How can queer leftists fight antisemitism?
Hard truths leftists need to understand
Being coerced into believing that violent extremism and the murder of Jews is necessary for ‘liberation for all’ is the antithesis of progressive activism. It is Nazi ideology co-opted and re-packed to serve the small yet loud and ignorant far left.
Many leftist Jews are at a moment in history where we are realizing just how little the ‘progressives’ truly care about us. As a queer and Jewish community organizer on the board of Vancouver’s foremost Jewish Queer Trans charity, I have become intimately familiar with left-wing antisemitism, especially in queer spaces. While many assume that antisemitism only comes from the far right, it has also become a foundational feature of the far left. Take, for example, the antisemitism that has plagued America’s most liberal, progressive colleges like Harvard and UCLA.
In March 2024 (not 1945), student protestors evoked an ugly antisemitic caricature by creating a statue of a pig holding a money bag with an Israeli flag on it. But according to its defenders, even though it directly conjures Mein Kampf propaganda of Jews as money-hungry greedy pigs, it’s only ‘antizionism and not antisemitism.’ This was only the icing on the cake: swastikas spray painted on buildings and signs calling Jewish people ‘the new Nazis.” All this antisemitism at just one majority-liberal institution, in barely one month.
Earlier this year, on majority-leftist campuses like MIT and UCLA, Jewish students were barred from entering certain parts of campus if they refused to denounce their faith. I wonder if there’s ever been a time in history where this has happened to openly Jewish individuals before?
The Horseshoe Theory
Left-wing antisemitism should not surprise us as much as it does. According to the horseshoe theory, the far-left (communism) and the far-right (fascism) ‘bend toward each other like ends of a horseshoe’ rather than a straight line, and have more in common with each other than with moderates. When parties on both sides reach extremism, it is said that their philosophies may begin to overlap.
For example, many on the far-left view Hamas’s October 7th attack at a peace-music festival in Israel, resulting in 1200 Jews killed and 251 hostages taken, as a symbol of Palestinian ‘liberation’. This is arguably no different than Hitler’s ideology, where the genocide of the Jewish people was seen as a way to liberate German society. This connection makes sense, given much of Hamas’ philosophy comes directly from a historical Nazi alliance, which many leftist, queer spaces weirdly refuse to accept.
In both these far-left and far-right ideologies, antisemitism and the murder of Jewish people is fundamental. If both ends of the political spectrum end up adopting an ideology that endorses mass murder of Jews as a symbol of liberation, can they really be that different?
Terrorism is not liberation
Far leftists, especially queer individuals who have zero historical knowledge or understanding of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel ideology, need to do better. The extremist version of ‘liberation for all’ via murdering Jews is the same desperate vision Hitler had which he claimed would heal and save the world by doing the same. Being coerced into believing in violent extremism and the murder of Jews is necessary for ‘liberation for all’ is the antithesis of progressive activism. It is Nazi ideology co-opted and re-packed to serve the violent yet loud and ignorant radical left.
Queer and progressive spaces often claim the foundation of their work is combatting hate and fighting for collective liberation. In these spaces and institutions, it would make logical sense for individuals to fight for peace and security for all minorities including Muslims and Jews, given the values they prop themselves up on. However, since October 7th, it has become clear many of these progressive institutions would rather simply state they are ‘Anti-war and not anti-Semitic,’ while putting no effort toward ensuring this is the case.
^A video of David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, on June 15th giving his approval to pro-Palestinian activists fighting against ‘Jewish supremacy.’
Since October 7th, leftist ‘progressive’ spaces have rapidly become unwelcoming and downright unsafe for many Jewish, queer people. Though, make no mistake. We are not safe in far-right spaces either, which in many cases can be far more openly extremist. Despite this, on both sides of the political spectrum, Jewish people are used as a political pawn to garner support for different political agendas. But those on the far-left also cosplay as Jewish saviours by frequently repeating ‘I’m not anti-semitic’ and ‘we accept the good Jewish people,’ while they do virtually nothing to protect Jewish life or learn about how the Holocaust informs the present.
Hard Truths Leftists Need to Understand
To make leftist, progressive spaces more inclusive for Jewish people, progressives need first to reckon with some facts about Israel and the Jewish people:
Without the existence of Israel, millions of Holocaust survivors would have perished because many countries did not accept Jewish refugees.
Without the existence of Israel, almost one million Jews across the Middle East and North Africa would be dead or living as second-class citizens after having their homes, belongings, and loved ones stripped away from them and undergoing expulsion.
Mein Kampf is still a popular read across the Middle East, and Nazism is a fundamental part of pro-Hamas far-leftist ideology.
In many Middle Eastern countries, societies are still raised to hate Jewish people and Israel. According to political science lecturer Evin Ismail, anti-semitism is a fundamental part of Islamist extremism.
Destroying the world’s only Jewish state will not liberate the world from oppression. This logic is just…. do I even have to explain?
Before the violence of Oct. 7th, the Palestinian GDP in 2023 was the world's 127th biggest economy, with the average income per person on par with Iraq. According to The Economist, Palestinians are one of the most literate populations in the Middle East. In 2022, Gaza and the West Bank scored higher on the UN’s development index than Morocco. Peace was on the horizon.
Eighty percent of Israel’s population is Jewish. Seeking to destroy the world’s only majority-Jewish state is seeking to eliminate the world’s only majority-Jewish population. In other words, it is unequivocally antisemitism and downright Nazism.
I am a Jew dating an Arab, and the only place in the Middle East we could live together in peace is Israel.
Fighting Jewish hate in progressive institutions
So where does this leave thousands of leftist, progressive Jews who are now feeling barred from leftist spaces? We are forced to leave parts of our identity at the door to be accepted and not harassed in progressive institutions, where we are still viewed hatefully as greedy, sub-human figures who are trying to take over the world.
Far-leftists and queer people need to understand a hard truth in order to join the fight against antisemitism: Israel began as a nation of Jewish refugees and currently exists against all odds in a broad landscape of Nazi propaganda. It is a nation that has a complex, ugly, and beautiful past and present. And it is not unique in this regard. It is like all countries and all governments across the globe: deeply imperfect, with a desire for economic progress, and an obligation to protect its citizens. And, Israel, whether far-leftists like it or not, is a fundamental part of Jewish history, identity, and survival.
And it is possible for peace and reparations between Israelis and Palestinians when far-leftists can accept that re-embracing Nazism will not end in peace and security for any Middle Eastern civilians. To ignore this, and to cast Israel as a particularly evil nation among other nations is not activism, it’s not freeing anything, on the contrary, it is ignorant, hypocritical moral righteousness, and fuels violence toward visually Jewish people, who have been valuable, contributing members to society for as long as we have lived.
Bonus Questions
Why do far-leftists struggle to listen to Jewish people and experts about what antisemitism is and what it isn’t?
How and why may D.E.I. professionals end up adopting an anti-Jewish ideology? What tropes might feed into this?
How can far-leftists un-adopt Nazism as a part of their idea of liberation?
How can we encourage far-leftist spaces to learn about antisemitism?
How can we ensure the left is inclusive for all, including Jewish people?
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Good luck to you in this mission.
If anybody thinks that antisemitism is coming from the right these days, they’ve been living under a rock.