🔗 Share this article

More than several quarters since prominent rights-focused groups determined that the Israeli military had engaged in genocide in Gaza, the U.S. political establishment continues in stubborn denial. Virtually all GOP lawmakers and the majority of Democratic representatives still support large-scale U.S. arms shipments to Israel, rendering it difficult to acknowledge that these weapons are facilitating continuing atrocities.

Key among Justifications for Arming Israel

A common assertion is that Israel is the nation of “all Jews.” When U.S. leaders address publicly, they often declare that hatred of Israel is synonymous with hostility toward Jewish people worldwide. This kind of rhetoric equates Israel with global Jewry, effectively shielding the state from criticism by wielding accusations of antisemitism.

Merging Israel with “The Jewish People”

This propaganda technique is both ridiculous and dangerous. In the words of an Enlightenment thinker reportedly said, “If people accept falsehoods, they will continue to commit atrocities.” And atrocities persist in Gaza with little sign in sight.

Israel has continued with systematic – and deliberate – slaughter of Palestinian civilians, not only through bombs, shelling, and bullets, but also by using starvation as a tactic. Humanitarian aid has been restricted or limited, disregarding United Nations alerts that food intake in Gaza had fallen below survival levels. The situation have been described as more severe than “hell on earth.”

Paradox of Prejudice

Ironically, the state often portrayed as the ultimate victim of hostility toward Jews has emerged as one of the world’s most powerful sources of it. By claiming that it embodies Jews globally, the state of Israel seeks to link Jewish people worldwide with its systematic war crimes, genocide, and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Misleading Comparisons

Israel’s government, backed by a decreasing number of Americans, conflates itself with Judaism and “world Jewry” in a common messaging pattern. The central narrative promotes misleading equations: Israel = Jews, support for Israel = support for Jews, and criticism of Israel = antisemitism. A underlying implication of these claims is that the Israeli government = impunity.

In the 1980s, activists targeted apartheid South Africa with non-violent sanctions and were not accused of being anti-white. In this century, the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel – condemned as an apartheid state by multiple human rights organizations – often faces accusations of antisemitism, including from liberal U.S. politicians and prominent Jewish organizations.

Personal Reflection

As a child in Jewish education, I could not have anticipated that the religion and reverence for Israel would become so exploited. I was unaware that charitable efforts in Israel would later be overshadowed by policies of violence and oppression carried out in the name of protecting Jewish people. Spirituality of Judaism has been distorted and violated by genocidal policies.

Legal and Political Framing

Among Israel’s Basic Laws, passed in 2018, declares that the state is the “national home” of the Jewish people and that the privilege to practice sovereignty is “unique” to Jews. This codifies the government’s effort to appropriate Judaism and claim to speak for every Jew, irrespective of their views.

More and more, though, Jewish people are not endorse these policies. Polling show significant dissent to core Israeli policies among Jewish communities in the U.S.

False Guarantees

U.S. officials often amplify the trope that Israel is the protector of safety for Jews worldwide. Ex- president Joe Biden once stated that absent Israel, Jewish people would be safe – a view repeated by numerous leaders. This claim is not only untrue but also dangerous, as it equates Jewish safety with the actions of a state engaged in atrocities.

Conclusion

The biggest Jewish organizations in the U.S. often uncritically extol the Israeli government, no matter its actions. As one commentator noted, U.S. Jewish leaders assert on Israel’s right to exist as a ethno-religious nation, even with the contradiction between legal supremacy and democratic equality.

Even more troubling is the unspoken assumption that Jewish lives are inherently more important than Palestinian lives, and that Israel’s destiny is above reproach. This mindset substitutes Judaism’s universal values with a exclusionary deity that prioritizes one group over another.

Such devotion to Israel feeds the harmful idea that “Jews” are synonymous with Israel. Every such claim is destructive, particularly as Israel continues in ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and destruction. Distinguishing Judaism from the policies of the Israeli state is crucial for justice and truth.