There is a coordinated effort to label any criticism of the Israeli military as antisemitism. This effort does not protect Jewish people. It silences debate about documented war crimes and insults the Jewish scholars, organizations, and citizens who have led that debate themselves.
Jewish Voice for Peace is Jewish-led. B'Tselem was founded by Israelis. Physicians for Human Rights Israel is staffed by Israeli doctors. The International Association of Genocide Scholars, whose membership includes Holocaust experts, passed a resolution concluding that Israel's actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide. These are not fringe voices. They are credentialed, principled, and Jewish.
Judaism is one of the oldest religious traditions in human history. It predates the state of Israel by thousands of years. A military policy is not a faith. A government is not a people. Treating them as interchangeable does not protect Jewish identity. It reduces it.
66% of Israelis support ending the war in Gaza according to the Israel Democracy Institute. 59% of Americans view the Israeli government unfavorably according to Pew Research. Opposition to this military campaign is not radical. It is the majority position in multiple countries including Israel itself.
Under United States federal law, 18 USC 2441, war crimes carry a penalty of life imprisonment or death when death results to the victim. That is not an opinion. That is American statute. Over 35 independent bodies including the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Medecins Sans Frontieres have accused the Israeli military of war crimes and genocide. Calling that observation antisemitic does not make it false.
Opposing apartheid South Africa was not anti-white. Opposing Nazi Germany was not anti-German. Opposing a military ideology is not hating the people who live under it or the faith it claims to represent.
We will not be silenced by a label that the Jewish community's own leading voices have rejected.