I am a Jew by birth, and I have never renounced or shied away from Judaism.  I have not changed my name or its spelling, or converted to another religion. Half my family are Jews, including both of my children.  And I love them all. 

My heritage is important to me.  I never met my grandparents and some of my aunts.  They never got to see their grandchildren/nieces and nephews, or hold them in their arms.  They were slaughtered in the death camps because they were Jews, and that was truly antisemitism. And I abhor antisemitism.  And I think antisemitism is a real thing and a real problem.  But I have been at the demonstrations on the Tufts campus and am active in a pro-Palestinian political action group.  There may be some among them who are anti-semitic, but by and large few, if any of them, are.  Indeed, many of them, like me, are Jewish, and proud of their heritage. 

But I also abhor the fact that more than 50,000 noncombatants have been killed by Israeli Jews effectively because they are Palestinian.  I abhor that an entire population has been driven out of their home, first by the Naksa, and then by an endless series of settlements expanding Israel into the West Bank, protected by Israeli police forces, and the Israeli defense force, and encouraged by the present government of Israel.  And most of all I abhor using starvation as a weapon.  I abhor all of that because of my history and particularly because it is being done by Israeli Jews.  And the vast majority of the world agrees with me and feels the same way.

A powerful, highly organized and well-financed segment of the Jewish community in the United States wants to expand the definition of antisemitism to include people who are anti-Zionist, and/or who are critical of what Israel has done and is doing.  This is counterproductive, indeed literally insane.  If the definition of antisemitism is expanded in that way, you will be defining me as an antisemite. Is what I believe really antisemitism or is the suggestion that it is pure insanity.  Is it okay to criticize my own government, but antisemitic to criticize Israel?  Is it antisemitic to want Palestinians to have a state?  Is it antisemitic to decry genocide?

Ironically, in my mind, you will be saying antisemitism is, for the most part, a virtuous thing, a belief held by good, caring people with noble ideals, so I will be proud to be so labelled.  But do that and you will promote antisemitism in a way that is beyond what the Nazis and white nationalist have done and are doing.  Is that really what you want to do?

In closing I say two things.

First, do not define me as anti-Semitic.  Do not define the vast majority of the world as antisemitic.  We are not antisemitic, and it will be counterproductive to define us as such.  It will spread antisemitism like wildfire.  Think about it!!!  If Jews start calling all the people in the world who are not antisemitic “antisemites,” what do you think their reaction will be?  Eventually they will be angry at being falsely labelled and many of them will hate Jews for doing that to them.  So, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  It has already begun to be one.

Second, ask yourselves what your real motivation is for expanding the definition. Are you mirroring Israel, who claims to be defending its existence by reducing Gaza to rubble and expanding further and further into the West Bank, but in fact readily admits it is really trying to incorporate all of Palestine into a prophesized unified Israel?  Will expanding the definition deter or minimize antisemitism, or simply justify your existence by fulfilling your prophesy?

In closing I assert two undeniable truths.  If you are against Trump’s version of fascism, he will attack you.  And if he is echoing your version of antisemitism, then you are supporting his version of fascism.