Palestine Protests: Weaponized Accusations of Antisemitism Distract from Palestinian Rights
/This is one of six blogs highlighting themes in activism and backlash in May and June 2021.
Widespread media reports of a rise in antisemitism as protests for Palestinian rights peaked in May relied on often false, misleading, decontextualized, and distorted information.
The narratives were largely based on data from the ADL and other Israel advocacy groups, whose methodology has been called out as politically biased in a Jewish Currents exposé and by other civil rights groups. The ADL counted common protest phrases like “Zionism=racism” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic incidents.
a New york city palestine protest (credit: Andy Ratto)
Distorted Evidence
Media accounts of attacks on Jewish people by protesters, some of which have led to criminal charges, have relied on incomplete and distorted evidence. A reported altercation in LA between protesters and outdoor diners led to widespread allegations of an epidemic of antisemitic hate crimes. However, new information about the incident cast doubt on this narrative, including reports that the altercation was started by the diners who had thrown objects at protesters.
Physical Assaults and Death Threats
Similarly, people demonstrating in Palestine solidarity actions across New York City were physical assaulted and faced rape and death threats.
As the group NY4Palestine reported:
“In the presence of NYPD and press, pro-Israelis threatened to kill and rape Palestinians, snuck into Palestinian rallies to physically assault youth, stalked youth on the streets and beat them, entire blocks of residents threw trash and full bottles from windows at them. In one incident, a middle aged pro-Israeli woman accosted a Palestinian teenager, maced him for several seconds and returned to chanting racist slurs with other Israeli and Zionist agitators – echoing Israeli pogrom chants of ‘death to Arabs’ in Palestine.”
Altercations with protesters that ensued as a result of these actions were misrepresented as incidents of antisemitism, claims that have been amplified without context in national media.
Falsely Accused for Speaking Up
A similar dynamic also played out online for Razan Abdin-Adnani, an aspiring Palestinian children’s book author and member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).
After Razan called out SCBWI for their refusal to acknowledge global violence committed against Muslims and Palestinians, the organization deleted Razan’s comments on their Facebook page and blocked her on Twitter.
Razan shared her experience, eventually leading to the resignation of the SCBWI diversity and inclusion officer, who had mishandled the situation. Pro-Israel groups and B-list celebrities responded by attacking Razan and portraying the administrator who had resigned in disgrace as the victim of a witch hunt. Razan was drowned in a spiral of false accusations of antisemitism simply for bringing the erasure of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian violence to SCBWI’s attention.
Vilified for Organizing Protests
Palestinian law student and activist Nerdeen Kiswani continued to be attacked for leading massive protests in New York City with Within Our Lifetime–United for Palestine, an organization she chairs. As a vocal and visibly Muslim advocate for Palestinian liberation, Nerdeen is regularly targeted by Zionist groups using racist depictions and false accusations of antisemitism to vilify her.
In a historic statement in late June following months of student organizing, CUNY Law condemned anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic efforts to demonize Nerdeen’s activism—the first statement from a school to identify and condemn the repression of Palestine rights advocacy by name.
Distracting from Palestinian Rights
These false narratives serve to erase and distract from the messages of activists who are calling for freedom and an end to military and colonial violence, and racism and discrimination against Palestinians. The provocative violent actions and racist rhetoric of supporters of Israel who defend its inherently discriminatory colonial project are ignored by the media, which unquestioningly repeats false Zionist allegations that people were victimized because of their faith. The reports have prompted elected officials, university heads, and other authority figures to issue statements condemning the alleged uptick in antisemitism and blaming it on the “conflict in the Middle East.”
This disinformation campaign plays into long-term efforts by pro-Israel groups to cement the conflation between advocacy for Palestinian rights and antisemitism and codify a distorted and politicized definition of antisemitism as a tool to censor Palestine advocacy. This narrative also hides the virulent attacks against Palestinians and allies who voice support for Palestinian rights, and the real consequences they face for it, as described here.
Palestine Legal will continue to monitor, track, and respond to incidents of repression. Contact us if you would like to report on these issues, request legal and advocacy assistance, or document incidents of suppression.
A Significant Uptick in Backlash
As people of conscience around the world reacted to Israel’s intensified military and colonial violence against Palestinians this spring, voices rang out from new corners in support of the Palestinian uprising.
In response, Palestine Legal witnessed a significant uptick in the amount and severity of backlash against Palestine advocates by Israel and its allies in the U.S.
Click through to explore the following themes in activism and backlash we witnessed between May and June 2021:
