.IChotiner speaks with the head of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to fighting anti-Semitism, about why hate crimes are increasing, the historical roots of anti-Zionism, and whether it’s bigoted to oppose a Jewish state.
Since 2015, Jonathan Greenblatt has served as the director of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to chronicling and fighting anti-Semitism in American society. Amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents documented by his group, and with hate crimes in general on the upswing, Greenblatt, a former special assistant to Barack Obama, has been speaking harshly about the tendencies he believes exacerbate anti-Semitism.
Your group has released statistics indicating that anti-Semitism is on the rise in America. Why do you think that is? America has been not only the most vibrant democracy in memory but the open, liberal-minded society that we have here has been the best for the Jews. And historically you can see that the Jews tend to thrive in these open, democratic environments, where people are judged on the content of their character. We tend not to do very well in authoritarian societies. We tend not to do very well in the places where civil rights are diminished or squelched.
I can think of someone even more prominent in the Republican Party who says things you can’t believe. I say this as someone who believes in a two-state solution and who’s taken flak for it in some quarters of the more right-wing segments of the Jewish community. I believe in Palestinian nationalism, and I believe in Zionism, and, if you will, Jewish nationalism. These things are not at odds with each other.
I get it. I understand what you’re saying. What I’m talking about is not the Palestinian who is displaced from their village in 1948. Not talking about that.
O.K., I understand. So let me make sure that I’m crystal clear with you. If you are a person in the West Bank, a Palestinian, an Indigenous Palestinian person, I understand why you don’t like the Israeli state, but if your goal is to destroy it, I think that’s a problem. There are a lot of people who get involved in these movements, Isaac. There are Jewish people involved in the [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] campaign. I don’t think they’re all self-hating Jews. I think many of them think this is a way for us to be supportive of human-rights issues. However, the architects of the campaign don’t believe in Zionism and the right of Jewish people to a homeland of their own.
To answer your question, we have fought against dual loyalty, against that canard. There’s nothing wrong with having a passion for your homeland. Italian Americans have that, Irish Americans have that, Chinese American people have that. There’s nothing wrong with having a strong identification, but Zionism, a desire to go back to Jerusalem, the longing for Zion, isn’t something that David Ben-Gurion came up with. It isn’t something that Theodor Herzl came up with.
That’s not what I’m doing. I was trying to make the point that I thought that Zionism and anti-Zionism as ideas come in many forms. Look, we know that the Balfour Declaration, which was one of the bases of the modern state of Israel, was written by Arthur Balfour, who had views about Jews and other people that we might not like—
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