Dear American Progressives: Your Jewish Friends Are Terrified by Your Silence
We just felt the ominous rumble of history.
(This letter makes no arguments about Israel and Palestine. I’m not trying to change your opinions on that issue or how you express them.)
Dear American Progressives,
I need to be honest, because I’m more frightened than I’ve ever been in my life. My heart has been pounding for over a week and I keep forgetting to eat.
It’s not just me. Most American Jews I know are feeling fearful, regardless of their politics. I’m hearing from Jewish friends I haven’t heard from in decades — some heartbroken, some frantic.
We need to talk about what just happened in America.
Progressive friends, you have a blind spot when it comes to Jews, and it’s become glaringly obvious to us in the past few weeks. Don’t stop reading. Honor the progressive principle of allyship and listen to my lived experience. If you’re feeling resistant to reading this letter (and I know most of you are) then it’s meant especially for you.
Over the past few weeks, people have been attacking Jews in American streets for being Jewish, as well as vandalizing synagogues and other Jewish sites. No, I’m not talking about the scuffles at protests; I’m talking about the premeditated attacks on random people who look Jewish — sucker-punching, shooting fireworks, pulling people up from seats at restaurants, screaming threats.
Though no comparison is perfect, these attacks are similar to the recent attacks on Asian Americans in that they’re targeted against people of an identifiable group and motivated by foreign events.
Progressives claim to stand against all forms of bigotry. But when it comes to attacks on American Jews — Jews uniquely — you’re not speaking up. Almost all of you are silent.
At first, I hoped it was just that you didn’t know what was happening, so I posted about it. A few friends showed care and concern, but mostly I was met with more silence, denial, and even derision. I got my first small taste of the dismissiveness, gaslighting, and victim-blaming that many Americans (Black & Indigenous people, women, LGBTQ+ people) have dealt with forever, and which progressives usually condemn.
A few friends suggested there weren’t actually that many attacks. They criticized the Anti-Defamation League’s methods for collecting the statistics. But even the critics’ counts suggest the attacks doubled this month (over their already-high norm).
The numbers weren’t really the point, though. The more I pushed, the clearer it became. It all tied back to Israel.
Some of you said, “of course I oppose the anti-Jewish violence but have been focused on the Palestinians.” Some of you said, “I don’t want to seem Zionist.” Some of you said things like “Why center Jews being attacked in America when kids are getting bombed in Gaza?”
The impact of your silence should be obvious: it leaves us vulnerable and deeply hurt. Your silence is telling Jew-haters that it’s open season on Jews in America — that as long as they shout “Free Palestine” the next time they shoot up a synagogue, it’ll be okay with you.
But I want to talk about the cause of your silence, which is your huge antisemitic blind spot. (I say this with love. We all have blind spots that hurt people.)
Let me explain the blind spot:
As I mentioned, Asians and Asian Americans are being randomly beaten on American streets in a surge of attacks apparently driven by anti-Chinese hatred. This is horrific, and your response has rightly been widespread and loud. #StopAsianHate. Instagram posts. Donations. Zoom calls. An outpouring of support and solidarity.
Some might say this outcry is merely performative and doesn’t do enough, but it’s a hell of a lot better than nothing.
And here’s the thing — when you joined the outcry against this violence, it didn’t cross your mind to say “I can’t support Chinese Americans right now because of what China is doing to the Uyghurs.” (Spoiler alert — it’s genocide.)
Do you see the blind spot?
Another example: when you protest violence and intimidation directed at your Muslim American neighbors, it doesn’t cross your mind to say “I can’t support Muslims right now — Saudi Arabia’s been bombing kids in Yemen with American weapons.”
(I am not bringing up China and Saudi Arabia in order to justify or minimize Israel’s actions. I’m contrasting your allyship with Chinese Americans and Muslim Americans against your abandonment of Jewish Americans when those groups are under attack.)
Indeed, you believe it’s horribly bigoted to treat people as less American because of ethnic or religious ties to foreign countries. If anyone even implies that the violence against Muslim or Asian people in America is in any way deserved, you rightly call out their racism regardless of what’s happening overseas.
You don’t extend that allyship to Jews. You’re treating us the way far-right racists treat other American minorities under attack: by either blaming the victim or simply ignoring the abuse. You tie American Jews, collectively, to the actions of a foreign government. You turn us into a side in a conflict — which can be protected only at the expense of the other side — instead of treating us as fellow Americans. Jews are the only minority group in America you’re withholding allyship from because of the actions of a foreign state. (Please read this sentence slowly three times.)
Now, a few of you have spoken up, and I’m grateful for each and every one. Perhaps ironically, my Muslim American friends have been my strongest allies this week. And yes, most of them are passionate critics of Israel whose social accounts have been absolutely ablaze on behalf of Palestine.
Are my Muslim American friends contradicting themselves by supporting both the Palestinian cause and the safety of their Jewish neighbors? Of course not. They’re not fooled by a false choice; they know that their allyship toward me is not about Israel, but my right to exist as an American. They know what it’s like to be a vulnerable religious minority in America. They know what it’s like to be suspected of having foreign loyalties. They know that in this country, wearing distinctive religious garb can get you beaten and shot.
They understand that “Stop beating up Jews” is in no way a pro-Israel statement (I can’t believe I have to say that). It’s a decent, human, progressive statement.
