My conversation with Peter Beinart
#EndJewHatred
Dear friends,
On Sunday, March 21, I had the opportunity to reach across the political divide and participate in a dialogue with Peter Beinart, a Contributing Opinion Writer for The New York Times. Despite intense pushback from people demanding the event be canceled, we insisted on moving forward. Jewish unity in these partisan times is more important than ideological purity.
The conversation was worth it. Despite our deep political differences, Peter and I were able to agree about the importance of fighting Jew-hatred as a civil rights issue in the United States. We created a space where two Jews who disagree strongly on the Middle East can agree on ending Jew-hatred. Racial justice for Jews is an issue entirely separate from the so-called Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The obsessive need to force Jews into debating a foreign conflict as a condition precedent to enforcing their civil rights is bigotry in and of itself. So, too, is the use of a foreign conflict to justify discrimination against Jewish people.
As I said during the event, "If criticism of Israel isn't anti-Semitic, then we must be able to speak about anti-Semitism without imposing criticism of Israel on the discussion."
During our conversation, Peter endorsed the mission of End Jew Hatred and agreed that there is a systemic problem of anti-Semitism — and that it must come to an end. He said:
"I will certainly say that I support the effort of trying to combat Jew-hatred as much as possible, of course. How could I not? I'm a Jew. I'm not only a Jew, I'm visible as a Jew in a lot of my life. Of course I’m concerned . . . my children go to a Jewish day school which has barricades against potential people trying to come in. I go to a synagogue which has armed guards. Of course I want to End Jew Hatred. It would be insane for me not to."
The Jewish people are being targeted with violence, bigotry, and discrimination. It does not matter if you are right-wing or left-wing, democrat or conservative, or so-called "pro-Israel" or "anti-Zionist" — Jews are being targeted around the world for being Jewish. The End Jew Hatred movement provides a platform for Jewish people to come together, despite differing opinions or politics, and coalesce around one message: Jew-hatred is wrong, there is systemic Jew-hatred in both western and eastern cultures, and we must unify to defeat Jew-hatred during our lifetime. This is why The Lawfare Project is a proud partner in the End Jew Hatred movement.
Without your support, none of this would be possible. I wholeheartedly thank you for fighting alongside us for Jewish justice.
Sincerely,
Brooke Goldstein
Executive Director, The Lawfare Project