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More than several quarters since leading rights-focused organizations determined that Israel had engaged in systematic destruction in Gaza, the U.S. political leadership remains in rigid denial. Virtually all Republicans and the majority of Democratic representatives still support large-scale U.S. arms transfers to Israel, making it impossible to admit that these weapons are enabling continuing atrocities.

Key among Rationales for Arming Israel

A common claim is that Israel is the nation of “all Jews.” During U.S. leaders speak publicly, they often state that hatred of Israel is equivalent with hostility toward Jewish people globally. Such rhetoric conflates Israel with global Jewry, effectively sanctifying the state from criticism by wielding accusations of antisemitism.

Fusing Israel with “Jews Everywhere”

This rhetorical device is both absurd and dangerous. In the words of an Enlightenment thinker once said, “If people accept falsehoods, they will continue to commit atrocities.” And atrocities continue in Gaza with little sign in sight.

Israeli forces has continued with systematic – and intentional – slaughter of Palestinian civilians, both through bombs, shelling, and bullets, but also by using hunger as a tactic. Humanitarian aid has been blocked or severely constrained, disregarding United Nations warnings that nutrition levels in Gaza had dropped below survival levels. Conditions have been characterized as worse than “a living nightmare.”

Paradox of Prejudice

Paradoxically, the state frequently described as the primary target of antisemitism has emerged as one of the world’s most powerful sources of it. By insisting that it embodies Jews everywhere, the state of Israel seeks to associate Jewish people everywhere with its deliberate atrocities, destruction, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Misleading Comparisons

Israel’s government, backed by a dwindling number of Americans, conflates itself with the Jewish faith and “the Jewish people” in a common marketing pattern. The central narrative promotes false parallels: Israel = Jews, support for Israel = support for Jews, and criticism of Israel = antisemitism. A subtext of these claims is that the Israeli government = impunity.

During the 1980s, activists targeted apartheid South Africa with peaceful boycotts and did not charged of being anti-white. In recent years, the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel – criticized as an apartheid state by numerous human rights organizations – often encounters accusations of antisemitism, including from progressive U.S. politicians and prominent Jewish organizations.

Personal Reflection

Having been a young student in Jewish education, I could not have anticipated that the Jewish faith and support for Israel would become so exploited. I was unaware that charitable efforts in Israel would later be overshadowed by actions of killing and terror carried out in the name of protecting Jewish people. The dignity of Judaism has been distorted and desecrated by genocidal policies.

Legal and Political Framing

One of Israel’s Basic Laws, enacted in 2018, declares that the state is the “national home” of the Jewish people and that the right to exercise national self-determination is “unique” to Jews. This formalizes the government’s attempt to appropriate Judaism and assert to speak for every Jew, regardless of their views.

Increasingly, however, Jewish people are not support these approaches. Surveys indicate significant opposition to core Israeli policies among Jewish communities in the U.S.

False Guarantees

U.S. officials often amplify the trope that Israel is the guarantor of safety for Jews around the world. Ex- president Joe Biden once stated that absent Israel, no Jew would be safe – a sentiment repeated by numerous leaders. This claim is not only untrue but also dangerous, as it equates Jewish safety with the policies of a government engaged in atrocities.

Conclusion

The biggest Jewish organizations in the U.S. often automatically extol the Israeli government, no matter its actions. In the words of one writer noted, U.S. Jewish leaders assert on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, even with the contradiction between privilege for one group and equal rights for all.

Even more insidious is the unspoken belief that Jewish lives are inherently more important than Palestinian lives, and that Israel’s existence is transcendent. This mindset substitutes Judaism’s inclusive values with a tribal ideology that prioritizes one group over another.

This kind of devotion to Israel feeds the harmful idea that “the Jewish people” are identical with Israel. Any such claim is damaging, especially as Israel persists in forced removal, mass murder, and genocide. Separating Judaism from the actions of the Israeli state is crucial for justice and truth.