Words of the Week: Yair Rosenberg

“The best way to counter these individuals is not to call out allies who happen to spell anti-Semitism differently but to educate audiences about what the term really means, and to teach them to rebuff the disingenuous responses it generates. In my own work, I do this by using anti-Semitism, anti-Jewish prejudice, and anti-Jewish bigotry interchangeably throughout my articles—like this one!—implicitly informing my readers that these terms mean the same thing. As the premier news organization on the planet, the Times might publicly commit to covering anti-Semitism around the world, or hire a reporter with that dedicated task. The paper might also renew its contract with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the global Jewish news agency that it dropped in 1937 over fears that its coverage of the Nazi regime was overly biased.”

Source: Yair Rosenberg, “Removing a Hyphen Won’t Stop Anti-Semitism” (Deep Shtetl, Rosenberg’s newsletter for The Atlantic, which I believe is now a subscriber-only benefit)

Words of the Week: Daniel Gordis and Cynthia Ozick

I found Ozick’s essay—obviously insightful and brilliantly written, since it’s Ozick—unfathomably depressing. Mostly, I think, because though it was written almost half a century ago, it could have been written this week. Ozick was simply prescient; if many of us are still surprised at the resurgence of antisemitism in America, Ozick would tell us that we shouldn’t be. After all, she said 47 years ago, all the world wants the Jews dead. And as for the distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Esquire Magazine saw fit to emphasize Ozick’s fundamental claim:

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Words of the Week: Max Boot

“I hesitate to hurl accusations of ‘antisemitism,’ and I freely admit that it is fair to criticize Israeli actions (I do so myself). But there is no denying that BDS supporters display a strange, selective animus against the Jewish state. They should do some soul-searching about why they are more anti-Israel than many Arab states.”

Source: Max Boot, “The BDS Movement Shows Its Hypocrisy by Boycotting Israel but Not China” (The Washington Post)