Anti-Semitism Is Poison for the Palestinian Cause

"Two years after Hamas's attack on southern Israel, anti-Semitic violence seems to be on the rise throughout the West. On Yom Kippur, a man drove a car into a crowd outside a synagogue in Manchester, England, then got out and stabbed members of the congregation before he was also killed. On June 2 in Boulder, Colorado, an Egyptian national threw Molotov cocktails at protesters calling for the release of Israeli hostages, killing one of them. Such incidents have grown more frequent as the Israeli military's deadly operation in Gaza grinds on."

"All hate crimes are reprehensible. Supporters of the Palestinian cause should recognize that attacks against Jews are also highly damaging to their movement. That's true even though such attacks are typically the work of deranged or hyper-radicalized individuals, not organizations, and do not represent the Palestinian national movement as a whole. Many figures not only on the Israeli right, but also in the West, argue that the Palestinian people and their cause are inherently hateful and prone to anti-Jewish violence. This is analogous to declaring that "Zionism is racism," despite the numerous divergent strands of Zionism. The truth about the Palestinian movement is of course far more complex, but the simplistic narrative has gotten a boost from Western populists, including those whose own ranks include openly anti-Semitic factions."

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly linked the quest for Palestinian statehood to anti-Semitic violence: He argued that the recent recognition of Palestinian statehood by several Western countries " rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas's refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace" Jews, and "encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.""

Anti-Semitic violence in Western countries has risen since the Hamas attack and the ensuing Israeli military campaign in Gaza, with incidents including vehicular and stabbing attacks and arson. Such violent acts harm the Palestinian cause politically, even though perpetrators are often isolated, deranged, or hyper-radicalized individuals rather than formal representatives of Palestinian national movements. Simplistic characterizations of Palestinians as inherently prone to anti-Jewish violence have gained traction among Western populists and some Israeli leaders. Political rhetoric that links recognition of Palestinian statehood to increased Jew-hatred fuels public fear and polarizes debate.

Read at The Atlantic