\nloudly against mass murder, mass maiming, mass starvation, mass deprivation of medical care, etc. wherever the IDF and Mossad perps are violently advancing the extremely devastating and deadly
\nGreater Israel<\/em> project.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The_new_anti_semitism.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n
IT\u2019S OFFICIAL!\u00a0You are now \u2018antisemitic\u2019 if you
\nspeak or act against the ongoing mass murder of innocents known as the Gaza Genocide…or the
\nLebanese Genocide…of the West Bank Genocide.<\/b><\/h2>\n
State of the Nation<\/p>\n
Of all the abominations that have been produced by the ZOG Trump regime perhpas the most egregious and galling is the unrelenting attempts to criminalize any valid criticism of the apartheid Zionist state of Israel.<\/p>\n
\n
No, It\u2019s Not Antisemitic to Charge Israel With Genocide and It\u2019s Dangerous to Say It Is<\/h1>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.countercurrents.org\/2026\/04\/Gaza-Killing-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nIs it antisemitic to say that Israel is committing\u00a0genocide<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Gaza<\/a>? More generally, is it \u201churtful and insensitive\u201d for someone to acknowledge the suffering that Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people? In recent weeks, actions by two different institutions of higher learning brought these two questions to the forefront.<\/p>\nOn April 15, a group of faculty and student organizations at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, hosted celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mosab Abu Toha to speak at the campus. During his appearance, to set the stage for the poems he was to read, Abu Toha shared his experiences living in\u00a0Gaza<\/a>\u00a0during the start of the Israeli assault. He told of the members of his and his wife\u2019s families who had been killed in Israel\u2019s bombing campaigns. Entire families erased, neighborhoods laid waste, memories eradicated. It was, he stated, a genocide.<\/p>\nDays after event, Le Moyne\u2019s president issued a statement apologizing for the discomfort that Abu Toha\u2019s remarks may have created for some in the college community. The letter noted that his use of the word genocide in connection with the state of Israel caused \u201creal hurt\u201d and was leaving \u201csome members of our community to feel unwelcome.\u201d The president concluded by affirming that \u201cantisemitism, along with all forms of bigotry and hate, has no place at Le Moyne.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abu Toha responded to the president\u2019s letter with an \u201copen letter\u201d of his own, rejecting the implication that using the word genocide to describe Israel\u2019s actions could be termed antisemitic.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeriously?\u201d he asked. \u201cAre the crimes of the Israeli state representative of all Jewish people? I personally refuse to believe that is the case\u2026 I never used the word \u2018Jewish\u2019 during the entire event; I refuse to conflate the faith of Judaism with the actions of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
He concluded: \u201cIf anyone told you they felt \u2018hurt\u2019 because I used the word genocide, then I ask you: How should I feel? How should my wife feel after losing her father? How should my three\u00a0children<\/a>\u00a0feel after losing their grandfather?\u201d<\/p>\nAnd then, this past weekend, the University of Michigan held its commencement ceremonies. One of the speakers was the president of the faculty senate. He began his short but eloquent remarks by noting that while the university celebrates its athletes and their accomplishments, there are other heroes who should also be celebrated\u2014those who challenged the stale and unjust status quo of the university by opening the doors to inclusion and understanding.<\/p>\n
He began by mentioning a young woman who in 1858 challenged the school\u2019s opposition to enrolling women as students. He went on to note the first Jewish faculty member and the Black Action Movement that pressed the university to expand their curriculum to honor the black experience, and closed by recognizing the \u201cstudent activists\u2026 who sacrificed much to open our hearts to the injustices happening in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
His remarks were so beautifully constructed and presented that they elicited a roar of approval from those in attendance. The video of the event appearing on the university\u2019s website shows his colleagues and administrators applauding the speech.<\/p>\n
Within a few days, the same university president who is seen applauding issued a letter denouncing the professor\u2019s speech as \u201churtful and insensitive\u201d and \u201cinappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
(To avoid \u201cfurther controversy\u201d the university removed the video of the event\u2014in which the president is seen applauding the speech\u2014from the website).<\/p>\n
