Jew-Hate Vs Antisemitism: Why the Distinction Matters
Feelings exist in the mind, ideologies manifest in the real world.
A seemingly perennial discussion among Zionist activists and concerned Jews recently emerged in a thoughtful post over at The Liberal Jew last week:
I left a comment explaining the position I've developed over the last two years, writing about antisemitism on an almost-daily basis at Jewish News Syndicate. It seems worthwhile to elaborate at greater length here.
The argument articulated by Jill at her Substack is one I’ve seen before. It's a worthwhile point to discuss (as opposed to debate), and it goes something like this:
The word “antisemite” has just accumulated too much cultural baggage. It's like “racist,” a term that some argue gets thrown around too widely, often hitting those who may or may not actually qualify. And what does the word even mean? It seems there is an endless debate about what qualifies as antisemitic today.
So how about we just eschew these problems and say “Jew-hate” instead? After all, it means the same thing as “antisemitism,” but it makes the point more clearly than this more esoteric, debatable term.
My editors at JNS tend to take this position, using the terms largely interchangeably. In particular, they'll often go for "Jew-hate" in headlines since it’s a shorter word - punchier and easier to split by its hyphen. This makes sense to me, and it's not something I argue about: after all, who am I—one of the few non-Jews on staff—to tell Jews how they should describe all the evil bastards who hate them?
So by all means, if you want to use "antisemite" and "Jew-hater" synonymously, then go ahead. However, I think there is an important distinction to consider in order to fully grasp this perpetually strange phenomenon of intense animosity against the Children of Israel:
Jew-hate is a feeling.
Antisemitism is an ideology.
Let's break this down:
A feeling is one of those creatures in your head depicted in Pixar's greatest films, “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2.” Sally just gave me this cool shirt for Christmas depicting those emotions:
There isn't a "Hate" emotion yet in the series, thankfully. But one could suggest that such an emotion could come from a team effort joining together some collaboration between Envy, Fear, Anger, Anxiety, and Disgust.
Or maybe Yoda’s formulation in “The Phantom Menace” makes the most sense:
That's "Jew-hate"—an abstract feeling inside someone's head.
What, then, is “antisemitism”? What is the distinction? And who gets to decide what it means?
Well, as a Zionist activist, I am a partisan of “the IHRA.” This is the abbreviation for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which I will reprint in its entirety. This is the definition adopted by the most governments and non-government organizations around the world. I write about it multiple times a week—practically every day as entities embrace it, as legislation moves through the process to make it the law for governments to use when evaluating potential hate crimes. It is deeply important for fighting hate, and every time a new bill passes, it's cause for Zionist activists to celebrate:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
OK, now focus on the second half of the very first sentence of the definition: “which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.”
That's the key distinction here. When Jew-hate pops out of someone's head and manifests in some tangible way in the real world, either targeting Jews or even us non-Jews—non-Jews get swastikas painted on their cars by neo-Nazis, too—that's antisemitism.
Note, too, the examples of antisemitism included in the definition (these tend to be where the big controversy over the IHRA definition emerge; it's here where people both on the far left and far right want to argue):
To guide IHRA in its work, the following examples may serve as illustrations:
Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.
Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
The belief that the Jewish people are collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is an idea, not a feeling. The belief that the State of Israel is morally equivalent to the Third Reich—that's an idea. Holocaust denial? That isn't an abstract feeling, it's a conspiracist ideological system that evil people have cobbled together for generations now.
Does this make sense? Jew-hate is the gasoline—antisemitism is the oven burning the corpses of murdered Jews.
So I think it's much more worthwhile to focus on antisemitism—the ideology—as the big problem to identify and fight, not abstract Jew-hate—the feeling. Because Jew-hate on its own doesn't actually harm Jews or anybody else apart from the person holding it in their head, who is made miserable by dwelling on such darkness for so long.
Someone may well have hate in their heart for Jews, Black people, LGBTQ individuals, or even Democrats or Republicans. But if that hate does not actually manifest in the individual’s words, actions, and political advocacy, then what does it matter?
So it's the ideology, the movement, the actions that we must collectively join together to defeat.
And that means calling out and condemning the fucking godless antisemites poisoning the world with their hate in action.
