Our Wednesday News Analysis | Why Being a ‘Bad Jew’ Is No Longer Bad for Jewish Americans

Source: Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-10-16/ty-article/.highlight/why-being-a-bad-jew-is-no-longer-bad-for-jewish-americans/00000183-e081-d15e-a5cb-e6a555e20000

By Eitan Nechin
Published October 16, 2022

Emily Tamkin, the author of the new book ‘Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities,’ tells Haaretz how Jewish America today is just as much Jared Kushner as it is Bernie Sanders

“If there’s one thing that keeps me up at night,
it’s not Iran but the future of the Jews in America.”

Naftali Bennett, Israel’s Former Prime Minister

Charlottesville, the Tree of Life synagogue massacre, the Iranian nuclear deal, the Trump administration’s take on Jews, arguments over Israel – the past few years seem to have been especially fraught for Jewish Americans.

In her book coming out Tuesday, “Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities,” Emily Tamkin tackles these issues by looking critically into the past, shattering myths about Jewish life in America and highlighting age-old issues still shaping Jewish identity.

Tamkin already has an important work behind her: “The Influence of Soros” (2020) on the controversies surrounding the right wing’s favorite straw man, Hungarian-American investor and philanthropist George Soros. Tamkin is also a senior editor at the London-based New Statesman.

“In recent years, there has been a worrying uptick in antisemitic attacks, by and large coming from the right. I think this has led to some dissonance with mainstream Jewish organizations, which are very much invested in treating antisemitism as though it comes from left and right,” Tamkin says.

“Of course, it does, but not at all to the same extent. This is because, if you look at how antisemitic tropes are mobilized in the U.S., it always works in concert with other hatreds: Islamophobia, xenophobia and general racism.”

In “Bad Jew,” Tamkin stresses that the reasons for antisemitism in the United States are different from those in Europe. A key is the history of Jewish assimilation in America.

“It’s important to note that most American Jews, especially those of European descent, for all intents and purposes go through life as white Americans,” Tamkin says. “That doesn’t mean that throughout history in the U.S. there wasn’t discrimination on a more informal level. And there have been waves of antisemitism sweeping society, especially during the two world wars.”...

Read more: Why Being a ‘Bad Jew’ Is No Longer Bad for Jewish Americans

ANTI-PALESTINIANISM MAKES THE WEAPONIZATION OF ANTISEMITISM POSSIBLE

Source: Mondoweiss
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/10/anti-palestinianism-makes-the-weaponization-of-antisemitism-possible/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1666015333

By TERRY AHWAL
Published October 15, 2022

Zionism requires the demise of and continuous crimes against the Palestinian people. I will oppose it regardless of what you label me.

My problem with Zionism is their dream for a homeland is at the cost of my destruction.

In the eyes and minds of Israel’s supporters, I am antisemitic, simply because I am Palestinian. Anything I say about my life, culture, tragedy, and experience is considered the same as vilifying people who are Jewish. Never mind that Zionism is a politically exclusionary movement that originated in Europe and it does not represent all Jews.

Zionist leaders and some of their followers have for years accused me and anyone else who fight for our Palestinian rights as a human being as being antisemitic. They launched campaigns in the United States and across Europe to discredit, dehumanize, fight our narrative and try to erase our existence. They want us and the world to forget about our lineage in Palestine that goes back more than for thousands of years – something we can scientifically and anthropologically trace.

When a political movement tries to erase my culture, steal my history and my land, I will stand and fight to reclaim my right as a human being born to be free.

Since the creation of Israel, the Zionist movement and their supporters mounted campaign after strategic campaign to remove my people from our homeland. They destroyed our villages and expelled 750,000 people, including my family, from their homes. They rebuild their lives over the rubble of our own homes. They have destroyed our lives and labeled us terrorists, savages, foreigners, fake. They insist that our history and narrative never existed and try to erase our existence...

Read more: Anti-Palestinianism makes the weaponization of antisemitism possible

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S FUTURE ON ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

Source: The New Arab
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/analysis/democratic-partys-future-israel-and-palestine

By Christopher Solomon
Published October 13, 2022

Analysis: The Democratic Party’s direction will depend on three primary criteria: the political strength of the party's centrist leadership, the trajectory of Israeli politics, and the long-term views of the American public towards Palestinians.

“We have seen certain Democrats take positions against Israel
that were difficult to imagine not too long ago.
There has certainly been a change in discourse.”

Giorgio Cafiero, Chief Executive Officer
Gulf States Analytics

As the United States prepares for the 2022 midterm elections, the Democratic Party is faced with increasing challenges related to one of the most enduring US foreign policy issues in the Middle East.

In late September, strains between the White House and the Israeli government were reportedly growing over Israel’s security escalation in the occupied West Bank, along with signals that the Israeli leadership had approved additional settlement construction.

The US-led peace process between Israelis and Palestinians remains indefinitely moribund, so how will the Democrats adjust to the evolving political landscape at home and abroad regarding this divisive issue?

A new American political landscape

At home, the future of the Democratic Party and its relations with Israel is entering into a prolonged period of uncertainty. The mood within the party has dramatically changed over the last few years and was especially notable during the May 2021 Israeli war on Gaza.

Writing months after the May 2021 conflict, Robert Wexler, a former Democratic member of Congress, noted in The New York Times that “a small group of progressive Democrats have now forced a simmering debate within the party, and in their constituency, to the surface”...

Read more: The Democratic Party's future on Israel and Palestine