Antisemitism and Anti-Palestinianism in Germany
This isn’t a full newsletter. And we don’t have a Zoom call this Friday because I’ll be in Berlin at a conference entitled, “Hijacking Memory.” If you follow global debates about Israel-Palestine, you may know that in Germany the equation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism makes it excruciatingly difficult—even more difficult than in the US—to advocate for Palestinian rights. In 2020, Haaretz noted that, “Across Germany a fierce campaign is underway against every person, organization or event that holds anti-Israel views, whether real or surmised.” It offered striking examples of artists and scholars—including Jewish artists and scholars—having their events cancelled, or losing their jobs, merely for being associated with people who support boycotting the Jewish state. Earlier this year, Jewish Currents (subscribe!) reported on the enormous burden this ideological climate puts on Arab and Muslim journalists in Germany.
The “Hijacking Memory” conference—which features a remarkable array of speakers from Israel-Palestine, North America, and across Europe—constitutes a response to all this. It’s based on the insistence that the struggle against antisemitism must be part of a broader struggle for the rights and dignity of all people, Palestinians included. I’ll be participating in a conversation on Friday with former parliamentarian and 1968 student leader, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and then on a panel after the German premier of the documentary, “Boycott.” If you’re in the area, please stop by.
Other Stuff:
Before I leave for Germany, I’ll be in Washington, DC on Tuesday, June 7 speaking at the National American Muslim Policy Conference.
Last week, I published a New York Times column suggesting that Joe Biden’s foreign policy team suffers from groupthink.
For MSNBC, I talked about the war in Ukraine with Mehdi Hasan and about Iran’s nuclear progress with Ayman Mohyeldin.
For the Foundation for Middle East Peace’s “Occupied Thoughts” Podcast, I spoke with Waleed Shahid, spokesperson for Justice Democrats, about AIPAC’s big-money assault on candidates who support Palestinian rights.
If you’re interested in the history of the American Left’s relationship with Israel, you’ll enjoy this recent lecture by Eric Alterman at Tel Aviv University.
This is how television punditry sounded in my youth.
Reminder: No Zoom call on Friday.
Best,
Peter
Pro-Palestine activists like Peter have no one but themselves to blame if the correct equation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism makes it "excruciatingly difficult to advocate for Palestinian rights."
From day one "Palestinian rights" has been weaponized by its alleged supporters to mean "death to Israel." The phrase "Pro-Palestinian" has long been conflated with the bigoted assertions that Jewish rights are racism, that Jews have no right to statehood or self-determination, that Jews are "imperialists" and "colonizers" in their own homeland, that Jewish history is a lie, and that any peace with Israel is "normalization" and a betrayal of the Palestinian people. Equating anti-Zionism and Palestinian rights was a huge mistake that Palestine advocates have been making for decades and show no sign of stopping.
Imagine if people who allegedly supported Palestinian rights united as a movement and said as a group "We want peace between the Jewish state of Israel and the Arab state of Palestine in the form of a two state solution. We respect the Jewish people's right of self-determination in their homeland and all we want is self-determination for Palestinians in their own state of Palestine. We reject anti-Zionism and all efforts to undermine the Jewish character of Israel as well as the Arab character of Palestine." This attitude would be embraced in Germany, in the US, and all over the world. What an absolute tragedy that beliefs like those would never ever be allowed in the modern day pro-Palestinian movement. What a waste. Your movement could easily be part of the solution, if it chooses to, but instead insists on being part of the problem.
Well Beinart, you can't say you weren't warned. As "cancel culture" and its affiliate slogans like "hate speech isn't free speech" and "speech is violence" have gained mainstream acceptance among the left, both conservatives and liberals (like those who wrote the Harper's Letter) warned about the problems they posed for free speech. These critics pointed out that things like "hate speech" is very difficult to define, racism and bigotry can be subjective, and normalizing cancellations for wrongthink will eventually be used against the left by the right. In response to these very understandable concerns, the left sneered at their critics and accused them of being just a bunch of racists who want to be able to say racial slurs or make fun of minorities without consequence. "Screw free speech!" They declared, "We have to protect the feelings of minorities!" And the pro-Palestine activist class, having hitched themselves very firmly to the far left, went right along with the ride.
Oh how the tables have turned! Germany took one look at the pro-Palestine national movement, saw the rampant anti-Semitism there, and has acted accordingly. What? Did you think there wouldn't be any consequences for crashing Holocaust memorials, harassing Holocaust survivors, chasing politicians into bathrooms, and beating up Jews in the street? It's very convenient for pro-Palestinians like Beinart to rediscover their commitment to free speech, now that THEY have a minority group they want the freedom to racially abuse. And now what are you going to do? Run to the far left and tell them "never mind, we were wrong, speech isn't violence?"
We told you that free speech is a value that protects us all, you did not listen, and now you're being hoisted on your own petard. It couldn't happen to more deserving people.
PS: what's "anti-Palestinianism?" Is that a word you just made up to silence your movement's critics? Naughty naughty!