A recent My View, titled “Why is antisemitism so rampant today in America?” (River Reporter, June 11-17) invites us to understand the complexity of the issue in all its social, political, technological and international facets. 

Unfortunately, because the writer fails to put the issue in the context of the events taking place in the world today, he not only fails to engage the actual complexity of what we’re dealing with, but also exposes some of the deep contradictions and cognitive dissonance that are currently tearing our country apart.

Throughout the piece, the writer appeals to principle: “We’re a nation that prides itself on tolerance and diversity.” “Societies become stronger when they protect minorities…,” “all Americans deserve to live free from hatred and discrimination.”

For those who give more than a passing interest to the principles of equality and human rights, there has been awareness, since long before October 7, 2023, that Palestine, as a whole and in pieces, has been the scene of great injustices within recent history, to which the United States has been directly complicit. History didn’t begin on October 7, but its aftermath has brought the world into a new era—the age of genocide, when all crimes and atrocities are seemingly permitted.

If equality and human rights are America’s strength, why shouldn’t those principles apply to our close ally, Israel, which we fund generously with our tax dollars? Here we see the contradiction begin to take shape. Israel, in its fundamental conception, has no interest in these American principles.

Americans learned late that the state of Israel was formed in 1948 out of a brutal depopulation campaign carried out through most of the land of Palestine. Since 1967, the remainder has been under Israeli military occupation, where Palestinians have been denied all rights—the right to self-determination, the right to vote, equal protection under the law, access to justice, and the right to security and freedom of movement. 

Zionist Israel is not a nation that prides itself on tolerance and diversity; it does not protect minorities, and Palestinians don’t live free from hatred and discrimination.

The belief in equal rights for all people makes one an advocate for Jewish rights and an enemy of antisemitism, but it also necessarily makes one an anti-Zionist. So this blurred line between criticizing the actions of the state of Israel and having animosity toward Jewish people means everyone gets smeared with the same antisemitism brush. Students who organized across racial and religious lines to oppose Israel’s atrocities were the first to be attacked. Just pointing out the factual crimes of Israel or even advocating for the rights of Palestinians now earns you the label of antisemite.

There is real antisemitism, born of reactionary impulses of tribalism and xenophobia. But in today’s discourse, there is no way to distinguish between regressive hatred and the principled stand for American values. Both are called antisemitism by supporters of Israel. So the troubling resurgence of antisemitism is not quite what it seems.

The state of affairs poses the question: is concern for feelings really as important as the genocide taking place in Gaza, which apparently has no cut-off date? If we want to stand on principle, shouldn’t it be that all people, everywhere, have a right to be free? We are nearing a thousand days of the ordeal that the defenseless civilians of Gaza have endured. Three years of no electricity, of living in tents, of random murder by drones, of starvation, of the threat of indiscriminate detention served up with medieval torture. How long would any of us survive these conditions? That’s the point, isn’t it? To torture and murder and starve until there’s no one left.

It is a status quo that our democracy is unlikely to survive. Free speech is gone, elections are subverted by money, and our government, administered by both parties, seems content to see this horror show play out to the bitter end. All of us who are concerned about equal rights, diversity and tolerance need to come together to bring this nightmare to an end.

Doug Rogers lives in Long Eddy, NY.