[Those concerned with antisemitism must understand what it truly
means to challenge it as part of movements for justice. ]
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THE WHITE HOUSE’S STRATEGIC PLAN ON ANTISEMITISM IS FATALLY FLAWED
 
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Donna Nevel
June 16, 2023
Truthout
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_ Those concerned with antisemitism must understand what it truly
means to challenge it as part of movements for justice. _

President Joe Biden departs a celebration marking Jewish American
Heritage Month in the East Room of the White House on May 16, 2023, in
Washington, D.C. The event focused on the Biden Administration's
efforts to combat rising antisemitism. , Chip Somodevilla / Getty
Images

 

A recently released White House strategic plan
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on combatting antisemitism, while including numerous mentions of
“cross community solidarity” and the importance of combatting all
forms of hate, fails to promote a framework that makes that kind of
solidarity possible.

The plan, in actuality, singles out antisemitism and, by extension,
Jews, as requiring a special strategy — one that does not embrace a
commitment to the well-being of all communities. The plan’s approach
to ensuring Jewish safety relies heavily on the Department of Homeland
Security, the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies which jeopardize
the safety of other communities, including Jews of color, who
experience violence not only by white nationalists but also, quite
routinely, by the state and by the very agencies that are listed in
the White House’s recent plan.

The White House plan’s disregard for these other communities is also
evidenced through its heavy reliance on the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL), an organization that has deep partnerships with law enforcement
and a well-documented history of targeting marginalized communities
(which is why hundreds of progressive organizations have signed a
letter [[link removed]] urging our social justice communities
not to partner with the ADL).

At a time when white nationalist violence and ideology are on the rise
and targeting so many of our communities, the power that comes from
multiple forms of collective resistance and organizing together for
justice cannot be underestimated. This work is being done all the
time, with integrity and commitment, and with a recognition of the
specificity of particular injustices and systems of oppression as well
as the ways they connect and intersect.

As antisemitic violence is part of the white nationalist agenda, those
of us concerned with antisemitism must locate our work within a
broader commitment to collective liberation — and many do. That
means understanding what antisemitism is and thinking deeply about
what it truly means to challenge antisemitism as part of, and not in
isolation from, movements for justice — not only in our words but in
our actions.

In contrast to the White House plan, many of our communities who have
been working together know that resisting antisemitism, like resisting
all forms of injustice, requires a very different model. What does it
mean to challenge antisemitism from the lens of collective liberation
and from an abolitionist, liberatory framework? This is not a
rhetorical question or necessarily one with a clear-cut answer but an
ongoing question that is answered through the lived experiences and
envisioning of those committed to its implementation. We need to be
thinking about it all the time — in what we do, in how we build
relationships, in whose voices and experiences are elevated, in how we
challenge ourselves to think and act differently.

The center I am part of, PARCEO (Participatory Action Research
Center), in consultation and partnership with individuals from many
different communities, has been creating a curriculum on antisemitism
grounded in a commitment to liberation. The initiative grows out of a
belief in community education as critical to our organizing for
justice and includes the work and thinking of educators, organizers
and activists, and scholars of Jewish history.

The intention throughout the curriculum is to open space for engaging
more deeply and interactively with the issues — from the historical
to the present — building upon the range of conceptual, theoretical
and experientially rooted thinking on antisemitism and on Jewish
histories and experiences, all interwoven within broader social,
political and economic contexts and realities and firmly situated
within a framework of pursuing justice and dignity for all people.

As we think about antisemitism and the creation of this curriculum, we
are deeply aware of the breadth and depth of different Jewish
backgrounds, histories and experiences. Jewish experiences of
antisemitism differ as well. We understand antisemitism as contextual
and as part of a continuum that interacts with society as a whole.
Antisemitism is not static, but rather, is part of historical,
interactive processes. Experiences of antisemitism do not define
Jewish experience alone. We also honor the richness of Jewish
experiences across the globe.

Understanding what antisemitism is not — and how accusations of
antisemitism are misused — is also crucial to our work, particularly
with the preponderance and intensity of false charges of antisemitism
directed at Palestinians and all those fighting for justice for the
Palestinian people. We, of course, know that the struggles against
antisemitism and for justice for the Palestinian people are deeply
interconnected. Part of our work is to continue to make visible those
connections and to build solidarities that run deep.

Unfortunately, at a briefing hosted by the White House and the ADL
after the release of the White House strategic plan, in which is
became clear how closely the White House and the ADL collaborated on
the plan, both speakers — ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and the U.S.
Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt —
reaffirmed their dangerous view that opposing Israeli apartheid and
Zionism falls into the category of antisemitism. This view is echoed
in the White House plan, with, for example, a statement that “the
U.S. Government, led by the Department of State, will continue to
combat antisemitism abroad and in international fora—including
efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel.”

The plan also embraced (though didn’t adopt) the controversial
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of
Antisemitism, which is one of the main ways that criticism of Israel
has been equated with antisemitism. A large number of progressive
groups had worked hard for this definition not to be a central part of
the plan, and it is only mentioned once, which is noteworthy and
reflects a recognition of serious opposition to it, even though, as
stated above, it makes similar points in other places in the plan.

It is important to note also that the plan draws upon the ADL’s data
on antisemitism, which is fundamentally flawed because it includes not
only episodes that are unarguably antisemitic, but incidents involving
criticism of Israel and Zionism, which have nothing to do with
antisemitism. When an organization inaccurately considers criticism of
Israel as antisemitism in its data, the results will necessarily be
unreliable.

In a roundtable conversation that will be included in the curriculum
moderated by PARCEO’s Nina Mehta — and including educators and
organizers for justice Nyle Fort, Lara Kiswani and Lesley Williams —
participants drew on their own lives and experience to highlight why
challenging antisemitism must go hand in hand with challenging
anti-Black racism and all forms of injustice; why we must not look at
antisemitism in isolation; what it means and what it takes to
transform the world; how we can form and build solidarities across
different identities and experiences; and what collective liberation
can look like.

As minister, scholar and social justice organizer Nyle Fort so
eloquently asks: “What does it take to transform the world? What
does it mean to transform ourselves in the service of that work? So
when I think about this project of thinking about antisemitism in the
context of collective liberation, what other way is there to think
about it if we are really talking about collective liberation?”

This unwavering commitment to deep solidarity is also expressed
through the powerful words of Sister Aisha Al-Adawiya, a visionary
leader in Muslim and other social justice communities: “This is
exactly where I believe we need to move as human beings. Standing up
for each other in a real authentic way. No cameras rolling. Just the
human spirit calling on us to say, ‘This is not right and I have to
say something.’”

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Donna Nevel, a community psychologist and educator, is co-director,
with Nina Mehta, of PARCEO, a resource and education center that has
created a curriculum on antisemitism from the framework of collective
liberation.

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* Biden White House; Anti-Semitism; Solidarity; Collective Liberation
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