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Over several quarters since prominent rights-focused organizations concluded that the Israeli military was committing systematic destruction in Gaza, the American political establishment continues in stubborn denial. Virtually all Republicans and the majority of Democratic representatives still endorse massive U.S. arms shipments to Israel, rendering it difficult to acknowledge that these weapons are enabling continuing atrocities.

Key among Justifications for Arming Israel

One frequent claim is that Israel is the nation of “all Jews.” During U.S. leaders address publicly, they often state that hatred of Israel is equivalent with hostility toward Jewish people globally. Such rhetoric equates Israel with worldwide Jewry, effectively sanctifying the state from criticism by wielding accusations of antisemitism.

Merging Israel with “Jews Everywhere”

Such rhetorical device is both ridiculous and dangerous. In the words of Voltaire once said, “If people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities.” And violence continue in Gaza with little sign in sight.

Israeli forces has persisted with methodical – and deliberate – killing of Palestinian civilians, not only through airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire, but also by using hunger as a tactic. Relief supplies has been restricted or severely constrained, ignoring United Nations alerts that food intake in Gaza had dropped below survival levels. The situation have been described as worse than “hell on earth.”

Irony of Antisemitism

Ironically, the country frequently described as the primary victim of hostility toward Jews has emerged as one of the world’s most powerful sources of it. By claiming that it embodies Jews everywhere, the state of Israel attempts to associate Jewish people worldwide with its deliberate war crimes, destruction, and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories.

False Equations

The Israeli government, backed by a decreasing number of Americans, blurs itself with the Jewish faith and “the Jewish people” in a familiar marketing strategy. The core message promotes misleading equations: Israel = Jews, support for Israel = support for Jews, and criticism of Israel = antisemitism. A subtext of these claims is that the Israeli government = impunity.

During the 1980s, activists targeted apartheid South Africa with non-violent boycotts and did not charged of being anti-white. In this century, the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement focusing on Israel – criticized as an segregationist state by multiple human rights organizations – often encounters accusations of antisemitism, including from progressive Democrats and major Jewish organizations.

A Writer’s Perspective

As a child in Hebrew school, I never would have anticipated that the religion and reverence for Israel would become so manipulated. Little did I know that charitable efforts in Israel would eventually be eclipsed by policies of killing and terror carried out in the name of defending Jewish people. The dignity of Judaism has been distorted and desecrated by genocidal policies.

Legal and Political Framing

One of Israel’s fundamental statutes, enacted in 2018, states that the state is the “national home” of the Jewish people and that the right to practice national self-determination is “unique” to Jews. This formalizes the government’s effort to appropriate Judaism and claim to speak for every Jew, irrespective of their views.

Increasingly, though, Jewish people are not endorse these approaches. Polling show significant dissent to core Israeli policies among Jewish communities in the U.S.

False Guarantees

American officials often amplify the trope that Israel is the protector of safety for Jews around the world. Former president Joe Biden once remarked that absent Israel, Jewish people would be safe – a view echoed by other leaders. This assertion is not only inaccurate but also harmful, as it equates Jewish safety with the policies of a state engaged in violence.

Conclusion

Major Jewish organizations in the U.S. often uncritically praise the Israeli government, regardless of its actions. In the words of one commentator noted, U.S. Jewish leaders insist on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, despite the contradiction between privilege for one group and equal rights for all.

More troubling is the unspoken assumption that Jewish lives are intrinsically more important than Palestinian lives, and that Israel’s destiny is above reproach. This attitude substitutes Judaism’s universal values with a exclusionary deity that elevates one group over another.

Such worship to Israel fuels the pernicious idea that “the Jewish people” are synonymous with Israel. Any such claim is destructive, especially as Israel persists in ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and genocide. Distinguishing Jewish identity from the actions of the Israeli state is essential for justice and truth.