No. of Recommendations: 9
How about wearing Hamas headbands, flying Isis flags, chanting things I won't repeat here and attacking Jewish students physically?
Super tiny minority of the folks involved. Execrable and worthy of condemnation, but not materially threatening.
I'll assume you've at least heard about what they say about Israel in Gaza and the West Bank.
Of course. But there are different types of anti-semitic beliefs out there.
The settler-colonialist theory of the foundation of Israel - which flattens Jewish history and delegitimizes the rights of the Jews as indigenous people to the area to have a nation - is an anti-semitic belief. But it's one that's very specific in its context, and the ignorance that underlies it is not one that's especially dangerous to Jews in the U.S. Because the longed-for solution stemming from that anti-semitic belief is applicable only to that one spot in the world.
However, belief that Jews represent a threat to the cultural integrity or religious identity or "purity" of the Homeland (wherever that Homeland is) is far more dangerous. Because that's an anti-semitic framework that's actionable here - and everywhere. Which is why Christian nationalism scares me far more than folks who apply settler-colonial theory in an inappropriate situation. Concern about purity, and claims that the nation requires adherence to a common and shared set of values and customs, are far more likely to come from the conservative rather than liberal side of the spectrum - and those are the things that usually fare pretty badly for Jews.
We do far better in a culture where minority rights trump community values, which is a liberal framework, than vice versa - because we're a religious minority. We're on the 'wrong side' in the War on Christmas, doncha know....
