When Judaism Gets Weaponized

A few thoughts about the UW report

As you probably have heard, the University of Washington put out its long-awaited Climate Assessment and Reports from the Antisemitism and Islamophobia Task Force in October. The 143-page report took months to put together and contains nearly eight pages of first-person accounts. Here are just a few examples of experiences shared by Jewish students and staff (all typos are in the original):

Burning the Israeli flag and cheering. Cutting up the Israeli flag and cheering. Chants from the entire quad, “We dont want two state solutions, Antifada revolution.” Spray paint reading, “Drop out.” “Fuck off Zionists.” I once even saw a sign that read “Jews = Zionists, Zionists = Pigs.” with a large star of David in the center, a red X through it. The phrase “that shall not KILL,” but “KILL” being in all capitols and painted in red and in a much more noticeable spot than the rest of the sentence. “ISRAEL WILL FALL.” Demand for the abolishment of Hillel for offering Birthright trips.

I have lost friendships and been blamed for the horrible acts done to Palestinians. I have been blamed for the acts done by the Israeli military, I have been called a Zionist pig and told to go die.

I have been told "I am happy your friend got killed", "Jewish women can't be raped", "Death to the Jews", "We will do it again" (in relation to the oct 7 massacre). I have been spit on/towards, intimidated, threatened with physical violence, and even told "you don't belong here" by a UW professor. I have seen swastikas on UW campus and antisemitic graffiti in the surrounding area.

About seven seconds after the report landed, a 3,000-word statement led by UW Jewish studies faculty went out criticizing it.

After a boilerplate condemnation — “harassment, intimidation, or violence against students for being Jewish should not be tolerated on our campus” — they explain their central problem:

We are disappointed and alarmed, however, that the report’s conclusions and recommendations are not borne out by the survey data collected and, moreover, that they rely on flawed methodology and unclear and misleading operational definitions of antisemitism that simplistically conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism. We fear that the report will be used as a pretext to attack EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) committees across campuses. We are also concerned that it will erode shared governance by giving inappropriate influence to external organizations that do not represent the values or diversity of views of Jews at UW.

The last line is a reference to outside Jewish advocacy organizations, including StandWithUs, that the UW allegedly brought in to provide outside and public accountability.

This decision is the subject of an article that came out this week in JTA, “Should outsiders step in to address campus antisemitism? The question is dividing Jews at the U of Washington.”

This is not the right question.

What we should be asking is: Why are Jewish professors laser-focused on the apparent shortcomings of the Jewish-Zionist side of the study? The study includes a plurality of Jewish views, including anti-Zionist Jewish experiences of harassment and discrimination that are also totally unacceptable. It can’t be about the small sample size, which they also complain about, since the Islamophobia study struggled with this, too.

Why are Jewish studies faculty so intent on delegitimizing Jewish students’ lived experiences of harassment, bullying, and discrimination? How can they exhibit zero sympathy for the students who have shared these horrific stories, students who may even be getting a degree in their department?

The complete dismissal of vile reports of anti-Jewish bias that echo thousands of reports around the country reveals political motivations, self-righteous conviction, and pathological lack of awareness and sympathy.

Jewish anti-Zionists like to claim that mainstream Jews and Jewish organizations weaponize anti-Semitism to shut down criticism of Israel. This is part of the critique of bringing in a group like StandWithUs, an Israel advocacy organization that considers Judaism and Zionism aligned, which anti-Zionists argue makes it impossible to criticize Israel.

In fact, many anti-Zionist Jews weaponize Judaism to shut down Jewish claims of discrimination. Rather than invest in a fruitful diaspora Jewish identity, these activists throw their Jewish identities into clawing at any association of Israel with Judaism. For many, this Jewish identity is defined by what Judaism is decidedly not. It eschews a sense of shared history and tradition and is marked by palatable bits of culture. It’s a Judaism that is considered so fluid it has evaporated into a mist.

This Jewish “mist” can be sprayed whenever an anti-Jewish situation needs to be deodorized. Take this opinion piece by Jewish educators that came out in the South Seattle Emerald this week, about a Seattle Public Schools teacher who has been on administrative leave since going on camera justifying the rape and murder of Israeli civilians.

"Let Us Deal Wisely with Them"

These Jewish educators mislead readers, and themselves, to think that the teacher, Ian Golash, is being unfairly punished for his political views:

As Jewish educators, we feel it is vital to be clear that being critical of Israel is not antisemitism, and censoring discussions about the war on Gaza is not protecting Jewish students.

But Golash was not criticizing Israel, and he is not being censored. He is being held accountable for sharing conspiracy theories and supporting a massacre conducted by a terrorist organization — and considering these actions educational and appropriate for his social studies class. These Jewish supporters (who may be talking to Golash in violation of his administrative leave arrangement, by the way) use their Jewishness to distort reality and support an obscene cause.

When reports of anti-Judaism and anti-Zionism come out, we tend to fall into a defensive crouch. We turn out our pockets to show they are empty. We wonder where we went wrong and what we can do to bring everyone comfortably into the tent.

Rather, we need to see the bigger picture and call out Jews who weaponize their Jewishness to enable more hate and discrimination of other Jews.

Cover photo by Joe Mabel/Wikimedia Commons

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