To the Editor:
In your article about the Jewish Culture Festival and the protest that took place across the road from it (“A protest over an international musician’s stance on Israel,” July 24), Rabbi Tzvi Alperowitz reportedly said that the protest was “blatant antisemitism.” He is quoted as saying “Obviously [the protestors] have their right, but I would say it’s sad that they would do that across the street from a Jewish event. Chanting for things that they themselves don’t know what they’re doing. [sic]” The article further says that the Rabbi himself did not actually see the protestors.
I was there among the protestors for two basic reasons. One is that in the face of the Israeli government’s ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza, thus far the most atrocious war crime of the century, there is a moral obligation to speak out. With their historical memory of the Holocaust, Jews should get this.
The other reason is that it is necessary to fight the absurd and malevolent lie that conflates criticism of the Israeli state with antisemitism. Absurd, because genocide is not a religion. Our hostility is to the actions of the racist Zionist regime, not to Jews or Judaism. The fact that Netanyahu and friends are Jews is irrelevant. If you were to criticize the behavior of someone who happened to be Jewish — say, Harvey Weinstein, or Bernie Madoff — would it make you antisemitic?
The Big Lie is also malevolent in that its weaponization of antisemitism is designed to shut down opposition to Israeli war crimes. The Israeli government and its proxies in the U.S., such as AIPAC, have run what is perhaps the most massive and effective propaganda and public relations campaign in all of human history. Lies, distortions, manipulation and intimidation are their stock in trade. A neo-McCarthyist atmosphere prevails. Many people who oppose the Israeli war of extermination stay in the closet for fear of being slandered as antisemites. We protest in public to encourage them to come out — and it is working. The Island’s anti-genocide movement is growing. When CeasefireMV stands out at Five Corners every Sunday, as we have been doing since November, the expressions of support from passersby outnumber hostile reactions by a huge and widening margin.
Fortunately, thanks to the vast and ever-expanding amount of activism, scholarship, journalism, and filmmaking by courageous and honest people, the world has been awakened to the truth. That is why millions have taken to the streets, repression notwithstanding. And that is why the BDS movement is having a severe impact on the Israeli economy.
Rabbi Alperowitz would surely agree that mass murder and race-hatred are not consistent with Jewish values. Moreover, if he had come across the road and spoken with us face to face, he would have found not antisemites, but reasonable people — most of whom happen to be Jews — with banners inscribed with messages of peace and liberation, and a willingness to discuss these issues with anyone who is willing to hold a civil conversation.
David Mintz
Oak Bluffs