At The Liberal Jew, Jill expressed her concern that calling people antisemites may not actually harm the people accurately labeled as such. She cited as an example the horrible human being Candace Owens, who recently received StopAntisemitism's annual “Antisemite of the Year” award. Jill noted that upon receiving the distinction, Owens started crowing like a Christian nationalist conspiracist Peter Pan.
Owens would go on to claim that the award should go to Benjamin Netanyahu, since he was supposedly responsible for so many Palestinian deaths, and they are "semites" too. Antisemites just love to say this kind of shit, and it just demonstrates how fucking ignorant they are—and how ignorant they know their fans are, too.
But the historical reality demonstrates that this work to publicize the dangerous antisemites of the world actually does work, and furthermore, it really does harm their efforts to promote their hate.
Consider Owens' predecessor for the title of most famous antisemite of their generation: Richard B. Spencer. Everyone remember this motherfucker? Mr. "Heil Trump"? Mr. Creator of the Alt-Right?
OK, just checking, because you don't hear that much about this bastard anymore. And the reason for that is because his antisemitism was so loudly, broadly, widely exposed.
Did you know that in the years after his exposure, it became very difficult for Spencer to rent venues for his conferences? At one point, he had to rent a fuckin' barn on some guy's property to bring together his bigoted followers. And they got kicked out of there, too!
And now you hear next to nothing from him. He's irrelevant and no longer has any meaningful influence within the far right or anywhere else.
This process is still underway with Owens. But it's already bearing fruit. Because of how widely her hate has been exposed, Australia refused to admit her to conduct a planned speaking tour. Even a Bitcoin conference had to kill its invitation to her once activists discovered that she was going to speak there.
This is a longstanding thing that Zionist activists have done for years, whether the antisemite is Islamist, far left, or far right. We learn where they are going to be speaking and then contact the venue hosting the event, and/or the organizers. Oftentimes, either or both won’t even know how terrible the antisemitic speaker is. And often the event will be canceled and have to be rescheduled, or the horrible speakers will just get the boot.
This even hit Kanye West when he was out with his new album and trying to promote it. Venues did not want to host him.
And also it's worth pointing out, too: Kanye is no longer a fucking billionaire. Adidas killed his contract, even though it cost them $1.3 billion.
Friends, fighting antisemitism works. Exposing antisemites for the godless people they are works. Zionist activists' track record of success is right here for anyone who wants to look at it.
So please, don't fear that we need to cede the term “antisemite” because the antisemites want to redefine it to exclude them. The IHRA definition has been tremendously successful in seeing wide adoption. And we need to keep pushing and fighting for as many organizations and governments to embrace it as possible.
Antisemitism isn't going anywhere. In fact, with the internet, it's an ideology that is spreading at a rate so alarming that it inspired me to redirect my whole career from advocating for conservatism to Zionism. Here are the numbers for America alone, for those who believe at least six antisemitic ideas:
And here’s how it looks at the global scale:
We need to fight this evil ideology and the movement it inspires with all our being. The battle our grandparents waged against the Nazis has not concluded. And we cannot wage a war within people's hearts. We cannot rationally persuade people to reject a fundamentally irrational feeling. As the saying goes: “What was not reasoned in cannot be reasoned out.”
So the fight must go on in the real world. Those promoting antisemitic ideology must be defeated on every battlefield: on the streets of Gaza, within the ranks of both Democrats and Republicans, on the fucking internet, in houses of worship, and when conspiracy theories burp out of your neighbor's mouth between bites of cheeseburger at the weekend barbecue.
My new friend Gabriel Solomon published a piece today putting antisemitism in the context of the Tower of Babel, an apt analogy. The difference today is that it's not going to be God striking down the Ziggurat. We have to come together and do it ourselves, yanking out one brick at a time.
Who’s ready to join this demolition project?
The range in this is just unparalleled. This is brilliant, David.
Smart analysis. I like both Jew-Hate and Anti-Semitism as descriptors. Your distinction makes so much sense.
I also agree that shining a light on bad actors is the best way forward. And for many, highlighting behaviors, attitudes, and actions that demonstrate individual Jew-Hate in its active, collective Anti-Semitic meme.
Great post!!!