday service with two of my closest Catholics friends. I was terrified every time they called out the word Jews in the reading of the passion. I told my friends if they didn’t want to rip down the structures of the Catholic Church—they were no longer my friends. I have gotten over my initial anger and shock, but I think so many of the hurtful things that many Gentiles have learned about Jews are unconscious. Just as we White people have to face up every day to how much we have been taught racism by a racist society, every Gentile needs to have the courage to examine how much they have been taught anti-Jewish attitudes by an oppressive society.

Action 4: At the same time that we call on our Gentile allies to take on anti-Semitism, we Ashkenazi Jews must be willing to do our own work on racism. One of the things I witnessed in the year leading up to the Conference in Durban was how hard Jewish organizations in the U.S. tried to solicit support from U.S. based Black organizations on the issues of Israel. But the Jewish community did not take up the key issue for the Black community – reparations for descendants of African slaves. It’s very hard to ask a group to be our ally on the issue that matters most to us, when we aren’t prepared to put ourselves out on the issue at the heart of their agenda. Black-Jewish dialogue programs or sponsoring annual Black-Jewish Seders, as many mainstream Jewish groups do s not the same as working as an organized Jewish community to defeat racism. We need allies to speak out against anti-Semitism. And in turn, we will need to learn more effective ways to reach back as allies to take on racism.."

Action 5: We absolutely need to stop saying that any criticism of Israel or the policies of the Israeli government is anti-Semitic---or that those who do speak out against any of the policies of the Israeli government are against Jews. Instead, let us launch a campaign on the left to say openly and often----we welcome a diversity of views on what will bring about a resolution to the Israeli -Palestinian conflict. We want to hear from everyone that cares about Israel and Palestine---what do you think is the best way to bring about a peaceful settlement? Dialogue is one of the best parts of my Jewish tradition. It is time to re introduce a Jewish tradition of dialogue, arguing and debate. Silencing a diversity of views on Israel will not end anti-Semitism. Jewish history is filled with periods where Jews and Gentiles were silent. And the silence did not stop anti-Semitism. It’s time to welcome with open arms a wide range of views in our communities.

Anti-Semitism is not new. It is certainly not unique to the left. There is no need for alarmist messages that only serve to increase fear and keep everyone from thinking clearly. When the left truly understands anti-Semitism and embraces a commitment to end it—the left will become a way more powerful tool for change.