Thank you, Ilan, for your thoughtful assessment of the situation we find ourselves as Jews in this crazy and dangerous world in which progressive Jews with nuanced view of Israel based on Jewish values find ourselves in after October 7. I've been following you and Jeremy's posts always with thought in mind to formulate a plan forward, attitude and actions we can take to express ourselves and bridge the gap that creates the lonely space.
I call BS on this post. The “left” isn’t antisemitism. The left is anti right wing murdering Netanyahu. Netanyahu is a war criminal. He has killed over 40,000 people, mostly civilians. He is now starving millions more to death. That’s not antisemitism.
I agree with you about making our opposition to all trump is doing clear to the left - but we also need nonjews on the left to acknowledge the wrongs they have done to American Jews since Oct 7. It is not ok to just forget about that and focus instead on our current common ground.
Also, 70% of Israelis are against the war, and most American Jews are too. But remember American Jews ARE NOT automatically Israeli, though of course some are. So targeting Jewish Americans who are not Israeli, and even if they were, they’d more than likely be against the war, seems weird and misplaced.
How is targeting Israelis in America justified, explain please? Is part of the deep morality of progressives to assume that domestic terrorism is okay if the victims are those HORRIBLE EVIL ISRAELI JEWS? BTW, Yaron was a Christian Israeli, and Sarah was an American Jews, but don't let facts get in the way of your hate.
I get what you’re saying but grouping all of Israel with the horrific acts that are being done by the heartless people in Israel isn’t really fair. I don’t support Trump and neither does the majority of America but we can’t really do much about the havoc he is causing because of how his loyalists are running the country. If 70% of Israeli’s are against the war but their government is determined to continue, can you really fault the whole country’s people? If I were in another country and people were being horrible to me because I’m from the US (but voted for Kamala) I would be pretty upset too 😕
One of your Free Palestine cult member friends threw molotov cocktails at American Jews and severely wounded a Holocaust survivor. I'm sure you'll object to that being antisemitism too, you amoral idiot.
It’s very strange to see you repeatedly claim that the leaders of the pro-Palestinian (not “Palestine”) movement “deplore” this attack. Do they?
Does CAIR, the group whose leader applauded October 7, truly “deplore” murdering these two young Israelis?
Does CUAD, the Columbia group that hailed all “armed resistance”, including Hamas, truly “deplore” murdering them?
Who are the “leaders” of the movement, even? Students for Justice in Palestine, who applauded October 7 and declared themselves a part of the Hamas operation with a “toolkit” to join the “Flood”?
Within Our Lifetime, which openly supported the October 7 massacres?
Samidoun, the PFLP front that supports terrorism?
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), run by Hamas supporters who were caught funneling money to Hamas in the Holy Land Foundation trial and opened AMP to divert attention, and is being investigated for…diverting funds to Hamas?
Who are the “leaders” who deplore this? Who are the ones you think actually do, and don’t have the sordid history of supporting this type of violence?
Why do you *always* seem to run cover for antisemites—just like J Street?
Most informative of all is that the people following you and commenting on this post are overwhelmingly pushing the “genocide” narrative and refusing to even focus on the antisemitism inherent in the murder of these two young Israelis. Your followers say plenty about you. I suggest you reconsider your attempt to run cover for the violent pro-Palestinian movement. They won’t spare you in the end, any more than they would any other Jew.
Obviously a tragic and misguided act. The perpetrator may not be antisemitic. I am greatly offended and disgusted with the bombing and starving of innocent children no matter who they are or what their parents may have done. I place the blame for this where it belongs, on Netanyahu and the Israeli Government that backs him. I am not antisemitic; I was married to a Jew, the most wonderful person I have ever known, were she still here, she too would be appalled at what Netanyahu is doing to save his own corrupt ass from prosecution.
Not much to wrestle with, Ilan. The left is deeply antisemitic. The far-left is full-on genocidal like Hamas and supportive of domestic terrorism. The progressive left clutch their pearls about any measure of justice taken against the Free Palestine cult.
You go to Israel and write endlessly about what Israel should do, but not a single word about what the Palestinians should do after the biggest massacre of Israelis to date carried out by Palestinians coming out of land given to them for peace, for them to show they can govern a peaceful territory - and you in your delusional stupidity want them to have an even bigger state from which to brew larger, more final genocidal terrorism. You're all part of the same antisemitic swamp.