The question that must be asked, in addition to those noted above, is what is the logic behind this claim that the remarks of both Abu Toha and the faculty senate president were hurtful to the point of being antisemitic?<\/p>\n
The place to begin is by asking: \u201cWhat is antisemitism?\u201d The simplest and clearest definition is that\u00a0antisemitism<\/a>\u00a0is hatred of, stereotyping of, or discrimination against Jewish people because they are Jews. Like other forms of bigotry, it claims that there are inherent characteristics or behaviors that are shared by all Jews, simply because they are Jewish.<\/p>\nGiven this, the only way that criticism of Israeli actions can constitute antisemitism is if the critic implies that Israel does what it does because it is Jewish and \u201cthat\u2019s the way Jews are,\u201d or if the person making the claim of antisemitism maintains that because Israel says it is a Jewish state that whatever it does represents all Jews and therefore criticism of Israeli policies is the same as criticism of the Jewish people.<\/p>\n
This latter position has long been propagated by pro-Israel organizations. Until recently, this proposition was mostly rejected, but it has now come to gain acceptance. It is dangerous precisely because it posits that Israel represents all Jews and therefore criticism of Israel becomes criticism of the Jewish people. It is worth noting that the assumption underlying this assertion fits hand-in-glove with the claim of real antisemites who argue that the consequences of Israel\u2019s bad behaviors can legitimately be visited on all Jews. Interestingly, this is the same logic that has long plagued Arab Americans who have been victims of hate crimes because it was claimed that their ethnicity or\u00a0religion<\/a>\u00a0made them legitimate targets in response to the actions of some Arab groups in the Middle East.<\/p>\nThe other consequence is that, as Abu Toha correctly notes, it denies the victims of Israel\u2019s behaviors their legitimate right to speak of their pain and call out, with specificity, the agent who caused it because of the hurt that might cause those who support Israel\u2014or in the case of the University of Michigan, to deny the right of students to empathize with and demand that Palestinian victims be heard, because acknowledging Palestinian pain might also cause hurt feelings.<\/p>\n
Dr. James J. Zogby<\/strong>\u00a0is the author of Arab Voices (2010) and the founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community. Since 1985, Dr. Zogby and AAI have led Arab American efforts to secure political empowerment in the U.S. Through voter registration, education and mobilization, AAI has moved Arab Americans into the political mainstream. Dr. Zogby has also been personally active in U.S. politics for many years; in 1984 and 1988 he served as Deputy Campaign manager and Senior Advisor to the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. In 1988, he led the first ever debate on Palestinian statehood at that year\u2019s Democratic convention in Atlanta, GA. In 2000, 2008, and 2016 he served as an advisor to the Gore, Obama, and Sanders presidential campaigns.<\/p>\nOriginally published in\u00a0CommonDreams.org<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/figure>\nIs it antisemitic to say that Israel is committing\u00a0genocide<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Gaza<\/a>? More generally, is it \u201churtful and insensitive\u201d for someone to acknowledge the suffering that Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people? In recent weeks, actions by two different institutions of higher learning brought these two questions to the forefront.<\/p>\n On April 15, a group of faculty and student organizations at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, hosted celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mosab Abu Toha to speak at the campus. During his appearance, to set the stage for the poems he was to read, Abu Toha shared his experiences living in\u00a0Gaza<\/a>\u00a0during the start of the Israeli assault. He told of the members of his and his wife\u2019s families who had been killed in Israel\u2019s bombing campaigns. Entire families erased, neighborhoods laid waste, memories eradicated. It was, he stated, a genocide.<\/p>\n Days after event, Le Moyne\u2019s president issued a statement apologizing for the discomfort that Abu Toha\u2019s remarks may have created for some in the college community. The letter noted that his use of the word genocide in connection with the state of Israel caused \u201creal hurt\u201d and was leaving \u201csome members of our community to feel unwelcome.\u201d The president concluded by affirming that \u201cantisemitism, along with all forms of bigotry and hate, has no place at Le Moyne.\u201d<\/p>\n Abu Toha responded to the president\u2019s letter with an \u201copen letter\u201d of his own, rejecting the implication that using the word genocide to describe Israel\u2019s actions could be termed antisemitic.<\/p>\n \u201cSeriously?