Is it Antisemitic to Criticize Israel? — Heated Discussions on Israel & Palestine, Is There a Middle Ground?

At the outset, I’d like to include some housekeeping notes.

First, for the sake of this post, I am at particular risk of oversimplifying. Know that this is not because I believe the region has a simple history or politics. Instead, I do so for the sake of brevity, in order to create a digestible post.

When I write about this topic and other topics, I will unfortunately shorten issues and make them seem simpler than they really are. My apologies in advance; I hope you do not take offense here.

Second, in my title, I am not implying that it is bad to call out antisemitism. Antisemitism lives on and it’s far too prominent among the public and politicians alike. We ought to do everything we can to condemn it when we see it. The title is simply referencing that many are being called antisemitic despite being seemingly well-intentioned people.

We can educate ourselves more about Jewish history, however.

Many at this time are simply unaware of the extent of Jewish suffering throughout history and when Nazis were taking over Europe during the Second World War. As I will get into in this post, the Holocaust was a unique culmination of violence — one that we must never forget.

That said, in my view, it is not antisemitic to call for a prolonged humanitarian pause in Gaza. Indeed, it is my firm belief that we can…