War Day #143. Gateway Antisemitism
Monday, February 26. You should read this one.
Ever hear of Gateway Antisemitism? (I just made that term up, but the concept is not new.)
You’re not antisemitic. Nope, not you.
Marching against the incursion into Gaza isn’t antisemitic. Championing those Gazan civilians? It’s anti Zionist. Not antisemitic. Nope, not even if you don’t mention the October 7 carnage.
Not even if you’ve stopped mentioning the 100+ hostages Hamas kidnapped and is still molesting.
There’s nothing wrong with marching for Palestinians. You feel smug, self righteous, pleased with yourself. You feel pleased with your empathy for a beleaguered group, without the responsibility of actually having to do anything. You feel supportive without any work involved.
And it’s social: All your friends are marching too. All the social fun of a cocktail party without anyone having to ante up for the alcohol.
From the river to the sea. You’re not sure which river, and you couldn’t locate the sea on a map. But that doesn’t make you antisemitic.
Even though the protests have grown violent. Even though people have been physically assaulted. Even though Jewish college students have had to hide because they have feared for their physical safety.
None of that was you.
You’re allowed to march. You’re encouraged to march. It’s a righteous, noble cause. Even if you don’t know the details of the history per se, even if you couldn’t explain the timeline or the provenance, everyone knows Jews are displacing indigenous Palestinians, right?
Right?
You did tip your hand a bit. You and your buddies didn’t start protesting with the loss of lives in Gaza. You started early, on October 7.
That is when you started. It wasn’t a protest that day.
It was a celebration.
Both in Gaza and worldwide.
You weren’t appalled on behalf of the Palestinians on October 7.
You were gleeful with them. Celebrating. Rejoicing.
Dead Jews everywhere.
Just to make sure no one missed that you were actually supporting Hamas and their carnage, you obligingly referred to your protests as floods, echoing Hamas’ name for its atrocity, Al Aqsa flood. “Globalize the Intifada” also got the message across succinctly, since that means kill Jews worldwide. Thanks for the shorthand.
The fact that you - and they - are gleeful, rather than just distraught, is why there will likely be no Palestinian State anytime soon. Because we, even most of the left wing amongst us Israelis, have finally realized that when you say you are a death cult, this is what you mean. Your motivation is not to live and thrive. It is to martyr yourselves for the cause.
The cause being dead Jews.
Dara Horn called it a righteous act of resistance, because Jews have no right to exist.
Resonate much?
(If you think I’m exaggerating, I’d be happy to join you in that cave.)
You’re not someone who would help out in a Nazi concentration camp. You’re not someone who would stalk Jews online and release their details to terrorists. You wouldn’t kill anyone directly. Nope, not you.
You’re not a bad person. You’re just fighting heroically for a cause you don’t understand, and couldn’t explain.
You wouldn’t do any actual killing.
Even though you’re loudly chanting that others should.
Be careful.
Gateway antisemitism is exactly that.
It never ends with just the marching.