How to do it:

The first step in fighting a bigotry is to learn the shape of that bigotry. Anti-Black racism in America tells us Black people are “less than human,” designed for hard work and “husbandry.” Anti-transgender bigotry justifies sexism by insisting the flesh between your legs at birth defines you forever. Antisemitism is a 2000 year old bigotry that exists to excuse those with power by scapegoating Jews. Converting Romans decided the Judeans the brutally colonized “forced” them to crucify Jesus, excusing them from killing their own messiah. Even today, despite understanding colonial power dynamics, many nominally Christian Americans still accept this narrative.

For two-thousand years, Jewish communities have existed within other populations and been punished when trouble began. From the Black Plague to Germany’s WWI losses, Jewish communities were scapegoated. The pattern continues with more modern narratives: when MAGA felt betrayed by Trump’s declaration that the Epstein files would not be released, they didn’t realize that Trump betrays everyone. They told each other that Israel wouldn’t let him. In a similar fashion the left blames AIPAC for every Democrat who falls from favor, though it spent less lobbying Democrats in 2023 or 2024 than Everytown did. These are simply not controlling interests, or we’d have stricter gun laws. Corporate lobbying massively outspends both.

The idea that all attacks on Jews are false-flag operations services this world view. Progressive thought tells us that while anyone can be targeted individually, it is systemic power that matters. To function as effective scapegoats, Jews must be powerful, but how to square ongoing massacres? How can we explain the Holocaust, when 2/3 of all European Jews died, or the massive rise in antisemitic murders worldwide? Enter scapegoating: the Jews did it to themselves, for sympathy.

Antisemitism is a complex, ancient bigotry, and unlike most bigotries, it has solid roots on the right and left. Only transphobia raises as much ambivalence among those dedicated to social justice. In both cases, education is the answer. Transgender girls have won no Olympic medals, and there is no evidence of any unfair sports advantage. Jews are .02% of the world population. Christians, Muslims, and Hindus each control more of the world’s wealth (in that order.)

Learning to recognize and counter bigotry takes time. You can probably think of a time you learned about a new racist trope, or encountered a transphobic claim you weren’t sure about. Unless you are in a targeted population, you will probably never fully understand a bigotry, but you can put effort into learning about it. Here are some additional resources:

• The American Jewish Committee has published a dictionary-style guide to antisemitic tropes. It can be very helpful for learning to recognize common misinformation.
• If you prefer a non-Jewish source* here is a solid summary of antisemitism through history, by Britannica.

*if you turn to sources within a community to learn, but reject Jewish voices talking about antisemitism, that is a sign of absorbed (often unconscious) bias. Every community has the right to speak for their own experience. The idea that Jews lie more than other people is antisemitism.

We use the standardized non-hyphenated form “antisemitism” in keeping with AP protocols.