A report published by the British newspaper The Guardian confirmed that the exclusion of voices critical of Israel as “non-Jewish” and even anti-Semitic has deep roots, and described this as a distortion of history.

The report talked about the story of Dr. William Zuckerman (born in 1885 in Russia), whose family was able to immigrate to the United States in 1900 to escape the attacks to which Jews were exposed, as well as poverty.

The author of the report, Kenan Malik, stated that during World War I, Zuckerman returned to Europe to work with a charitable foundation to help American Jewish soldiers. He settled in London and established the European office of The Jewish Morning Journal.

In 1948, he returned to the United States and founded the Jewish Newsletter, coinciding with the establishment of the new State of Israel. Zuckerman's articles were published in dozens of Jewish newspapers and he became a correspondent for a British Jewish newspaper in New York.

Don't criticize Israel

The writer explained that it was possible for the Jewish establishment to embrace Zuckerman as a model public figure, but there was one problem preventing that, which was his constant criticism of the policies of the newly established State of Israel.

Zuckerman's defense of Palestinian refugees alarmed Israeli diplomats, who succeeded in organizing a behind-the-scenes campaign to prevent his work from being published in the Jewish press.

The writer stated that Zuckerman’s story is one of many stories told by Jeffrey Levin in his new book, “Our Palestinian Question,” about the forgotten history of Jewish opposition in the United States in the decades following the establishment of Israel, and it is one of several novels that will be published this year to explore the history of American Jewish opposition to Zionism. And support the Palestinian cause.

Malek explained that while some Jews see that the fact that the Hamas movement is a threat to Israel’s existence gives it the right to take any necessary measures to eliminate it, others see that whatever the “atrocities” left behind by the attacks of last October 7, the destruction of Gaza and the killing of More than 25,000 Palestinians and the displacement of almost the entire population is unreasonable and contrary to Jewish moral traditions.

He said this division led to intense debates about what it means to be Jewish and the meaning of anti-Semitism.

"non-Jews"

In 2021, an article in the Jewish magazine “Tablet” described Jews who criticize Israel or Zionism as “non-Jews.” Three years later, this description seems to have found greater resonance, and perhaps the official rejection of the term “non-Jews” is not found in any country more established. from Germany.

Susan Neiman, the American Jewish philosopher and director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam for the past quarter century, said: “To be a left-wing Jew in Germany today means to live in a state of permanent cognitive dissonance. German politicians and the media constantly talk about protecting Jews from anti-Semitism, but many people Those who criticize the Israeli government and the war on Gaza have certainly been ostracized and attacked. I am an Israeli citizen and have been accused of being a supporter of Hamas and even Nazism in the mainstream media. Should I add that I am not?

According to researcher Emily Desch-Becker, about a third of those ostracized in Germany for supposed anti-Semitism were Jews.

Kenan Malik stated that for many supporters of Israel, the history of Jewish suffering - which culminated in the Holocaust - made it necessary to defend the nation and maintain its security at all costs, and for critics of Israel, it is precisely this history that creates the moral necessity to defend Palestinian rights.

Source: Guardian+ Aljazeera