Katherine Brodsky: The 'good Jews' trotted out to bash Israel (2024)

Within any group of people, there are large disagreements. Jews are certainly no different, having probably as many opinions on the goings-on in the Middle East as there are Jewish people. Even those who support Israel are on a spectrum, with some being more critical of Israeli actions and policies, and others being more supportive.

We’re all entitled to our own perspectives (though not facts). That means that those Jews who aren’t supportive of Israeli actions are certainly entitled to a voice — as individuals.

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That said, organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJVC), which claim to speak on behalf of a subset of Jews, are frequently propped up by media as representatives of the “Jewish” community. They tokenize fringe Jews for political means. JVP, by the way, consists of many non-Jews as well, with one of its chapter co-founders being Ibraheem Samirah, a Palestinian-American politician.

They appropriate Jewish symbols, wear watermelon-themed kippahs and betray their ignorance by printing Hebrew words left-to-right, instead of correctly writing right-to-left. It’s obvious that the connection of many participants to their Jewishness is being over-exaggerated for effect, given that text direction is basic knowledge for even the most secular Jews.

Meanwhile, IJVC has promoted articles to its followers from white supremacist websites. One such article falsely claimed that no more than one million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany and justified antisemitism as a natural response to Israel’s policies. (IJVC later removed the postings promoting the articles, and apologized for the “oversight.”)

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Their purpose seems to be to use “as a Jew” to deflect accusations of antisemitism. They are a useful tool to bad actors, permitting the use of their Jewish identity and history (such as having Holocaust survivors in the family) to attack not only Israel, but also the Jews who support its existence.

Many will point to the incredibly fringe anti-Zionist Jewish group Neturei Karta and groups like JVP to show that some religious Jews support anti-Israel protests, the implication being these protests can’t be anti-Jewish. They are the “real Torah Jews”; “these are the Jews we love,” they’ll claim — while spewing antisemitic diatribes against all others.

Except, there have been plenty of cases of racism toward one’s own ethnic group. This phenomenon can occur among Black individuals, white individuals, and yes, also within Jewish communities. The idea that belonging to a particular group automatically shields one from harbouring discriminatory beliefs or behaviours is a misconception.

Internalized racism is nothing new and can stem from various factors, including societal pressures, internalized stereotypes, marginalization and experiences of discrimination. For example, research has highlighted that some Black police officers are more prejudiced towards Black people. Similarly, I’ve listened to some Jewish individuals engage in reprehensible anti-Jewish tropes whilst trying to fit in with certain far-right circles. Rare, but there are even Jewish Holocaust deniers.

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With the Olympics in Paris, I was recently reminded of the German-Jewish fencer Helene Mayer, who competed for the Nazis in the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a “token Jew” to help sanitize Germany’s image. Mayer, as a Jew, was previously expelled from her fencing club, but that didn’t stop her from representing Nazi Germany when offered the opportunity, and giving Hitler the salute on the podium when she placed second.

Being a Jew who is critical of Israel doesn’t make someone a “self-hating Jew” by default, but neither does it exempt them from the hatred of Jews.

Members of Neturei Karta attended a Holocaust revisionist conference in Iran and praised the country’s leader in 2006. They regularly burn Israeli flags on the Jewish holiday of Purim. Seems like this is what makes them the “good Jews,” unlike all the others.

The Westchester Peace Action Committee (WESPAC), a United States-based organization that provides financial support to JVP, also supports groups that advocate for armed violence, call for globalizing the intifada, support violent “resistance” against Israel and seek to remove “Zionists” from public life.

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On October 7, JVP released a statement blaming Israelis themselves as being the “source of all this violence,” in essence justifying the murder of around 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of more than 200 people (including some foreign nationals) by Hamas. Many JVP members have argued that what took place on October 7 was legitimate “resistance.”

Weeks after the Hamas attack, JVP organizers routed a protest by a St. Louis, Mo. synagogue, pushing the idea that all Jews should be held responsible for the actions of a country. According to the Anti-Defamation League, JVP “promulgates the view that Jews who identify even tangentially with Israel are motivated by white supremacy” and has engaged in antisemitic tropes such as blood libel, and the insinuation of “duel loyalty,” imagery of Israeli soldiers drinking the blood of children and the use of swastikas.

These organizations also regularly step in to defend those accused of antisemitism, playing their “as a Jewish group” card despite vehement disagreement amongst the wider Jewish community. In 2019, some came to the defence of Washington D.C.’s queer march forbanningJewish stars, while othersendorsedthe Women’sMarch despite the association of its leaderswith Louis Farrakhan, a prolific leader of Jew-hatred in the U.S., known for calling Jews“termites”and“Satanic.”

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In a collection of essays compiled by JVP, Rabbi Brant Rosen, co-founder and co-chair of the group’s rabbinical council, wrote, “Though many Jews may be unwilling to admit it, we currently live in an age of unprecedented Jewish power.” A talking point heard frequently amongst white supremacists.

For the JVP Passover celebration this year, they have opted to use an anti-Zionist version of the Haggadah — a religious text recited by Jews every Passover to fulfill the biblical commandments to retell the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. A blatant desecration of an important Jewish tradition and text.

It reads, in part: “We are wrestling back our beloved tradition from these oppressive cooptations and re-rooting in the values passed to us. We reclaim our holiday of liberation as part of reclaiming Judaism from and building it beyond Zionism.”

It places the Gazans in the role of Jewish slaves in Egypt, and the Israeli government as the evil Pharoah who won’t let them go. The American government gets a featured role, too.

They’ve co-opted a Jewish tradition as a way to attack Jews. Ironically, the Haggadah traditionally concludes the Passover Seder with the phrase “L’Shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim,” which translates to “Next Year in Jerusalem,” the hope and aspiration of the Jewish people to return to their Holy Land and celebrate the next Passover there.

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Perhaps the most blatant sign that these groups do not represent Jewish interests is that they don’t tend to advocate for solutions that would bring peace to both Palestinians and Jews. Instead, they merely continue to perpetrate a continuous conflict in which one side is the villain, and another, the victim.

And it seems like they’ve cast themselves in the role of the “hero,” the so-called “good Jew,” while they openly condone harassment and violence against the rest.

The true betrayal by those who exploit their supposed Jewishness as a prop for political leverage is that they ultimately jeopardize progress toward peace while endangering those they claim to represent.

National Post

Katherine Brodsky is a freelance writer, commentator and author of, “No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage—Lessons for the Silenced Majority.” She tweets on X @mysteriouskat and writes essays on Substack:katherinewrites.com.

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