Jeremy Sevin absolutely nails the conflating of the criticising of Israel and accusations of antisemitism

Needless to say, the constant conflation of Jewish identity with one state’s politics is not Good for the Jews.

It reduces the personal to the political. It strips Jews of the ability to define their own relationship with their identity.

— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) May 15, 2021

For non-Jews it signals that if you support Israeli policies, then you can’t be anti-Semitic and that if you are critical of Israeli policies you therefore hate the Jews, both of which are lies.

It can be very difficult to unlearn.

— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) May 15, 2021

It is reinforced by media and politicians who repeatedly link Jewish identity with the State of Israel.

The flip side of this message is that criticism of Israel is a negation of our identity.

— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) May 15, 2021

Even if not explicitly anti-Semitic, the thinking goes, those who criticize Israel must be doing so because they harbor some anti-Semitic attitudes.

This conflation of religious/communal identity with a far away nation state is reinforced constantly and repeatedly.

— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) May 15, 2021

Since lots of folks are sharing this, I’ll just say there are real historical reasons for all this (centuries of pogroms, the Holocaust, the centrality of the land in our texts). And none of them justify permanent occupation and dispossession of non-Jews.

— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) May 16, 2021