(Photo courtesy of New Statesman)

Margaleet Katzenblickstein
Connector Staff

Being a Jew has never been easy in history, especially in countries that are predominantly Christian. It used to be that Jews were expelled, murdered, forced to wear badges, unable to own land, and work in a small, select number of professions (among many other dehumanizing laws). Most infamously, less than 100 years ago, the Holocaust happened. 

But today, the discomfort with being Jewish in majority-Christian countries is very different than how it was historically. Jews today can have any job they want and own land. Although Jews do sometimes face violence – take, for example, the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue – the majority of people in the world, who live in or are from the Global South and whose homelands have been devastated by colonialism, face daily threats of violence. Compared to most of the world, Jews are, relatively speaking, safe. Now, politicians are using Jewish identity to silence one of America’s most sacred values – free speech. It’s not only happening in the United States – it’s also being done in Germany. But the United States is cracking down on dissent at an unprecedented level, all in the name of supporting Jewish Americans. And in Israel, the Israeli army is committing what has been deemed by multiple scholars of the Holocaust as a genocide, with the alleged intention of “protecting” Jews.  

When in history did non-Jewish rulers like Donald Trump and Joe Biden ever claim to care about Jews so much? Some Jews are fooled by this so-called kindness, believing it to be just and fair. But in reality, Jewish anxieties are being used for right-wing and neoliberal goals to cause harm to Americans of color, particularly Muslims, Arabs, and immigrants. In Israel, they are used to support modern-day colonialism and genocide. 

Such policies and attitudes are extremely dangerous. In Palestine, it has led to at least tens of thousands – and quite possibly far more people than that – being murdered. In America, it leads to people opposed to the genocide in Palestine getting deported, despite having committed no crimes and being green card and visa holders. Simply for strongly criticizing the state of Israel.  

At the end of the day, this isn’t about Jews. This is about an agenda, run by white Christian men, to deprive Americans of their right to think critically. It brings to mind the days of Stalinist Russia, when people would get sent to gulags for being “enemies of the state” (even if they themselves were Communists, like my great-grandfather). When my mother met my father while visiting 1980s Russia, she had to be very careful about what she said, because there were bugs in the walls and spies everywhere. I worry that we are headed in a similar direction. 

This, dear readers, is what makes being a Jew today uncomfortable. Now, instead of Jews being killed, Palestinians are killed, and Americans are thrown in harrowing detention centers, supposedly to protect the Jews.  

I miss the days when American Jews were associated with Fiddler on the Roof and New York, instead of with Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing and American efforts to stifle free speech about Palestine.