Thank you Ilan for this piece on antisemitism in some wings of the US left I have been a part of since 1967: https://ilangoldenberg.substack.com/p/wrestling-with-antisemitism-on-the. BTW, the NY Times reported that in fact this despicable antisemitic individual did in fact mingle with the people in the event and identify Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as embassy employees, prior to ambushing them and shooting them from behind as they left the event.
But clearly, on the fringes of the far left, anti-Israelism and antisemitism have often merged. A new academic article has just applied the established concept, traumatic invalidation, to the experience of Jews since 10/07/03: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10911359.2025.2503441.
n my view, per my substack "beat" Anti-ZionISTism and Anti-Palestinianism (https://michaelalandover.substack.com/p/anti-zionistism) I have pointed out that debating and opposing Zionism as an ideology and as a form of nationalism has long been done on the left, and is not necessarily antisemitic. True, there was near-classical antisemitism, excused by opposition to Zionism, in the Soviet Union, Poland and other Communist-governed forms of state socialism in key periods.
But in recent years, what I have been seeing--in the US far left, and among some factions of the democratic left, in other progressive spaces, and on campuses is a sort of in-your-face Anti-ZionISTism that is in fact antisemitic. It involves adoption of a good Jew/bad Jew stance towards Jews in the US. You are either a good Jew (anti-Zionist) or a bad Jew (Zionist, even if you do not have an identity as a Zionist or are active in groups like J Street or other Progressive Israel Network Groups) who have been working for a ceasefire, and end to the occupation, and a two-state solution.
I'd bet if you asked the J Street U students, they would report they are often asked, not only by non-Jews but by Jews, if they considered themselves Zionists. It is strange and problemmatic in this day and age that both Jews and Palestinians, respectively, are asked if they are Zionists or supporters of Hamas. This the new face of antisemitism and anti-Arab chauvinism. We need to analyze and understand this and work to restore civility and dialogue that focuses not on identities but on the very current and past death and suffering In Gaza, the West Bank and, yes, in Israel.
Again a very enlightening article that illustrates the challenge of balancing reasonable support for Palestinians without slipping into even an appearance of antisemitism. I was impressed with the point made about
the Trump's Administration use of "fighting antisemitism” as a pretext for defunding higher education and disappearing and deporting international students. Thank you.
Most of this analysis is accurate in my judgement. Yaron and Sarah were murdered because the assailant believed that, due to the Jewish faith and heritage of most of the attendees at this event, they automatically supported the Israeli government’s genocidal response to the horrific pogrom perpetrated by Hamas terrorists against innocent Israeli and American civilians on October 7, 2023.
Hence, this was an antisemitic hate crime, pure and simple. Netanyahu’s genocide of Palestinians inside Gaza in response to the atrocities of October 7, 2023 is generating more antisemitism across the world and making diaspora Jews a lot more unsafe.
And while it is the duty of every person with a conscience to call out what Israel is doing inside Gaza, it is also everyone’s duty to condemn antisemitism, the world’s oldest hatred, so that tragedies like the one that occurred at the Capital Jewish Museum last week do not occur again.
So, let me get this straight. Israel and Netanyahu bear no responsibility for unleashing antisemitism with their genocide in Gaza? Must not, because you don't mention them at all. Just helpless victims. But people who oppose genocide? Oh boy, we'd better tone police the fuck out of what we say because otherwise we are responsible for antisemitic acts. You're just another zionist shill. Sorry I didn't realize that when I followed.
You might need to read the essay again. The writer doesn’t call out Netanyahu or Ben G’vir by name, but it’s implied.
Here’s just one short excerpt:
“as long as the current extreme Israeli government continues to prioritize prosecuting the war, the risk of unjustified antisemitic attacks against Jews around the world will remain elevated.”
Thank you, Ilan, for your thoughtful assessment of the situation we find ourselves as Jews in this crazy and dangerous world in which progressive Jews with nuanced view of Israel based on Jewish values find ourselves in after October 7. I've been following you and Jeremy's posts always with thought in mind to formulate a plan forward, attitude and actions we can take to express ourselves and bridge the gap that creates the lonely space.
I call BS on this post. The “left” isn’t antisemitism. The left is anti right wing murdering Netanyahu. Netanyahu is a war criminal. He has killed over 40,000 people, mostly civilians. He is now starving millions more to death. That’s not antisemitism.
