Op-ed misses the point — and the reality of Oct. 7 attack
The Feb. 22 op-ed, “Another way to fight antisemitism,” contains a variety of factual inaccuracies and perpetuates a number of canards traditionally used to excuse anti-Jewish bias, as well as to diminish the existential threats that continue to exist against Jews in the Middle East and around the world.
Additionally, it seeks to lay an ideological foundation for the silencing of Jewish voices based solely on their cultural identities and personal perspectives.
The term “Zionism” refers simply to the belief in the self-determination of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland. While it is certainly acceptable to disagree with the policies of the Israeli government, it is impossible to completely divorce Israel and Zionism from broader Jewish peoplehood. This is due, in part, to the indisputable fact that Israel is the only entity in the geopolitical landscape sworn to protect both its own citizens, a growing proportion — currently 20% — of whom are Arab, as well as Jews and others in peril around the globe.
Whether by freeing captured civilian passengers of an Israel-bound Air France flight in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976 or serving as a life raft for the approximately 800,000 Jewish refugees expelled from Arab lands in the mid-20th century, Israel has proved repeatedly that it is the only true bulwark that exists against threats to the very existence of the Jewish people worldwide.
It is inaccurate and dangerous to generally characterize those who believe in the existence of Israel as a democratic state, Jewish in character and culture, as anti-Arab or anti-Palestinian. Indeed, Palestinians in Gaza are by every measure under deadly siege. However, the notion Israel is responsible for that siege is a significant distortion of the realities on the ground. Rather, it is Hamas — a U.S. State Department- and European Union-designated terrorist organization — that has deliberately maintained a state of chaos ever since Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, a process that required the removal of every Jewish resident from the territory.
Hamas’ leaders have diverted billions of dollars in foreign aid away from Gaza’s civilians, investing these funds instead in infrastructure designed to kill Jews in Israel and to imperil millions of Palestinians. Hamas places its military installations in schools and hospitals, while using aid funds to build a sophisticated network of tunnels from which its militants have staged multiple lethal attacks on Israeli civilians. These tunnels were used extensively to carry out the atrocities of Oct. 7, which cost the lives of nearly 1,400 Israelis of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds.
Any individual or organization the purports to value human rights cannot excuse, explain or justify the tactics of Hamas, the stated goal of which is the elimination of Jews not only in Israel but around the globe. It is even more disingenuous, then, for such entities to call for Israel to unilaterally cease its response to Oct. 7 without the release of all remaining hostages and the return of the remains of the deceased to their families in Israel.
The volume of the conversation pertaining to anti-Jewish hate in Santa Fe and beyond has increased significantly since the cancellation of performances by Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu at Meow Wolf and in Tucson, Ariz. If publicly disavowing the indelible Jewish connection to Israel is a condition for Jews being welcome in artistic or intellectual spaces, then by all means, the voices of those who will not compromise their very identities are silenced explicitly because they are Jewish. This manipulation of the principles of both human rights and the fight against prejudice sets a dangerous precedent that has no place in Santa Fe or American society.