10 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 

VIEWS

A

t the Jewish News, we 
have used this year’s 
Antisemitism Project 
to attempt to address the big 
questions of this “ancient evil” 
in 2020: what constitutes it, how 
we talk about it and what we 
can do to end it.
This year, we 
also published an 
interview with 
Democratic Rep. 
Rashida Tlaib 
of Detroit — by 
far our most 
controversial 
article of the year, largely 
because many of our readers 
believe Tlaib has expressed 
antisemitic views through her 
criticism of Israel and support 
of the Boycott, Divestment, 
Sanctions (BDS) movement. 
“So much for your series 
on antisemitism,
” one reader 
wrote afterwards — as in, they 
believed we had sacrificed 
our credibility on the subject 
by sitting down with the 
congresswoman.
Maybe it was fitting, then, 
that 2020 ended with an event 
tying these two narratives 
together. On Dec. 15, the 
sixth night of Chanukah, 
Tlaib appeared on a virtual 
panel entitled “Dismantling 
Antisemitism, Winning Justice” 
— a panel heavily criticized by 
many Jews. It seems we have 
a responsibility to talk about 
this again. Once more unto the 
breach, dear friends.
The panel was cosponsored 
by several Jewish groups 
including JVP Action (an arm 
of Jewish Voice for Peace) and 
IfNotNow, as well as Jewish 
Currents magazine (where, full 

disclosure, I have contributed 
freelance pieces in the past 
and was interviewed myself). 
Tlaib was the attention-grabber, 
but she was just one of four 
panelists, including Barbara 
Ransby, a professor at the 
University of Illinois at Chicago 
and fellow Detroit native; and 
author and New York Times 
columnist Peter Beinart, the 
only Jew on the panel (save 
moderator Rabbi Alissa Wise, 
deputy director of JVP). 
A fourth panelist, Temple 
University professor and former 
CNN commentator Marc 
Lamont Hill, did not appear 
“in-person” owing to a family 
tragedy, but submitted pre-
recorded video messages.
The panel attracted attention 
far beyond the groups’ usual 
circles. Many folks watching 
and commenting were angry 
that a panel with that title and 
lineup was even taking place. 
So, what was the goal here? 
Yes, the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict was discussed, as were 
objections to the International 
Holocaust Remembrance 
Alliance’s working definition of 
antisemitism, which includes 
engaging in certain anti-Israel 
dialogue in its definition and 
is in the process of becoming 
adopted on a global scale. 
But this wasn’t the main 
thrust. And in fact, for all 
the criticism the IHRA
’s 
definition faced on the panel, 
participants did not come 
up with a coherent alternate 
one. During the panel, Wise 
summed up what actually 
became the focus: “
All struggles 
are interconnected. We can’t 
fight antisemitism without 

fighting anti-Black racism 
or Islamophobia or anti-
Palestinian racism.
” 
And so, a panel purportedly 
about antisemitism largely 
shied away from discussing the 
particulars of antisemitism.
Panelists instead highlighted 
moments in history, and in 
their personal lives, when Jews 
have linked arms with other 
oppressed people. Ransby, for 
example, discussed what she’s 
learned about activism from her 
Jewish husband.
For her part, Tlaib, 
addressing Jews, said, “I don’t 
hate you. I absolutely love 
you.
” She added that she takes 
inspiration from “my Jewish 
neighbors,
” highlighting Detroit 
Jews for Justice’s activism work. 
But she said little about what 
she specifically understands 
antisemitism to be.
Afterwards, IfNotNow 
Detroit said in a statement 
that the discussion was “highly 
successful.
” 

HOW DO YOU DEFINE 
ANTISEMITISM?
Certainly, many Jews would 
agree that we are engaged in a 
very similar struggle to other 
minority groups, and that 
erasing bigotry anywhere will 
help us, too. 
But is that really the end of 
it? Surely it’s not minimizing 
these other struggles to at least 

acknowledge that antisemitism 
itself is unique and operates 
according to different rules and 
different histories — including 
within Israel discourse? 
Also: can we say that, even 
though these struggles are 
linked, sometimes they are also 
in conflict because sometimes 
other marginalized people also 
believe that attacking Jews is a 
form of liberation?
Late in the panel, there were 
overtures to this. First, in one of 
his prerecorded messages, Hill 
said that people must be vigilant 
about antisemitism from within 
their own communities. 
“I can’t imagine a vision of 
freedom that doesn’t include 
Jewish people. How are Black 
folk going to be free and Jewish 
people not?” he said, specifically 
criticizing rapper and actor Ice 
Cube for posting antisemitic 
messages on Twitter. (Cube has 
since struck up a friendship 
with Morton Klein, president 
of the Zionist Organization of 
America, and even spoke at a 
ZOA virtual gala.)
Then, Beinart made two 
bold points. First, he noted, 
“There is antisemitism on 
the left … Antisemitism has 
shown its ability to morph and 
find its way into all different 
manners of movements, even 
in movements that might in 
other ways be speaking on 
behalf of justice.
” He further 

Editor’s Note

A Polarizing Panel

Andrew 

Lapin

A panel on antisemitism hosted by Jewish Voice for Peace Action featured (clock-
wise from left): historian Barbara Ransby, commentator Peter Beinart, media 
studies professor Marc Lamont Hill and Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib. It was 
moderated by Rabbi Alissa Wise, a Jewish Voice for Peace activist. 

SEPARATE SCREENSHOTS FROM FACEBOOK VIA JTA

