Last week, the New York Times released an extensive report on Hamas’s use of rape and mutilation—facts that had already been widely documented. Some left-leaning Jews in both Israel and the Diaspora were surprised when prominent women’s-rights organizations and other leftist groups still remained silent on the issue, or worse. Other Jews learned long ago, and some only in October—often painfully—that the hard left has little sympathy for Jews, and even less for those who happen to live in Israel. Addressing those who haven’t internalized this lesson, Natan Sharansky writes:
Some people believe that as we fight against anti-Semitism, our goal should be to prove to progressives that Jews belong in the ranks of the oppressed, that not all of us are white and privileged. But why should we accept the premises of a corrupt and corrupting ideology that stands against the most basic liberal values?
We need not push ourselves into organizations whose ideology denies our equal rights and moral worth. And we must not abandon our Zionism or deny our identity in order to fight for a better future, because this so-called better future will then be rotten from the core.
Instead, we should carry on our own traditions with pride. Jews have a noble history of fighting against racism and injustice. In continuing to do so, without compromising who we are, we will find our true allies.
Read more on Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/our-false-partners