I mean Isreal could stop murdering children and im sure the ‘anti-semitism’ on the left will decrease.
I agree with you about making our opposition to all trump is doing clear to the left - but we also need nonjews on the left to acknowledge the wrongs they have done to American Jews since Oct 7. It is not ok to just forget about that and focus instead on our current common ground.
Also, 70% of Israelis are against the war, and most American Jews are too. But remember American Jews ARE NOT automatically Israeli, though of course some are. So targeting Jewish Americans who are not Israeli, and even if they were, they’d more than likely be against the war, seems weird and misplaced.
How is targeting Israelis in America justified, explain please? Is part of the deep morality of progressives to assume that domestic terrorism is okay if the victims are those HORRIBLE EVIL ISRAELI JEWS? BTW, Yaron was a Christian Israeli, and Sarah was an American Jews, but don't let facts get in the way of your hate.
I get what you’re saying but grouping all of Israel with the horrific acts that are being done by the heartless people in Israel isn’t really fair. I don’t support Trump and neither does the majority of America but we can’t really do much about the havoc he is causing because of how his loyalists are running the country. If 70% of Israeli’s are against the war but their government is determined to continue, can you really fault the whole country’s people? If I were in another country and people were being horrible to me because I’m from the US (but voted for Kamala) I would be pretty upset too 😕
One of your Free Palestine cult member friends threw molotov cocktails at American Jews and severely wounded a Holocaust survivor. I'm sure you'll object to that being antisemitism too, you amoral idiot.
Edit for reference and proof: https://www.adl.org/resources/article/swaths-anti-zionist-movement-legitimize-killings-israeli-embassy-staff-dc-jewish
It’s very strange to see you repeatedly claim that the leaders of the pro-Palestinian (not “Palestine”) movement “deplore” this attack. Do they?
Does CAIR, the group whose leader applauded October 7, truly “deplore” murdering these two young Israelis?
Does CUAD, the Columbia group that hailed all “armed resistance”, including Hamas, truly “deplore” murdering them?
Who are the “leaders” of the movement, even? Students for Justice in Palestine, who applauded October 7 and declared themselves a part of the Hamas operation with a “toolkit” to join the “Flood”?
Within Our Lifetime, which openly supported the October 7 massacres?
Samidoun, the PFLP front that supports terrorism?
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), run by Hamas supporters who were caught funneling money to Hamas in the Holy Land Foundation trial and opened AMP to divert attention, and is being investigated for…diverting funds to Hamas?
Who are the “leaders” who deplore this? Who are the ones you think actually do, and don’t have the sordid history of supporting this type of violence?
Why do you *always* seem to run cover for antisemites—just like J Street?
Most informative of all is that the people following you and commenting on this post are overwhelmingly pushing the “genocide” narrative and refusing to even focus on the antisemitism inherent in the murder of these two young Israelis. Your followers say plenty about you. I suggest you reconsider your attempt to run cover for the violent pro-Palestinian movement. They won’t spare you in the end, any more than they would any other Jew.
Obviously a tragic and misguided act. The perpetrator may not be antisemitic. I am greatly offended and disgusted with the bombing and starving of innocent children no matter who they are or what their parents may have done. I place the blame for this where it belongs, on Netanyahu and the Israeli Government that backs him. I am not antisemitic; I was married to a Jew, the most wonderful person I have ever known, were she still here, she too would be appalled at what Netanyahu is doing to save his own corrupt ass from prosecution.
Not much to wrestle with, Ilan. The left is deeply antisemitic. The far-left is full-on genocidal like Hamas and supportive of domestic terrorism. The progressive left clutch their pearls about any measure of justice taken against the Free Palestine cult.
You go to Israel and write endlessly about what Israel should do, but not a single word about what the Palestinians should do after the biggest massacre of Israelis to date carried out by Palestinians coming out of land given to them for peace, for them to show they can govern a peaceful territory - and you in your delusional stupidity want them to have an even bigger state from which to brew larger, more final genocidal terrorism. You're all part of the same antisemitic swamp.
You might find this interesting: https://popperandkarl.substack.com/p/the-new-antisemitism
Thank you Ilan for this piece on antisemitism in some wings of the US left I have been a part of since 1967: https://ilangoldenberg.substack.com/p/wrestling-with-antisemitism-on-the. BTW, the NY Times reported that in fact this despicable antisemitic individual did in fact mingle with the people in the event and identify Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as embassy employees, prior to ambushing them and shooting them from behind as they left the event.