\u201d he asked. \u201cAre the crimes of the Israeli state representative of all Jewish people? I personally refuse to believe that is the case\u2026 I never used the word \u2018Jewish\u2019 during the entire event; I refuse to conflate the faith of Judaism with the actions of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n He concluded: \u201cIf anyone told you they felt \u2018hurt\u2019 because I used the word genocide, then I ask you: How should I feel? How should my wife feel after losing her father? How should my three\u00a0children<\/a>\u00a0feel after losing their grandfather?\u201d<\/p>\n And then, this past weekend, the University of Michigan held its commencement ceremonies. One of the speakers was the president of the faculty senate. He began his short but eloquent remarks by noting that while the university celebrates its athletes and their accomplishments, there are other heroes who should also be celebrated\u2014those who challenged the stale and unjust status quo of the university by opening the doors to inclusion and understanding.<\/p>\n He began by mentioning a young woman who in 1858 challenged the school\u2019s opposition to enrolling women as students. He went on to note the first Jewish faculty member and the Black Action Movement that pressed the university to expand their curriculum to honor the black experience, and closed by recognizing the \u201cstudent activists\u2026 who sacrificed much to open our hearts to the injustices happening in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n His remarks were so beautifully constructed and presented that they elicited a roar of approval from those in attendance. The video of the event appearing on the university\u2019s website shows his colleagues and administrators applauding the speech.<\/p>\n Within a few days, the same university president who is seen applauding issued a letter denouncing the professor\u2019s speech as \u201churtful and insensitive\u201d and \u201cinappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n (To avoid \u201cfurther controversy\u201d the university removed the video of the event\u2014in which the president is seen applauding the speech\u2014from the website).<\/p>\n The question that must be asked, in addition to those noted above, is what is the logic behind this claim that the remarks of both Abu Toha and the faculty senate president were hurtful to the point of being antisemitic?<\/p>\n The place to begin is by asking: \u201cWhat is antisemitism?\u201d The simplest and clearest definition is that\u00a0antisemitism<\/a>\u00a0is hatred of, stereotyping of, or discrimination against Jewish people because they are Jews. Like other forms of bigotry, it claims that there are inherent characteristics or behaviors that are shared by all Jews, simply because they are Jewish.<\/p>\n Given this, the only way that criticism of Israeli actions can constitute antisemitism is if the critic implies that Israel does what it does because it is Jewish and \u201cthat\u2019s the way Jews are,\u201d or if the person making the claim of antisemitism maintains that because Israel says it is a Jewish state that whatever it does represents all Jews and therefore criticism of Israeli policies is the same as criticism of the Jewish people.<\/p>\n This latter position has long been propagated by pro-Israel organizations. Until recently, this proposition was mostly rejected, but it has now come to gain acceptance. It is dangerous precisely because it posits that Israel represents all Jews and therefore criticism of Israel becomes criticism of the Jewish people. It is worth noting that the assumption underlying this assertion fits hand-in-glove with the claim of real antisemites who argue that the consequences of Israel\u2019s bad behaviors can legitimately be visited on all Jews. Interestingly, this is the same logic that has long plagued Arab Americans who have been victims of hate crimes because it was claimed that their ethnicity or\u00a0religion<\/a>\u00a0made them legitimate targets in response to the actions of some Arab groups in the Middle East.<\/p>\n The other consequence is that, as Abu Toha correctly notes, it denies the victims of Israel\u2019s behaviors their legitimate right to speak of their pain and call out, with specificity, the agent who caused it because of the hurt that might cause those who support Israel\u2014or in the case of the University of Michigan, to deny the right of students to empathize with and demand that Palestinian victims be heard, because acknowledging Palestinian pain might also cause hurt feelings.<\/p>\n Dr. James J. Zogby<\/strong>\u00a0is the author of Arab Voices (2010) and the founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community. Since 1985, Dr. Zogby and AAI have led Arab American efforts to secure political empowerment in the U.S. Through voter registration, education and mobilization, AAI has moved Arab Americans into the political mainstream. Dr. Zogby has also been personally active in U.S. politics for many years; in 1984 and 1988 he served as Deputy Campaign manager and Senior Advisor to the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. In 1988, he led the first ever debate on Palestinian statehood at that year\u2019s Democratic convention in Atlanta, GA. In 2000, 2008, and 2016 he served as an advisor to the Gore, Obama, and Sanders presidential campaigns.<\/p>\n Originally published in\u00a0CommonDreams.org<\/a><\/p>\n