The Real Antisemites

Antisemitism is real and every single one of us should take it seriously. The painful irony, for me, is that the most antisemitic people I know are unconditionally pro-Israel. White Evangelical Christian Zionists. Many of these people believe, based on a ridiculous interpretation of the last book of the bible, that God will restore the nation of Israel before Jesus comes back to bring all of his true believers home to heaven. 

I grew up in this subculture. I was taught that Jewish people were not “saved” – but because they were God’s chosen people, they would get one final opportunity to accept Jesus as the Messiah and their personal lord and savior. But if they don’t, they will go straight to hell. Does it get any more antisemitic and genocidal than this? 

Here’s what I know: when white Christian Zionists say that Israel Matters, it really does mean that Palestinian lives do not – and it does not even mean that Jewish lives matter either. This is what I believed back then – and it is what white Christian Zionists really believe right now. I followed Jesus out of white evangelical Christianity when I finally realized how destructive and dehumanizing this supremacist belief system actually is. 

Today, I can testify that there is a palpable contrast between the white evangelicals who pastored me in adolescence and the people who I’ve met on the streets of Detroit chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Intifada, Intifada, long live the Intifada.” Many of these multi-racial and interfaith gatherings have been organized by Jewish folks and prayed over by Jewish rabbis. They are obviously not calling for Jewish people, or the state of Israel, to be wiped off the map. 

These people of faith and conscience are simply demanding that Palestinian people be given full humanity, dignity and freedom. When they say that Palestinian lives matter, it absolutely does not mean that Jewish and Israeli lives do not. Because these folks fundamentally believe in the sanctity and value of every human life – no matter where they were born, what they look like, or who they worship. I bear witness: this is a compelling love ethic that the real antisemites know nothing about.