Never compare Jews to Nazis

Posts which allude to Israel are obviously fraught, so first:

• I keep an index of resources
• the moral question is simple:
  Palestinian liberation is right & necessary
• the history is complicated:
  I have a survey which addresses many common misunderstandings
• the praxis is complicated:
  antisemitic entryism into the movement for liberation is subtle, pervasive, and unacceptable

Do not compare Jews to Nazis. Any legitimate point one could make with that comparison is better made another way.

This should require no explanation, but experience teaches that it does. Indeed, this point turns out to be tricky enough that I have revised this post repeatedly in the name of clarity after originally composing it.

Absolute prohibitions

There are good reasons to hesitate to set a standard that one should never say X, but there are cases where we generally agree that such a rule is necessary.

Racial slurs are the obvious example. I want to tread very carefully in drawing a parallel because suggesting a simple, direct equivalence would be dangerously wrong; there are many big differences. The particular characteristic I want to point to is a shared logic behind an absolute prohibition.

We can admit a certain absurdity in white people avoiding racial slurs even when we have no malice in it: never when singing along to a hip hop song in a room alone, never when making an unmistakably anti-racist statement like “the word ‘[slur]’ is offensive”. But we prefer accepting that absurdity to opening a door to exceptions. Hearing a slur reaches right into people of color and hits a deep wound, context be dammed. Too many white bigots get a thrill from rationalizing the use of offensive language. We must not ask people of color to closely parse context and intent because golly, this white person using that slur in this particular situation might be justified. Given all that, a white person using a racial slur has made a racist choice to say something which they know will offend, whatever the intent and context. Discussing where to draw a line for exceptions invites trouble, so we avoid that problem entirely.

The weight of history

Just as we recognize an immense weight of history behind how deeply racist slurs cut, we must recognize the history for Jews which gives references to the Nazis a unique valence.

The Nazis were not uniquely evil, but they hold a unique place in Jewish experience. Antisemitism was so central to what they were that they made deep sacrifices to their other aims in their attempt to exterminate us all. They building murder factories which killed half of the Jews in the world, and the only thing that stopped them was reducing their entire society to rubble.

Because of that history, many Jews find that even hearing the obvious antisemitic slurs people know better than to use like “k*ke” or “y*d” does not cut as deeply as hearing people compare us to the Nazis.

Particulars & alternatives

This point comes up because people want to reference the Nazis in talking about wrongs Israel commits. But there is plenty of room for equally compelling criticisms and comparisons.

One can call Israel’s attack on Gaza genocidal. I think one should because it is.

One can call Kahanists and Netanyahu’s Likud coalition fascists. I think one should because they are.

One can call Zionism fascist. I think one should not, because that is offensively false, but it is not unacceptable in the way that referencing the Nazis is.

Some defend making a comparison between the Nazis and ‘zionists’ or Israelis or particular Jewish groups or individuals by saying, “I am not a bigot saying all Jews are like the Nazis, only compare people to Nazis when they act like Nazis”. They may say they are talking about events like the genocide in Gaza or the Nakba in 1948. We know better than to accept this dodge when people say “I’m not calling all [people in group X] [slur]s, just ones who act like [slur]”. Comparing some Jews to Nazis is still comparing Jews to Nazis. Don’t.

Navigating antisemitism is hard

I have real sympathy for people who are not raging bigots making these mistakes. Understanding antisemitism is tricky. Cunning antisemitic bigots coyly make their case without explicitly referencing Jews; people who really are not talking about Jews still stumble into antisemitic narratives.

In this moment when we must stand against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, that grows even more fraught. Israel hardliners disingenuously reject any criticism of Israel as “antisemitism”. Weird Jewish cults attack Zionism in a disingenuous ploy to arrogate more importance to themselves. People are throwing chaff in all directions, so it is genuinely difficult for people of good conscience to make sense of all of it; even sophisticated social justice advocates get tripped up by the particularity of antisemitism.

I have heard many people object that they cannot let Jews “center their feelings” when there is a genocide to stop, but we understand that it would be wrong to say “kill the Jews to save Palestine”. The question is where to draw the line, and any sophistication about social justice teaches that other antisemitic rhetoric will not be obvious to most gentiles. I grant that navigating this rhetorical minefield sets an unfair burden on the movement for Palestinian liberation. This post names a practice which is clear and simple.

Never. Compare. Jews. To. Nazis.