I'm Jewish, and I'm here to tell you that antisemitism exists on the left.

I get it. Israel has a lot of power and influence, and antisemitism was used against Corbyn as a smear. That doesn't mean that antisemitism on the left isn't also a real thing, and I'm tired of being regarded with suspicion as a Zionist stooge every time I bring it up.

I'm sick of being grilled by strangers about Palestine as soon as they find out I'm Jewish. You wouldn't get in a Sunni's face about the ongoing Saudi genocide in Yemen, so why do I have to answer for a whole country I'm not from? Why am I a "suspect" until I can prove my credentials?

I'm sick of being regarded as just a (((white person from Brooklyn))), as one poster on here put it. White people from Brooklyn don't get their places of worship shot up at random, or called k*kes everywhere online, or get assaulted if dressed traditionally.

I'm sick of making friends in left spaces IRL, to later hear them regurgitate Rothschild conspiracies or tell racist jokes about the Hasidic communities nearby. Big noses! Love of money! We have sex through a hole in a sheet! It never gets old! This shit people say about Jews would never get said about any other minority. I've even seen a "left" (ex)-friend from school say that "the only good jew is a dead jew" in messages (which apparently was "fine because she's Lebanese and it's a cultural thing and she doesn't really mean it").

There are many problems on the left, including racism and sexism, and it doesn't get better if we just pretend they don't exist. Jewish leftists are your allies, please treat us as such. We want the same goals as you. If we bring up that we feel uncomfortable, PLEASE do not just write us off. It's heartbreaking to raise the issue of the racism that you're experiencing in a supposedly inclusive space, just to be accused of being a shifty wrecker working for a foreign state.

This post was inspired by this one, where a random Jewish person (with "free palestine" on their page, no less) is implied to be a paid Israeli troll just for bringing up that anti-Semitism is a problem on our side too.

Edit: I’d just like to say thank you all for the overwhelmingly positive response to this post. It’s really great to know your comrades have got your back. I also appreciate how those with questions have (mostly) been open minded and engaged in good faith. It makes a difference.

  • jewishleftist [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    It's not that simple though. These are people I've met while volunteering and at protests and at meetings for leftist orgs. If they're involved in left wing praxis, adhere to left wing thought, vote for left wing politicians, but are antisemitic, then what are they? And whose job is it to combat that racism?

    • Nebbit [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      It's everyone's job really. Failing to address and oppose antisemitism harms the entire movement.

      From Lenin: 'The working class requires unity, not disunity. It has no more bitter enemy than the savage prejudices and superstitions which are being sown among the uneducated masses by their enemies. The oppression of the non-Russians is a stick with two ends. With one end it beats the “non-Russian,” with the other the Russian people. Therefore the working class must express itself in the most decisive fashion against any kind whatsoever of national oppression. ... Disgrace and infamy to whoever sows enmity against Jews and hatred against other nations! Long live brotherly faith and unity in struggle of all nations, for the overthrow of capitalism!'

      • LoeliaPonsonby [he/him,any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Excellent quote. Commenting so I remember to read the whole thing later and for others if they want, apparently written in response to the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ bill on “National Equality,” excerpted here under header [VII] National Equality.

      • Pezevenk [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        My guess would be reactionaries aping on the leftist aesthetic, or some kind of strasserism, I don’t know.

        Nah. They're antisemitic leftists. Strasserism is a meme, there's like 5 people on the planet who fall under that definition. Antisemitic leftists are a thing.

      • aqwxcvbnji [none/use name]
        ·
        4 years ago

        hated Jews

        I got the feeling that the sort of person that OP described wasn't someone with actual hatred inside of them, but someone who bought in to anti-semitic tropes, and thinks they're true, because they're simply uneducated. There is no place for actual hatred, but we should be patient with well-meaning people who're uneducated. It's our job to teach them, so that they can teach others themselves later.