Antisemitism by Any Other Name

Social media overflows with clips of anti-Israel activists facing a simple question: “What’s your motivation for protesting?”

Their answers vary. Some charge the Zionists with everything from land theft and colonialization to ethnic cleansing and apartheid—while demanding a land free of Jews from the river to the sea. Others decry the suffering of women and children in Gaza or lambaste Israel for oppressing the Palestinians.

Yet in the thousands of clips circulating online, no protester voices the real reason driving much of this movement: “We’re here because we loathe the Jews and are antisemitic to the core.”

Many of these protestors likely haven’t even admitted the ugly truth to themselves. Some may genuinely be unaware of the antisemitic beliefs fueling their actions. We live in a progressive society that prides itself on tolerating everything—except injustice, oppression and suffering, of course. And in such an enlightened environment, something as politically incorrect as antisemitism clearly has no place. Their censure is thus merely a reaction to the wrongs Israel routinely commits. It is, after all, the responsibility—indeed, the sacred duty—for those who cherish justice and freedom to keep every nation accountable for its misdeeds. And if that nation happens to be the world’s only Jewish one? Well, that’s purely coincidental. 

The Evolution of an Ancient Hatred

There’s a kernel of truth in this argument. We do have a responsibility—indeed, a sacred duty—to hold all nations accountable for their actions. Israel isn’t above criticism, nor should it be. But here’s where the argument falls apart. 

Antisemitism is a shapeshifting virus, which mutates to adapt to the times. In centuries past, Jews were hated for their religion. When religious intolerance fell out of favor, they were hated for their race. After the Holocaust, racial discrimination against Jews became taboo, so antisemitism evolved again. Today, Jews are hated for their nation. “The politically correct way to be antisemitic is not to say, ‘I hate the Jews’ but to say ‘I hate Israel,’” executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations summarized.

Where’s the Line in the Sand?

But how to distinguish between valid censure of Israel and Jew hatred dressed up as virtue? Human rights advocate Natan Sharansky formulated a set of criteria to expose antisemitism hiding “behind the veneer of legitimate criticism of Israel,” dubbing it the three Ds of antisemitism: delegitimization, demonization and double standards.

Delegitimization denies Israel’s fundamental right to exist and the Jewish people’s right for self-determination. Examples include denouncing Israel as a racist endeavor or highlighting Israel’s illegitimacy as a nation state—while having no issue other nation states like Spain and the UK. It also includes the “From the River to the Sea” chant, which rejects the existence of the Jewish state, calls for its destruction and encourages ethnic cleansing of the Jewish people from the region.  

Demonization amplifies Israel’s actions beyond reasonable proportions, for instance, comparing Israelis and Nazis or Gaza and Auschwitz. It includes cartoons published in leading news outlets likening Israel’s actions to those of Hitler and his henchmen or cartoons using antisemitic tropes of the blood libel.

However, double standards are often the heart of the matter, with antisemitism revealing itself in the obsessive scrutiny of Israel and holding the Jewish state to an impossibly high standard not applied to other nations while excusing or ignoring far worse atrocities elsewhere.

Biased Much?

More than 300,000 civilians died in the Syrian Civil War (2011–2024), with the Butcher of Damascus, Bashar al-Assad, unleashing chemical weapons on civilians. The death toll in the Yemen Civil War (2014–present) tops 150,000, with an additional 227,000, including 85,000 children, dying from starvation and disease. Then there’s Sudan, where 150,000 people perished since April 2023. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, seventy Christians—including women and children—were recently beheaded. And some 52,000 Christians were slaughtered in Nigeria.

None of these atrocities motivated activists to take to city streets and college campuses. No sit-ins were organized. Nobody made the effort to take legal action. And the International Criminal Court has been strangely silent about arrest warrants.

It’s crucial to clarify that this argument isn’t based on the idea that the Israel–Palestinian conflict deserves less attention simply because it isn't as gruesome or the body count isn't as high. After all, Israel’s ultimate goal isn’t outdoing dictators and terrorists.

The real issue is this: Those who rally en masse against social injustices only when the Jewish state is involved reveal that they don’t have a problem with injustice but rather with Jews.

There’s More

According to the UN Human Rights Council, Israel is the only country that deserves a standing item on its agenda at every meeting. The UN’s Economic and Social Council rebuked only Israel—not Afghanistan or Iran—for violating women’s rights in 2020. Also in 2020, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel on 17 separate occasions, compared to 6 for the rest of the world. The International Red Cross denies admission to only Israel’s ambulance service. An Israeli athlete was penalized for wrapping himself in the Israeli flag after a victory, while other athletes in the same position received no condemnation. Pakistan recently deported almost a million refugees—nearly half the Gazan population—to almost certain death under the Taliban in Afghanistan. Yet nobody noticed.

When the IDF launched an operation at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Jewish doctors accompanied the forces to aid Palestinian patients. Israeli soldiers carried aid for the civilians inside. Yet critics condemned Israel, not Hamas for misusing humanitarian facilities for military purposes.

Israel provided proof that United Nations Relief and Works Agency employees had participated in the October 7 attack, but when Israel targeted these terrorists, the world mourned the loss of educators and aid workers. Hamas terrorists on Al-Jazeera’s payroll died as innocent members of the media. In fact, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, every death in Gaza so far has been civilian—and the anti-Israel lobby nods in agreement, citing the statistics to accuse Israel of genocide.

When thousands of Gazans risked their lives to protest Hamas and the terror organization responded with torture, imprisonment and execution, both the mainstream media and the so-called pro-Palestinian activists remained mum—and by their silence provided the irrefutable proof that they do, in fact, care very little for the Palestinians if Israel cannot be vilified in the process.

I could go on. The examples are endless. The point’s been made though. When our responsibility as world citizens morphs into a singular campaign to delegitimize, demonize and dismantle the world’s only Jewish state—while remaining silent on other nations’ transgressions—it ceases to be about morality. When one’s concern for right and wrong, injustice, suffering and oppression is awakened solely when the accused is Jewish, that’s antisemitism. And antisemitism by any other name is just as vile, just as insidious and just as repulsive.