[ ]J Street [ ]
Dear Friends,

For most Jews, the specter of antisemitism is anything but theoretical.

Even for those of us fortunate enough to grow up in America in the late
20th/early 21st century with protections for equality and freedom, we live
under the shadow of stories from our relatives, friends and ancestors who
faced persecution and violence.

I think of my mother fleeing the Nazis and the nightmare of the Holocaust.
Of my father’s family fleeing violent pogroms in the Russian Empire of the
late 19th century. Parts of my family trace their roots back to the
Inquisition, and the mass expulsion of Jews from Spain.

Jewish history is about so much more than suffering and violence, yet
these experiences inform who we are, our core values and how we approach
the world.

For me and for J Street, our memories remind us that we must be vigilant
against not just antisemitism but all forms of hate, and make clear the
importance of defending tolerant, pluralistic, liberal democracy here in
the United States and around the world.

That’s why we’re so heartened to see the new National Strategy for
Combating Antisemitism released today by the Biden Administration.

In a period when the threats of antisemitism, far-right extremism and
white nationalism are surging in the United States, it’s deeply
encouraging to see the White House make this a top priority and adopt a
nuanced, well-considered, comprehensive approach.

It’s no secret that a growing number of voices in America today are using
antisemitic tropes, rhetoric and ideology to whip up fear, division and
resentment and build their followings.

Most seriously, Donald Trump’s MAGA coalition and the QAnon movement
continue to employ vile conspiracy theories about “The Great Replacement”
and George Soros, portraying him and a number of other Jewish
philanthropists as all-powerful puppet-masters bent on undermining America
and threatening our country’s future.

This embrace of antisemitic rhetoric at the highest levels of our politics
has helped pave the way for horrifying acts of violence against Jewish
Americans and other vulnerable minorities. Indeed, 74 percent of Jewish
voters say Trump and the MAGA movement are a threat to Jews in America.

That’s why it’s so important that the Biden Administration has put forward
over 100 concrete recommendations and policies for combating hatred and
keeping our communities safe.

It’s why we as Jewish Americans need to continue to work in partnership
with our fellow communities under threat, building powerful alliances
against hatred and in defense of liberal democracy.

And it’s why we can’t afford for the critical work of dismantling the
machinery of antisemitism to become derailed and sidetracked by divisive
and ultimately tangential debates about criticism of Israel.

Unfortunately, some in our community – and their allies in the Israeli
government – have sought to single-mindedly focus discussion about
antisemitism on the question of whether and when criticism of Israel and
advocacy for Palestinian rights constitutes antisemitism.

This is a debate that distracts focus from the truly pressing threat posed
to our community and others by Trump, his allies and their white
nationalist followers.

Some well-established organizations have been pushing the US government to
exclusively elevate and codify a definition of antisemitism put forward in
a different context years ago by the International Holocaust Remembrance
Association (IHRA).

J Street respects the original creation of the IHRA Working Definition as
an illustrative tool and one of several definitions to consider when
battling the scourge of antisemitism.

But officially codifying the IHRA definition and the examples it
incorporates (7 out of 11 of which deal with Israel, 5 of them
exclusively) into US law would create significant opportunities for abuse
and politicization. It would prioritize the narrow agenda of a small
number of loud voices who seek to chill debate over Israeli policy,
Zionism and occupation over the community’s broader concern about the rise
of right-wing ethnonationalism.

We’re glad that the White House recognized that codifying any one
specific, sweeping definition of antisemitism as the sole standard for use
in enforcing domestic law and policy could do more harm than good.

We commend them for meeting with and listening to a wide range of Jewish
communal stakeholders as they formulated this strategy, and for putting
forward recommendations and policies that meet the needs and priorities of
the large majority of our community.

The struggle against antisemitism and all forms of bigotry is far too
important to become a mere proxy for debates over Israel. To help keep our
community and our country safe, tolerant and democratic, we need to uphold
core freedoms, including freedom of speech – and protect the right to have
strong differences of opinion over Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.

Instead of teaming up with dangerous MAGA politicians to target and
suppress those who support Palestinian rights, we need to build bridges
with fellow vulnerable minorities to make common cause against the dangers
of ethnonationalism, white supremacy and insurrection.

The Biden administration has laid out a commonsense, principled approach
that is true to our community’s needs and values. It’s the right approach
for confronting the antisemitism that threatens us today – and doing
everything in our power to ensure it becomes, once and for all, a thing of
the past.

Yours sincerely,

Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street

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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the
Jewish people. Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we
advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
and democratic values, leading to a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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