Hamas protesters aren’t all antisemitic

On Monday, March 25, I was one of around 60 local Jewish leaders who attended a talk at the JCC by the Consul General of Israel from Houston.

Outside, about 150 protesters marched back and forth in front of the parking lot entrance, chanting slogans in support of Palestinian freedom and against Israeli crimes against Gaza and the West Bank.

The presentation was unremarkable, toeing the line of the Israeli government, focusing on the suffering of Israelis, blaming Hamas for the countless Gazan civilian casualties, reminding us how important Jewish-Americans are to Israel and how critical Israel is to the safety of all Jews, and praising unified support for unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel by Jewish-Americans.

It was unabashed propaganda, based on partial truths and historical revisionism.

My issue was not with the consul’s predictable speech. Rather, I was troubled by the introduction of the event by one of the leaders of the Jewish Community Relations Coalition (JCRC), which formed last November in response to the global backlash against the scale, destructiveness and brutality of the Israeli reprisals to the massacre of 10/7.

The JCRC leader referred to the protesters outside as “Jew-haters” who posed a real threat to Israel and Jewish people here in New Mexico. The mistake was conflating criticism of the Israeli government policies and actions with antisemitism.

I knew some of the protesters personally. A significant number were Jewish, members of synagogues, adherents to Jewish teachings and traditions, and people who advocate a democratic, pluralistic Israel coexisting with a self-determining Palestine.

Perhaps there were a few antisemitic people among those protesting Israeli policies and actions, but it is wrong to collectively call all those demonstrators who are fighting for peace and justice for Israel and Palestine antisemites.