But clearly, on the fringes of the far left, anti-Israelism and antisemitism have often merged. A new academic article has just applied the established concept, traumatic invalidation, to the experience of Jews since 10/07/03: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10911359.2025.2503441.
So how do we move forward? We should not only be outward facing by opposing growing antisemitism on both right and left, we should be inward facing: opposing growing anti-Palestinianism and anti-Arab chauvinism within the US Jewish community--and in Israel for that matter. (See this new piece in Haaretz about Israeli public opinion: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-05-28/ty-article-magazine/.premium/yes-to-transfer-82-of-jewish-israelis-back-expelling-gazans/00000197-12a4-df22-a9d7-9ef6af930000?gift=684a88e48e3c4d308421be16ffb805ea)
n my view, per my substack "beat" Anti-ZionISTism and Anti-Palestinianism (https://michaelalandover.substack.com/p/anti-zionistism) I have pointed out that debating and opposing Zionism as an ideology and as a form of nationalism has long been done on the left, and is not necessarily antisemitic. True, there was near-classical antisemitism, excused by opposition to Zionism, in the Soviet Union, Poland and other Communist-governed forms of state socialism in key periods.
But in recent years, what I have been seeing--in the US far left, and among some factions of the democratic left, in other progressive spaces, and on campuses is a sort of in-your-face Anti-ZionISTism that is in fact antisemitic. It involves adoption of a good Jew/bad Jew stance towards Jews in the US. You are either a good Jew (anti-Zionist) or a bad Jew (Zionist, even if you do not have an identity as a Zionist or are active in groups like J Street or other Progressive Israel Network Groups) who have been working for a ceasefire, and end to the occupation, and a two-state solution.
I'd bet if you asked the J Street U students, they would report they are often asked, not only by non-Jews but by Jews, if they considered themselves Zionists. It is strange and problemmatic in this day and age that both Jews and Palestinians, respectively, are asked if they are Zionists or supporters of Hamas. This the new face of antisemitism and anti-Arab chauvinism. We need to analyze and understand this and work to restore civility and dialogue that focuses not on identities but on the very current and past death and suffering In Gaza, the West Bank and, yes, in Israel.
We need to refocus on the war crimes committed by Hamas and its partners and by Israel, of the kind Olmert's recent piece suggested: https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025-05-27/ty-article-opinion/.premium/enough-is-enough-israel-is-committing-war-crimes/00000197-0dd6-df85-a197-0ff64a5c0000?gift=7429ada28ab94cb1bd831c86115686f0
Again a very enlightening article that illustrates the challenge of balancing reasonable support for Palestinians without slipping into even an appearance of antisemitism. I was impressed with the point made about
the Trump's Administration use of "fighting antisemitism” as a pretext for defunding higher education and disappearing and deporting international students. Thank you.
Most of this analysis is accurate in my judgement. Yaron and Sarah were murdered because the assailant believed that, due to the Jewish faith and heritage of most of the attendees at this event, they automatically supported the Israeli government’s genocidal response to the horrific pogrom perpetrated by Hamas terrorists against innocent Israeli and American civilians on October 7, 2023.
Hence, this was an antisemitic hate crime, pure and simple. Netanyahu’s genocide of Palestinians inside Gaza in response to the atrocities of October 7, 2023 is generating more antisemitism across the world and making diaspora Jews a lot more unsafe.
And while it is the duty of every person with a conscience to call out what Israel is doing inside Gaza, it is also everyone’s duty to condemn antisemitism, the world’s oldest hatred, so that tragedies like the one that occurred at the Capital Jewish Museum last week do not occur again.
Its all speculation to assign adjectives or motive at this point!
So, let me get this straight. Israel and Netanyahu bear no responsibility for unleashing antisemitism with their genocide in Gaza? Must not, because you don't mention them at all. Just helpless victims. But people who oppose genocide? Oh boy, we'd better tone police the fuck out of what we say because otherwise we are responsible for antisemitic acts. You're just another zionist shill. Sorry I didn't realize that when I followed.
You might need to read the essay again. The writer doesn’t call out Netanyahu or Ben G’vir by name, but it’s implied.
Here’s just one short excerpt:
“as long as the current extreme Israeli government continues to prioritize prosecuting the war, the risk of unjustified antisemitic attacks against Jews around the world will remain elevated.”