First, I want to wish you all a happy New Year, though I approach it with some trepidation.
Second, I want to turn the conversation to the domestic repercussions of the war in the Middle East. Many people make false assumptions about who supports and who opposes Netanyahu, Hamas or Hezbollah. And some believe that they are commanded by their faiths to support the behavior of one or the other sides in the Middle East.
Contrary to common, erroneous, assumptions, major national organizations of American Jews have spoken out in opposition to Netanyahu’s “oppressive treatment” of the peoples of the region and “demands [that] the rights, well-being, and national aspirations of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank are upheld.” Many of us are horrified by his treatment of Gazans, Palestinians and Lebanon. We don’t think his behavior necessary or helpful for the safety and survival of Israel. And American Jews have long condemned expropriation of Palestinian land and substitution of Jewish “settlers” or squatters on it.
Nevertheless, both antisemitism and Islamophobia have seen a resurgence in this country. Many blame American Jews for Netanyahu’s behavior and use the opportunity to attack Jews and their synagogues, and to deepen and expand antisemitism. Using Israeli behavior as an opportunity for general condemnation of Jews is nonsense. Worse, prejudices based on parentage, race, religion, or national origin, including both antisemitism and Islamophobia, plague our lives and conflict with the teachings of Jews, Muslims and other major religious faiths.
Some leftists also single Jews out for being colonists. All countries share blame for the world’s failure to offer reasonable choices to Jewish refugees from the Nazis. And there is nothing unique to Jews in being the children of colonists, or Muslims for being the children of conquerors. Americans called ourselves Colonies when we arrived from England and took over Native American land. Actually, English law and policy were more respectful of the Natives than the new settlers. But conquests throughout history on all continents by Aztecs, Assyrians, Benin, British, Dahomey, Egyptians, Babylonians, Incas, French, Greeks under “Alexander the Great,” Huns, “especially under King Attila,” Mongols led by Ghenghis Khan, the Muslim and Arab conquests, and the Ottoman, Persian, Roman, Russian and Spanish Empires, among many other colonial powers, sometimes spread good practices and ideals, but were an alphabet of woe for many. Whom and how many of their descendants, ourselves included, shall we hate?
Our Constitution and law reject collective punishment, reject the generalization of responsibility to large groups of people connected only by the accidents of their parentage. It is fundamental to American law that we reject punishment except for personal participation in crime. Collective punishment would throw Americans, Middle Easteners, and most of the world in the clink. There is no crime of being the child, grandchild or descendant of people who did things or made decisions that they should not have made.
It is crucial to quash Antisemitism, Islamophobia and other group hatreds which have no place here or anywhere. The power, welfare and even the existence of our own country depends on that principle. Mutual respect provides the only way we can live together in peace.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.