A Guide to Antisemitism for American Progressives

My latest oped in the Jerusalem Post:

Many American liberals and progressives seem flummoxed by how to respond to charges that freshman member of Congress Ilhan Omar is antisemitic.

It’s widely accepted among liberal Americans that criticism of Israel is not the same as criticism of Jews, and that criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic. Read any Israeli newspaper, including this one, and you won’t have a hard time finding criticism of the Israeli government.

But there is a line, a place where criticism of Israel becomes a cover for antisemitism, and it’s essential that liberals figure out where that line is, and not tolerate antisemitism in their midst. The UK, of course, has a very similar problem with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.

We need some clarity on this issue. It’s not enough to say, as former US Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart said about pornography, “I know it when I see it.”

…continue reading on the Jerusalem Post website.