And by the way, since some friends have mentioned it: I’m not policing your Palestine activism. I’m not asking you to append something about Jews to every #freepalestine post and tweet. On the contrary, defending Jewish Americans shouldn’t be part of those posts at all, because linking us collectively to Israel perpetuates the stereotype of Jews as foreign.
But you have to end the silence. Your silence is deadly. Trust me on this: I’m a third-generation Holocaust survivor with a history degree. There is a recurring pattern in Jewish history, which transcends time and space: political tensions rise, someone blames us for something because we’re easy scapegoats, people start to attack us, our neighbors turn their backs, and then — disaster.
This ancient, toxic pattern arose in America this month. Why do I say “this month”? After all, we’ve always been attacked in America. Well, the attacks aren’t what’s new. What’s new is the silence. The time to speak out against the violence was as soon as it began to rise, and you didn’t do it.
Your silence is so profound that we can make out the rumble of history.
Now, I imagine that many of you reading this are Feeling Angry at this point, and some of you Simply Don’t Care.
Let me address these feelings.
If you’re Feeling Angry at me, please pause to interrogate that. You may be thinking “this guy has some nerve, talking about a few beatings when people are dying in Palestine.” You’re still thinking I’m cynically trying to change the subject. I’m not. Please reread what I wrote above about attacks on Asian Americans, because you’re still tying our dignity as Americans to what happens in Palestine and Israel. That’s the blind spot again. It may take some time to undo.
Or, if you Simply Don’t Care, it’s likely because you are one of the many progressives who’ve simply excluded Jews from the groups you care about. One reason for this — and something we must talk about — is that you categorize Jews as both white and rich. There is, of course, truth to both of these stereotypes. Indeed, modern America has been the best place to be a Jewish minority in the history of the world. We live openly and proudly. Those of us who pass as white enjoy white privilege.
So while you may not actually be saying the words “maybe the Jews deserve it” to yourself or your friends, you’re probably thinking it on some level. The White Rich Jew is not exactly a progressive priority. In fact, if we’re honest, lots of progressive politics these days is explicitly aimed at taking rich white people down a peg.
But here’s the thing: Jews were seen as white and rich in Germany, too.
Then, people started publishing racist cartoons and no one said anything.
Then, people started beating us up in the street and no one said anything.
Then, mobs destroyed our homes and businesses and no one said anything.
This was the time to speak, because as the violence grew it became normal, and speaking out became a greater liability.
Ordinary Germans were good people. They mostly tuned it all out. They knew there were crazy racists out there led by some nut named Hitler, but he was a sideshow — nothing to worry about. He was even imprisoned for attempting an insurrection. Years passed. He seemed to fade away.
Then it started up again. A shop window was broken. A synagogue was burned. Gangs of thugs beat up Jews in the streets. Still, no one said anything. (Well, a few brave people did. But by that late hour, anyone who did speak out was suddenly a Jew-lover — outside the mainstream, and therefore suspect.)
By the mid-1930s, when Jews finally lost our jobs and cars and couldn’t use sidewalks anymore, the ambient hatred suffusing airwaves and cartoons had seeped in so much that the oppression started to be normalized. A “maybe they deserve it” mentality took hold.
And, after years of slow buildup, the stewing mix of vitriol and apathy boiled to its worst climax in our history. My teenage great-aunt Mussia was mowed down by machine guns in a Polish barn with 2,300 other people; my 12-year-old great-uncle Heniek was shot in cold blood while performing slave labor in the ghetto; my great-grandmother Bella was shoved into a gas chamber; virtually my entire mother’s side was wiped out. Silence killed my family and millions of others. This trauma lives in my body.
Progressive friends, I’m not writing from a place of judgment. I’m writing from a place of terror. I know my family story and I know my history, and I’m seeing the pattern before you do.
I’m not saying we’re heading for another Holocaust. It’s more likely that American Jews are heading toward the situation of Jews in Europe today: hated, hiding, sometimes beaten or killed, looking over their shoulders on the way to a fenced-off synagogue under police protection.
If that’s where we’re headed, so be it. I’ll always be grateful that I got to live for three decades in the best place to be a Jewish minority in the history of the world. I’ll always be grateful that my grandparents at least got to live peaceful post-Holocaust lives before this lethal pattern revved up again.
But I don’t want to go there, and hopefully you don’t want to either. Tragically, attacks on American Jews will spike again. And next time, you can do better. You can still be our ally. You can speak out for me just like you speak out for our Asian American and Muslim American neighbors. You can interrupt this pattern.
Here’s what you can do next time we’re attacked.
- If you’re the kind of person who shows allyship by posting on social media, you can say #StopJewishHate. You can say “#StopBeatingUpJews.” You can say “All Americans deserve to live in safety, full stop. Stop the antisemitic violence.” Say something. Anything.
- If there’s a march happening and you like to march, please go.
- When you hear progressive friends say things like “attacks on American Jews aren’t nearly as bad as the bombing in Gaza,” point out that they’re making Jewish Americans’ right to safety conditional on foreign events. Point out that they would never say the same thing about Chinese Americans and China. Remind them we’re Americans, and that choosing between us and the Palestinians is a false choice.
- Or, if you don’t like to post or march or stand up to friends, send a Jewish friend a message letting them know you care about them.
If you can’t do any of these things, if you’re content to let us be herded into the metaphorical ghetto for minorities unworthy of allyship, please ask yourself why.
PS. I’m proud as hell to be a Jew. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
