Thread by @DovWaxman

A group of Rabbis have accused Rep. Ilhan Omar of making an antisemitic blood libel (foxnews.com/politics/rabbi… #FoxNews). This accusation is both false and harmful. Here’s why (a long thread):

Omar tweeted "We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked Blinken where people are supposed to go for justice"

The rabbis’ claim that this tweet “is not merely offensive, it is pernicious—for it is grounded in the blood libel and the calumny that Jews poisoned wells during the Black Death.”

To them, accusing Israel – a sovereign state and a military power – of committing atrocities is basically the same as accusing Jews of the ritual murder of children (the blood libel).

By this logic, anyone or any organization that criticizes the IDF for killing civilians is evoking a blood libel against Jews and is therefore antisemitic. This is not only wrong, it’s “offensive” and “pernicious.”

It’s wrong because the Israeli military, like any military, can—and sometimes does—commit war crimes. Denouncing such war crimes is not antisemitic. Demanding accountability for them and justice for the victims is not antisemitic.

Even if allegations of war crimes turn out to be unsubstantiated, that doesn’t mean the person or organization making the allegation is antisemitic—they’re just factually wrong. Harsh, unfair or unfounded criticism of Israel, including its military actions, is not antisemitic.

It’s offensive to equate a charge against Israel’s military with the blood libel. The blood libel accused Jews of the ritual murder of children, Omar accused the IDF of atrocities. The terrible and tragic history of the blood libel is diminished by such a false comparison.

It’s pernicious because leveling charges of antisemitism whenever someone makes a statement about Israel that you find offensive ends up devaluing charges of antisemitism. It only serves to politicize antisemitism, and makes it harder to fight.

At a time when real antisemitic threats are growing, it is especially important to focus on those threats—which in the U.S. largely come from the far-right—than obsess over Ilhan Omar.